Choral Chameleon: 2016 - Summer Institute Concert

Friday June 24th 2016 at 8pm ​

St.Paul’s Episcopal Church, 199 Carroll St. Brooklyn, NY

Vince Peterson, Founding Artistic Director Trois Chansons 1. Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder!

Sean Rodan, conductor

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Marvellous Error ​

Edward Thompson

My Dear Sir

Dan Meyer

Kyrie

Julian Bennett Holmes

The Sleep of Spring

Peter Walters

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis

Sean Rodan

Nunc Dimittis

Jeff Brown

Miserere mei

Lukáš Janata

INTERMISSION Exultate Deo Robbie Randall, conductor Arise, My Love, My Fair One Poem

Francis Poulenc (1899- 1963) Joshua Saulle Nicholas Williams

Let Us Listen To The Air ​ from The Google Variations​

Brian Rosen

Fall

Ryan Doyle

Agua y Luz Prayer of the Dove Ronnie Romano, conductor Alleluia Sean Rodan, conductor

Craig Slon Ivor R. Davies (b. 1935) Randall Thompson (1899- 1984)

Texts, Translations, and Notes from the Composers Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orléans 1. Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder La gracieuse bonne et belle;

God! But she is fair, graceful, good and beautiful.

Pour les grans biens que sont en elle Chascun est prest de la loüer.

Qui se pourroit d'elle lasser?

Tousjours sa beauté renouvelle.

All are ready to praise her excellent qualities.

Who could tire of her?

Her beauty is ever new.

Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder La gracieuse bonne et belle!

God! but she is fair, graceful, good and beautiful!

Par de ça ne de là, la mer Ne scay dame ne damoiselle Qui soit en tous bien parfais telle.

C'est ung songe que d'i penser: Dieu! qu'il la fait bon regarder!

Nowhere does the sea look on a lady or maiden so fair and perfect.

Thinking on her is but a dream.

God! but she is fair!

Marvellous Error ​ Text by Antonio Machado, trans. Robert Bly Last night as I was sleeping, I dreamt—marvelous error!— that I had a beehive here inside my heart.

And the golden bees were making white combs and sweet honey from my old failures.

From the Composer: ​ This poem, about transformation, captivated my imagination. The imagery is interesting, the allegory always in season, the title paradoxical, and the personal meaning is timely. I have attempted to reveal some of those paradoxes of emotion through the music.

March 4, 1862 My Dear Sir, The impulse to write you, the moment I heard of your great domestic affliction was very strong, but it brought back the crushing sorrow which befel me just before I went to Washington in 1853, with such power that I felt your grief, to be too sacred for intrusion.

Even in this hour, so full of danger to our Country, and of trial and anxiety to all good men, your thoughts, will be, of your cherished boy, who will nestle at your heart, until you meet him in that new life, when tears and toils and conflict will be unknown.

I realize fully how vain it would be, to suggest sources of consolation.

There can be but one refuge in such an hour, — but one remedy for smitten hearts, which, is to trust in Him “who doeth all things well”, and leave the rest to — “Time comforter & only healer When the heart hath broke” With Mrs Pierce’s and my own best wishes — and truest sympathy for Mrs Lincoln and yourself I am, very truly, Yr. friend Franklin Pierce From the Composer: In 1853, two months after being elected and two months before being inaugurated as President, Franklin Pierce and his family were in a train accident in Massachusetts. The only fatality was his child: 11-year-old Bennie. In 1862 when Abraham Lincoln was in the White House, his 11-year-old son Willie died of typhoid fever. This is a choral setting of the condolence letter from Pierce to Lincoln.

Kyrie ​ Kyrie eleison.

Christe eleison.

Kyrie eleison.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

From the Composer: Most people aren’t aware that if you count all the Kyrie settings written by the great composers — Palestrina, Fauré, Sousa, etc. — between 900 A.D. and 2000 A.D., the number comes to 4,999. I am proud to present here the 5,000th Kyrie ever written.

The Sleep Of Spring Text by John Clare O for that sweet, untroubled rest That poets oft have sung!— The babe upon its mother's breast, The bird upon its young, The heart asleep without a pain-When shall I know that sleep again?

The sheep within the fallow field, The herd upon the green, The larks that in the thistle shield, And pipe from morn to e'en-O for the pasture, fields, and fen!

When shall I see such rest again?

I love the weeds along the fen, More sweet than garden flowers, For freedom haunts the humble glen That blest my happiest hours.

Here prison injures health and me: I love sweet freedom and the free.

I loved the winds when I was young, When life was dear to me; I loved the song which Nature sung, Endearing liberty; I loved the wood, the vale, the stream, For there my boyhood used to dream.

There even toil itself was play; Twas pleasure een to weep; Twas joy to think of dreams by day, The beautiful of sleep.

When shall I see the wood and plain, And dream those happy dreams again?

From the Composer: I had long wanted to set John Clare for voice. Born at the end of the 18th​Century in my home county of Northamptonshire, he wrote of his rural childhood, before mental illness blighted his life. This is one of his ‘Asylum Poems’, longing for that vanishing past, but also for sleep and for freedom. The setting hopes to match his simple, uncluttered writing, with that sense of yearning, loss, and sleeplessness.

Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis

Magnificat My soul doth magnify the Lord: and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

For he hath regarded: the lowliness of his handmaiden.

For behold, from henceforth : all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath magnified me: and holy is his Name.

And his mercy is on them that fear him: throughout all generations.

He hath shewed strength with his arm: he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek.

He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent empty away.

He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel: as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.

Nunc dimittis Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Gloria Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

From the Composer: In the Church of England, the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis are the two canticles sung during the liturgy known as the Evening Prayer or Evensong.

Nunc Dimittis Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace: Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum: Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.

Gloria Patria, et Filio, et Spritui Sancto: Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum.

Amen Translated: Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; Your word has been fulfilled.

My eyes have seen the salvation You have prepared in the sight of every people, A light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people, Israel.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.

Amen.

From the Composer: The Nunc dimittis is a canticle from the New Testament text, Luke 2:29-32, often used as the final song in a religious service.

Miserere mei Miserere mei, Deus: secundum magnam misericordiam tuam.

Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum, dele iniquitatem meam.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me.

Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: et peccatum meum contra me est semper.

Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae, oblationes, et holocausta: tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.

Amen.

Translation: Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy.

And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.

Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.

Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar. Â

Exultate Deo Exsultate Deo, adjutori nostro: jubilate Deo Jacob.

Sumite psalmum et date tympanum: psalterium jucundum cum cithara.

Buccinate in neomenia tuba: insigni die solemnitatis vestrae.

Rejoice in God our helper: sing aloud to the God of Jacob.

Take the psalm and bring hither the timbrel: the merry harp with the lute.

Blow the trumpet in the new moon, even on our solemn feast day.

Arise, My Love (Song of Solomon, 2:10-13, various translations, adapted by the composer)

 Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

For behold, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone, The flowers appear on the earth, the fig tree ripens its fruit, The blossoming vines give forth their fragrance.

The time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtle-dove Is heard again in our land.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

From the Composer: ​ Arise, My Love is a well-known portion of the Song of Solomon which describes the end of winter and the return of life and love that accompanies the spring. The poem is rich in nature symbolism: blooming flowers, ripening figs, fragrant blossoming vines (presumably grape vines) all represent the rebirth of life and the fertility of the earth as well as the human joys--wine, good food, and visual beauty--that spring from the fecund soil. Finally, the return of the migratory turtledove symbolizes the renewal of fertility and love in animals and humans as well. The turtledove is known for its tendency to mate for life, and it is a common symbol of devoted love (both romantic and spiritual) in Jewish, Christian and Islamic literature. My setting explores both the sensuousness of the earthy imagery as well as the poem's spiritual dimension.

Poem (1959) Text by ​ Frank O'Hara Light clarity avocado salad in the morning after all the terrible things I do how amazing it is to find forgiveness and love, not even forgiveness for what is done is done and forgiveness isn't love and love is love nothing can ever go wrong though things can get irritating boring and dispensable (in the imagination) but not really for love though a block away you feel distant the mere presence changes everything like a chemical dropped on a paper and all thoughts disappear in a strange quiet excitement I am sure of nothing but this, intensified by breathing Let Us Listen To The Air from The Google Variations Lift every voice and sing (original text by James Weldon Johnson) Lift every voice and sing Till earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on till victory is won.

Stony the road we trod, Bitter the chastening rod, Felt in the days when hope unborn had died; Yet with a steady beat,

Have not our weary feet Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered, We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered, Out from the gloomy past, Till now we stand at last Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears, Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way; Thou who hast by Thy might Led us into the light, Keep us forever in the path, we pray.

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee, Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee; Shadowed beneath Thy hand, May we forever stand.

True to our God, True to our native land.

Let Us Listen To The Air (Transformed text) The American Dream is full of music, reporting to the rolling sea, sounds which ring the earth and sky.

Music has always taught that faith, the first song of our religion.

At the same time, there is a God, quiet and tired of tears, trying to separate the stars.

Let us listen to the air‌ The sun is a new day! We start with a win!

On the second day, we have another war!

The next day, we can have a parade!

Wherever you go on the block or in the fog, if the world hates you, we encourage you to forget.

Consider the sky as the price of our joy.

Let us listen to the air...

If we believe the sky and sea turtles gathered together in the sight of the God of their silent weeping we step out of the blood of the sad past generations.

But death is not the stone that falls into the water And we are drenched in tears.

We are now at the end, a white shining star of our mistakes a race that has been lost.

This place did not come to our fathers, but speed is our parent.

We drive to break the water, to change the law in heaven and on earth to ensure the young guns enter through our blood their voice a choir in high color, fully furnished with dark music: “Get on your hands, we are your true nature, true desire.

God, we love you to death” From the Composer: ​ The Google Variations are a series of choral settings that take well known poems and transforms them using Google Translate technology. The original text is translated through dozens of random languages and the resulting phrases are curated into a new poem that often contains echoes of the original. For this piece I used Lift Every Voice And Sing by James Weldon Johnson, written in honor of Abraham Lincoln's birthday in 1900. The transformation enhances the tragic aspects of the poem, and when placed along side the patriotic elements they evoke a dystopian, nationalistic fervor whose ridiculousness can rapidly turn menacing. The spiritual core of the piece remains, as does the hopeful struggle for a better future.

Fall Text by Ryan Doyle I don't know where I'm going I barely know where I am I need someone to find me And take me by the hand I'm lost without a roadmap There's not even any signs To point me in the right direction Or put me in the right frame of mind And I need you to help me Just stand here by my side You could be my savior Just get me through this night You could be the one who Pulls me through it all I need someone to be there And catch me if I fall I feel like I'm walking on nothing Like there's nothing beneath me to hold me up Not sure which direction to step in Or which way to turn or why I'm even trying I see no light in the distance I see no point in pushing through I need that one little miracle That miracle is you You are my miracle And I need you to help me Just stand here by my side You could be my savior Just get me through this night You could be the one who Pulls me through it all I need someone to be there

And catch me if I fall You guide me through the storm You give me love and you keep me warm And with you by my side I feel alive Agua y Luz From the Composer: ​ The title "Agua y Luz" translates from Spanish as "water and sunlight". There is no text. The choir sings in three part counterpoint. The flute alternates between doubling melodies sung in the choir with adding a triplet melody. The harmony shifts between B dorian and B aeolian. The piece is structured in 10 bar phrases.

Prayer of the Dove The ark waits, Lord, the ark waits on Your will, and the sign of Your peace.

I am the dove, simple, as the sweetness that comes from You. The ark waits, Lord; it has endured.

Let me carry it, a sprig of hope and joy. and put, at the heart of it’s forsakenness, this, in which Your love clothes me, grace immaculate.

Amen.

Alleluia Alleluia, Amen.

THE SINGERS Sopranos Hallie Grossman Elaine Lachica Tina Scariano Catherine Torrey

Altos Charla Burton David Dickey Jonathan May Suzanne Schwing

Tenor Alex Canovas Evan Crawford Andy Degan Matt Oltman

Bass Ryan Foley Brian Rosen Vince Peterson Brian Wong

THE STUDENTS & FACULTY Conductors Robbie Randall Sean Rodan Ronnie Romano

Composers Julian Bennett Holmes Jeff Brown Ryan Doyle Lukáš Janata Daniel Meyer Sean Rodan

​omposers C Brian Rosen Joshua Salle Craig Slon Edward Thompson Peter Walters Nicholas Williams

Faculty Vince Peterson Matt Oltman Mark Shapiro Rex Isenberg Joseph Stillwell Mario Dell’Olio

ABOUT THE FACULTY Vince Peterson is an award-winning conductor, composer, keyboardist, and the Founder of ​ Choral Chameleon​ , and Chameleonic in New York City. In addition, he serves as Choirmaster and Organist of St. Paul’s Carroll Street in Brooklyn, Artistic Director of ​ Empire City Men’s Chorus​ , and Director of Primary School Choirs at ​ Lycée Français de New York​ . He is sought after as composer, conductor, keyboardist, and clinician. His compositions have been commissioned and performed by reputable ensembles internationally, including Ensemble Companio, Cantori New York, The San Francisco Arts Education Project, Ars Musica, Grace Chorale of Brooklyn, Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, and the multi-Grammy® award-winning ensemble, Chanticleer, who have performed his work in such venues as Chicago Symphony Hall, San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House, Bartok National Concert Hall in Budapest, and New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. He recently led the men of Empire City Men’s Chorus in a performance of his arrangement of John Legend’s “All of Me” at Carnegie Hall with the legendary singer, Martha Wash. His arrangement of Tom Waits’ song “Temptation,” incorporating motives from Gershwin’s “Summertime” was called “…hard to top” by The San Francisco Chronicle and was performed live by Chanticleer on Garrison Keillor’s program, “A Prairie Home Companion.” His children’s musical “Sticks and Stones” (written with longtime friend and collaborator, Joe Barros) has been workshopped both in New York and San Francisco, with more productions to come.

An avid champion of new choral and theater music, Peterson is responsible for commissioning and/or premiering over 100 new works to date. Together with Music Theorist, Steven Smith, he founded an ​ annual institute for composers and conductors of choral music ​ which takes place in June and offers students the opportunity to bring new works to life via the voices of Choral Chameleon singers. He also works to develop the choral arts community in New York as Programs Coordinator on the Board of Directors of The New York Choral Consortium.

He holds a BMus in Composition from San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he was a pupil of the late celebrated composer, Conrad Susa; as well as a Double MM in Composition and Choral Conducting from Mannes College, The New School for Music in Manhattan, where he studied with the new music pioneer conductor, ​ Mark Shapiro​ . The New York Times called Peterson ​ "authoritative beyond his… years," and The Brooklyn Eagle praised his work as ​ "a stunning symphony of the spiritual and secular," while hailing him as a solo performer ​ "with depth and vigor" ​ who ​ "provided a universal context which resonated with his audience.”

Matt Oltman Matthew Oltman, Director Emeritus of the Grammy Award winning vocal ensemble, Chanticleer, first joined the ensemble in 1999 as a tenor. In 2004 was named Assistant Music Director under Joseph Jennings, a post he held until his appointment as Music Director in 2009. During his decade singing with the ensemble, he appeared on twelve albums and toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia. As Music Director of Chanticleer from 2009 to 2011, Oltman led the ensemble through three critically acclaimed seasons

that included over 300 concerts in more than a dozen countries. He helped launch the Chanticleer Live in Concert recording label and was the editor of the Chanticleer Choral Series, published by Hinshaw Music. He conducted over 450 high school choral and orchestral students from across the country in Chanticleer's first National Youth Choral Festival. Chanticleer commissioned composers such as Stephen Paulus, Mason Bates, Steven Sametz, Jan Sandström, Peter Michaelides, Roxanna Panufnik and Ilyas Iliya as well as Vince Peterson who arranged the choral/indie pop sensation, Cells Planets. Oltman was a featured clinician at the first Anúna International Choral Summer School (Ireland) and has led countless clinics and master classes with choirs from across the globe.

Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Oltman earned a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Simpson College and an M.A. in Music from the University of York in England with the aid of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship.

Before joining Chanticleer, he sang with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale for four seasons and was on the faculty of Simpson College where he taught harmony, French diction, choral techniques and voice.

Mark Shapiro ​ark Shapiro, a five-time ASCAP Award winner for Programming, is a versatile conductor equally at home in M orchestral, operatic and choral conducting. He is Music Director of The Prince Edward Island Symphony and The Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra of New York; Artistic Director of Cantori New York; and has been a frequent Guest Conductor of the Nova Sinfonia Chamber Orchestra (Halifax).Shapiro’s opera credits include three appearances with Juilliard Vocal Arts, as well as multiple appearances with American Opera Projects, the Center for Contemporary Opera, the Opera Company of Middlebury, and Underworld Opera.

With Cantori New York and other organizations, Shapiro has commissioned extensively and has conducted multiple regional, national, and world premieres.

Shapiro has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, the Rubin Museum, World Financial Center (Arts & Events), Guggenheim Museum (Works & Process), and the Roman amphitheater at Vaison-la-Romaine, France. His radio appearances have included WQXR, WNYC, and Sirius. He has recorded for Albany, Arsis, Newport Classics, and PGM. His recording of Frank Martin’s oratorio Le Vin Herbé was an Opera News Editor’s Choice.

S​hapiro teaches instrumental conducting in the Evening Division of the Juilliard School, and each summer directs the conducting program of the European American Musical Alliance, in Paris. He has been a longtime member of the conducting faculty of Mannes College the New School for Music, and is on the studio teaching faculty of Columbia Teachers College. He is Associate Professor of Music at LIU Post, where he is a two-time recipient of LIU Post’s Abraham Krasnoff Award for Scholarly Achievement, the campus’s highest academic honor.

Rex Isenberg Born in Philadelphia, ​ Rex David Isenberg ​ (b. 1987) began his musical life as a jazz pianist and vocalist before applying his talents as a composer. Described as “fiercely expressive” (Kevin MacFarland, JACK Quartet), Rex’s music has garnered recognition from ASCAP and has been heard on National Public Radio (NPR) and Sirius XM radio as well as at venues including the DiMenna Center (New York City), the Národní Muzeum (National Museum) (Prague, Czech Republic), Escuela Nacional de Música (Mexico City, Mexico), and others around the world. Blending a diverse array of styles, Rex seeks to explore the human experience in his music by revisiting watershed moments in history and infusing them with renewed meaning for contemporary audiences.

Rex received his B.A. in Music from Yale University, where he studied composition with Kathryn Alexander, Michael Klingbeil, and Missy Mazzoli. He graduated with a Masters of Music from Manhattan School of Music in 2012, studying composition with Richard Danielpour, and returned to MSM in 2013 to pursue his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in the studio of Reiko Fueting.

Recent projects have included ​ Messiahs: False and True​ , a concert-length oratorio for choir, organ, bass drum, and narrator, commissioned and premiered by Cantori New York in 2015 and narrated by Tony-nominee and Obie-winner Kathleen Chalfant (​ Angels in America, Wit​ ). ​ Messiahs was reprised in March 2016 by The Cecilia Chorus of New York with two-time Tony Award-winner Stephen Spinella (​ Angels in America​ ) as the narrator.

Upcoming events in 2016 also include the release of a studio recording of ​ Das Stunden-Buch: Four Songs on Poems

by Rainer Maria Rilke on sTem’s debut album, the premiere of a new work for flute and piano at Spectrum NYC

by Isabel Gleicher and Sophia Vastek, and the European premiere of a Hebrew choral work, ​ Ravta et rivam, at the rededication of the Wenkheim Synagogue in Wenkheim, Germany. Rex’s work has previously been performed and recorded by JACK Quartet, Manhattan Saxophone Quartet, Uptown Brass, Washington Square Winds, Cantori New York, MSM Symphony, Yale Concert Band, MIVOS Quartet, sTem, percussionist Ian Rosenbaum, violists Jessica Meyer and Miranda Cuckson, New Triad for Collaborative Arts, the NOW Ensemble, and Gamelan Suprabanggo.

An accomplished singer, Rex has performed on six continents as a member of the Yale Alley Cats and The Yale Whiffenpoofs, America’s oldest collegiate a cappella group. Between 2005 and 2009, Isenberg performed in 31 countries and 25 states, singing for audiences which have included the U.S. Ambassadors to China, Lithuania, and Chile, the Consul General of Mexico, and Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He wrote dozens of arrangements for both groups, including an arrangement of “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” from ​ The Fantasicks, which appeared on The Whiffenpoofs’ 2009 album ​ Century​ . Rex is also a performer of Indonesian classical music and a member of Gamelan Kusuma Laras, New York’s premiere Javanese gamelan ensemble, with whom he performed at Lincoln Center’s 2011 White Light Festival and at the Consulate General of Indonesia in New York City in 2012.

Joseph Stillwell J​ oseph Stillwell teaches Music Theory and Musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and also maintains a busy schedule of private teaching and composing. In a review for the San Francisco Classical Voice, critic Janos Gereben described Joseph’s music as, “complex and yet instantly appealing, gorgeously tonal but not ‘old-fashioned.’” He has composed works for a variety of genres, ranging from solo piano and art song to wind ensemble and orchestra. His compositions are notable for their attention to form, economy of material and expressive clarity. He has received recent performances and commissions from the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony, St. Dominic’s Schola Cantorum, Hartford (WI) City Band, Amaranth String Quartet, and Curious Flights Concert Series.

While a student at the San Francisco Conservatory, Joseph was named winner of the 2010 James Highsmith Composition Competition for his orchestral tone poem Music for a Forgotten City. He also received second place in the Conservatory’s 2010 Choral Composition Competition, and third place in the 2009 Art Song Competition. His String Quartet No. 1 was a finalist in the 2009 Lyrica Chamber Music Young Composers Competition. His orchestral work Jaunt was a winner of the 2008 Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra Fanfare Competition. His 2005 wind ensemble work Morning Hike was named as a finalist in the 2009 Frank Ticheli Composition Competition, and was also winner of the 2006 University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point Wind Ensemble Composition Competition. In the spring of 2008, Joseph’s Two Poems of Edgar Allan Poe and Triptych for Solo Piano were represented in the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point Online Journal (Vol. VI), a refereed publication of student achievement.

Joseph received his M. M. degree in 2010 from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition with David Conte and theory with Scott Foglesong. He attended the European American Musical Alliance in Paris during the summers of 2009, 2014, and 2015, where he studied composition with Philip Lasser and Narcis Bonet, earning honors in harmony, counterpoint, and score-reading. In 2007, Joseph graduated magna cum laude from the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point where he studied composition with Charles Rochester Young and piano with J. Michael Keller.

A Note From Board President, Nicole Belmont On behalf of the Board of Choral Chameleon, thank you for coming today to support these wonderful students and for being an open-minded and adventurous audience.

This week, in the process of making a promotional film for this Institute, I have been privileged to sit in on a number of our sessions and have been conducting interviews with our faculty and chatting to students.

It has been illuminating. I knew that being able to present a concert at the end of 7 days of preparation and classwork was a feat but I had no idea just how intense this process of reading, development, revision and preparation really is.

When interviewing Vince Peterson, I asked him ‘how do we always manage to provide such a concentrated experience for our students and still make it so rewarding and unintimidating that our students often return or even ask to join our Board?’

‘The answer lies in the music’, Vince said. It is all about the music and nothing else. Ego, stress, self-criticism, judging…there is no place for that here and every student is given 1-1 support and attention to meet them where they are: no matter how young or old, experienced or fresh to choral writing or conducting. There’s candor, yes, but there is so much patience and encouragement that goes along with it.

Choral Chameleon at large seeks to treat musicians as humans first and foremost - this is at the heart of making good music: choral music is for and of, the body. This is true for both musicians AND audience.

Please do not hesitate to learn more about our organization and all of our joyfully curious music-making at​ www.choralchameleon.com​ or find us on facebook.

If you would be interested in supporting our organization in any capacity: donation, volunteering, provision of goods and services or Board Membership, please feel free to contact me.

Once again, thanks for being here tonight and enjoy the ride!

Nicole Belmont, Board President Nicole@choralchameleon.com

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