The Earth Adorned

ABOUT THE CHOIR

KANTOREI ("singers") formed in 1997 under Richard Larson’s leadership and has expanded into an auditioned, 52-voice ensemble. Its members come from schools with strong choral music programs, such as Augustana, Brigham Young, Concordia, Luther, St. Olaf, University of Denver, Wartburg and University of Northern Colorado.

Kantorei established itself as one of the nation’s premier choral ensembles after performing as an auditioned choir for the 2003 national American Choral Director’s Association conference at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the Vatican in June 2007.

More recently, Kantorei has been featured in several regional and national conferences, including the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention and 2010 Southwestern Regional ACDA convention, both held in Denver. In March 2011, Kantorei returned to the national ACDA conference, with performances at Roosevelt University and Symphony Hall in Chicago. Kantorei completed its second European tour in 2012, traveling to Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Larson retired from Kantorei in May 2013. Joel M. Rinsema became Artistic Director of the group in the summer of 2014, following a nationwide conductor search.

MEET OUR GROUP soprano

alto

tenor

bass

Mary Christ Theresa Derr Juliane Dowell Kim Dunninger Beryl Fanslow Wendi Sue Grover Heather Gunnerson Stacie Hanson Sara Michael Alicia Rigsby Brenda Rolling Pearl Rutherford Annie Sullins

Emily Alexander Jan Ankele Lindsey Aquilina Lizabeth Barnett Lyn Berry-Helmlinger Sarah Harrison Shannon Lemmon-Elrod Melissa Menter Erin Meyerhoff Jennifer Moore Michelle Tombre Andrea Ware

Kai Berry-Helmlinger Landon Covington Keith Ferguson Kevin Gunnerson Jason Hindman Steve Howie Justin Kerr Brad Larson Alex Menter Jonathan Von Stroh Ryan Wright

Michael Bizzaro Michael Boender Garth Criswell Andrew Halladay Stephen Hooper Brad Jackson Karl Johnson John Ludwig Larry Meerdink John Schaak Tim Tharaldson Matt Weissenbuehler

KANTOREI'S 2015-2016 SEASON

CONCERT DATES AVAILABLE FOR OUR UPCOMING SEASON!

If you didn't receive a "save the date" flier when you entered the sanctuary, please be sure to grab one on the way out. Keep an eye on your mailbox for our annual season brochure, which will include lots more information about our upcoming concerts and special events. Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see you in October!

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KANTOREI BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kevin Gunnerson, President John Ludwig, Vice President Susan Lewkow, Treasurer Sara Michael, Secretary Michael Bizzaro Julianne Dowell

Jason Hindman Brad Jackson Katherine Mulready -------------------Lyn Berry-Helmlinger, Executive Director lyn@kantorei.org

*Kantorei is a 501(c)(3) organization and any donations to the group are deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Please consult your tax advisor for more information.

PROGRAM

Aaron Copland

in the beginning

(1900-1990)

Sarah Harrison, mezzo-soprano

the earth adorned

Waldamar Åhlén (1894-1982)

Wendi Sue Grover, soprano

INTERMISSION

PROGRAM NOTES

ABOUT THE STAFF

Perhaps rather surprisingly, Aaron Copland actually wrote relatively little music for chorus. Although he received accolades for his instrumental chamber music, solo songs, film scores (in addition to earlier nominations, his score for “The Heiress” won the Academy Award in 1949), ballets (Martha Graham’s commission, “Appalachian Spring,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1944), and, of course, his many orchestral scores (surely everyone on the globe recognizes his “Fanfare for the Common Man”), he was a bit daunted when Harvard approached him for a commissioned work. “It was brave of me to accept a commission for a choral work to be premiered at a Symposium on Musical Criticism in May 1947, never having composed anything of length for chorus,” he later reminisced. Harvard had suggested that he choose an ancient Jewish text, but, despite his roots as the descendant of Lithuanian Jews, Copland had no real experience with Hebrew, and instead elected to set the Creation Story as told in the Book of Genesis (1:1-2:7). The result was his extended motet “In the Beginning,” which received its debut performance by the Harvard University Collegiate Chorale under the baton of Robert Shaw. Copland subsequently wrote to Leonard Bernstein, “Bob Shaw did a bee-utiful job with my new chorus. Most people seemed to like it, but the press was only mildly interested. I can't imagine how you'll react to it. Anyhow, you won't have to conduct it – since there's nothing but voices.” If Copland felt that the critics had been underwhelmed at the time – not that there is much press to justify that contention – he was gratified as the work grew in popularity and stature. Copland himself conducted what must have been one of the more unusual performances – al fresco in Israel! “I leave for Tel Aviv in two days,” he wrote to Irving Fine on April 3, 1951. “Sort of excited about it. I’m to conduct 'In the Beginning' to open a Passover Service on the shores of Galilee. Seems unreal.”

artistic director

A mezzo-soprano soloist acts as the voice of God, setting the stage “in a gentle, narrative manner, like reading a familiar and oft-told story.” The unaccompanied chorus describes the fulfillment of the pronouncements, chanting their subtly varied refrain (“and the evening and the morning…”) at the end of each day’s completion. In “Copland Since 1943,” co-authored with Vivian Perlis, the composer states: “It does not incorporate folk music or jazz materials, but jazz rhythms are used in various sections, particularly for the verse ‘And let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens….’” Most glorious of all, however, is the final radiant climax, the musical embodiment of the breath that awakened the soul of man.

One of the best-known and well-loved works in Swedish music is “The Earth Adorned” by Gustav Waldemar Åhlén, a Swedish teacher and composer born in 1894. Åhlén served as organist at Stockholm’s St. Jacob’s Church for many years, and died in 1982. His setting of an old tune uses text giving praise both to the beauties of nature and to God, written by Carl David af Wirsén, a poet and secretary of the Swedish Academy born in 1842 (d. 1912).

6 lieder im freien zu singen, op.59 (six songs to be sung in the open air)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

i. im grünen ii. frühzeitiger frühling iii. abschied vom wald iv. die nachtigall v. ruhetal vi. jagdlied

the blue bird Alicia Rigsby, soprano

Charles V. Stanford (1852-1924)

Ralph Vaughan Williams three shakespeare songs (1872-1958) i. full fathom five (the tempest, act i) ii. the cloud capp'd towers (the tempest, act iv) iii. over hill, over dale (a midsummer night's dream, act ii)

Please consider turning in your program at the end of the concert to be re-used and recycled.

Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the great Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, wrote three sets of “Sechs Lieder im Freien zu singen” (which translates as “Six Songs to Be Sung in the Open Air,” or variously “To Be Sung Outdoors”). This program will present the third set, composed in 1843. As would be expected from such a title, these pieces are comparatively simple, strophic settings in a folk-song vein. The four poets represented in these six pieces were highly respected and notable figures (indeed, each of the three gentlemen has his own postage stamp), but history has not remembered them all equally. Helmina von Chézy (Im Grünen) is best known today for having written the libretto for Carl Maria von Weber’s opera “Euryanthe” and for her play “Rosamunde,” for which Schubert wrote the incidental music (she also raised some eyebrows during her lifetime for her somewhat chequered love life). Johann Ludwig Uhland (Ruhethal) began his career as a lawyer, but later gave up the law for a career in literature, serving for a time as a professor of literature at the University of Tübingen. Rather surprisingly, he is commemorated by a town in Texas, where a German immigrant changed the name of the very small community of Live Oak to Uhland in 1900. Better known still is Joseph von Eichendorff (Abschied vom Walde and Jagdlied), who is more properly known as Josef Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (Freiherr translating most accurately as “Baron”). Often called “the last champion of Romanticism,” his poetry is among the most often set of all the German poets, and many songs set to his texts have become folk songs, for all practical purposes. And finally, the most famous of the four is of course Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Frühzeitiger Frühling and Die Nachtigall), one of Germany’s – indeed, the world’s – greatest men of letters, and one of the most remarkable figures in Western history for his contributions to science and philosophy, as well as literature.

This season is JOEL M. RINSEMA’s first year as Artistic Director of Kantorei. Dedicated to expanding the artistic reach and transformative power of quality choral arts, he won the coveted Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from Chorus America in 2013. For the past 14 years, he served as the Assistant Conductor of the Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale, working with internationally renowned conductor Charles Bruffy.

Joel assisted in all aspects of artistic planning and leadership, and during his tenure, Phoenix Chorale recordings earned a total of two Grammy awards and eight Grammy nominations. The group’s recording “Northern Lights: Music of Ola Gjeilo” was named iTunes Classical Vocal Album of the year in 2012.

Joel holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Arizona State University, and a B.A. in vocal and choral performance from Whitworth College in Washington. He commutes to Denver weekly from Phoenix, where he lives with his wife, Dana, and children, Rachel and Derek, and continues in his role as President & CEO of the Phoenix Chorale.

assistant conductor SARAH HARRISON is in her ninth year of teaching choir and AP

Music Theory at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village.

Under her direction, choirs have appeared at several regional and state conventions. Prior to CCHS, Sarah opened and spent five years at Silver Creek Middle/Senior High School in Longmont, Colo. In addition to teaching, Sarah sings with various ensembles throughout the community, including Kantorei, and is an orchestra and jazz string bassist. She was Kantorei’s Interim Director for the 2013-2014 season. She also recently served as Colorado’s ACDA High School Mixed Repertoire and Standard Chair. Sarah earned her Bachelor of Music Education degree, with instrumental and vocal certification, from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and her Master of Music in conducting and music education from Colorado State University.

Irish composer, teacher and conductor Charles Stanford was one of the founding members of the Royal College of Music in London, where he taught composition to pupils such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

His composition The Blue Bird is the third in a set of eight songs published in 1910, set to the poetry of Mary Coleridge. The simple beauty of this a capella piece perfectly captures the serenity and timelessness of watching a blue bird as it flies over a lake.

accompanist

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed “Three Shakespeare Songs” for the National Competitive Festival of the British Federation of Music Festivals in June 1951; it was held barely a month after the death of his first wife, and it is tempting to imagine that working with these texts provided some consolation for him. The cross-rhythms in his setting of “Full fathom five” effectively jumble the accents and blur the metre, like overlapping eddies at the turn of the tides. Prospero’s speech in Act IV of The Tempest, from which “The cloud-capp’d towers” is extracted, contains some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. This text, coming as it does after Prospero’s display of his powers for Ferdinand’s edification, is given an evocative setting whose solemn, stately chords gravely sweep away the magical nuptial mass, ‘this insubstantial pageant’ (IV.i.167).

“Over hill, over dale” (A Midsummer-Night’s Dream) is sung by a fairy of Titania’s court, Vaughan Williams here conjuring a scene in which she dashes away to bejewel the green as the Queen’s train approaches, the hills sending the echoes back through the night to Puck’s listening ear.

Master of Music degree in piano performance and music theory at Indiana University, Bloomington. Alicia was one of the original members of Kantorei, both as a singer and accompanist. She has performed with the Estes Trio, the Aspen Music Festival and the Boulder Chamber Orchestra. Alicia has been teaching music at the Children’s Music Academy, based in Littleton, for 15 years. She is passionate about music as an art form, a teaching tool and an expressionistic medium, and enjoys having all of the musical opportunities in her life.

Program notes by Kathryn Parke, except “The Earth Adorned” (Katrina Becker) and “The Blue Bird” (Lyn Berry-Helmlinger).

ALICIA RIGSBY came to Colorado in 1997 after completing her

PROGRAM

Aaron Copland

in the beginning

(1900-1990)

Sarah Harrison, mezzo-soprano

the earth adorned

Waldamar Åhlén (1894-1982)

Wendi Sue Grover, soprano

INTERMISSION

PROGRAM NOTES

ABOUT THE STAFF

Perhaps rather surprisingly, Aaron Copland actually wrote relatively little music for chorus. Although he received accolades for his instrumental chamber music, solo songs, film scores (in addition to earlier nominations, his score for “The Heiress” won the Academy Award in 1949), ballets (Martha Graham’s commission, “Appalachian Spring,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1944), and, of course, his many orchestral scores (surely everyone on the globe recognizes his “Fanfare for the Common Man”), he was a bit daunted when Harvard approached him for a commissioned work. “It was brave of me to accept a commission for a choral work to be premiered at a Symposium on Musical Criticism in May 1947, never having composed anything of length for chorus,” he later reminisced. Harvard had suggested that he choose an ancient Jewish text, but, despite his roots as the descendant of Lithuanian Jews, Copland had no real experience with Hebrew, and instead elected to set the Creation Story as told in the Book of Genesis (1:1-2:7). The result was his extended motet “In the Beginning,” which received its debut performance by the Harvard University Collegiate Chorale under the baton of Robert Shaw. Copland subsequently wrote to Leonard Bernstein, “Bob Shaw did a bee-utiful job with my new chorus. Most people seemed to like it, but the press was only mildly interested. I can't imagine how you'll react to it. Anyhow, you won't have to conduct it – since there's nothing but voices.” If Copland felt that the critics had been underwhelmed at the time – not that there is much press to justify that contention – he was gratified as the work grew in popularity and stature. Copland himself conducted what must have been one of the more unusual performances – al fresco in Israel! “I leave for Tel Aviv in two days,” he wrote to Irving Fine on April 3, 1951. “Sort of excited about it. I’m to conduct 'In the Beginning' to open a Passover Service on the shores of Galilee. Seems unreal.”

artistic director

A mezzo-soprano soloist acts as the voice of God, setting the stage “in a gentle, narrative manner, like reading a familiar and oft-told story.” The unaccompanied chorus describes the fulfillment of the pronouncements, chanting their subtly varied refrain (“and the evening and the morning…”) at the end of each day’s completion. In “Copland Since 1943,” co-authored with Vivian Perlis, the composer states: “It does not incorporate folk music or jazz materials, but jazz rhythms are used in various sections, particularly for the verse ‘And let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens….’” Most glorious of all, however, is the final radiant climax, the musical embodiment of the breath that awakened the soul of man.

One of the best-known and well-loved works in Swedish music is “The Earth Adorned” by Gustav Waldemar Åhlén, a Swedish teacher and composer born in 1894. Åhlén served as organist at Stockholm’s St. Jacob’s Church for many years, and died in 1982. His setting of an old tune uses text giving praise both to the beauties of nature and to God, written by Carl David af Wirsén, a poet and secretary of the Swedish Academy born in 1842 (d. 1912).

6 lieder im freien zu singen, op.59 (six songs to be sung in the open air)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

i. im grünen ii. frühzeitiger frühling iii. abschied vom wald iv. die nachtigall v. ruhetal vi. jagdlied

the blue bird Alicia Rigsby, soprano

Charles V. Stanford (1852-1924)

Ralph Vaughan Williams three shakespeare songs (1872-1958) i. full fathom five (the tempest, act i) ii. the cloud capp'd towers (the tempest, act iv) iii. over hill, over dale (a midsummer night's dream, act ii)

Please consider turning in your program at the end of the concert to be re-used and recycled.

Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the great Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, wrote three sets of “Sechs Lieder im Freien zu singen” (which translates as “Six Songs to Be Sung in the Open Air,” or variously “To Be Sung Outdoors”). This program will present the third set, composed in 1843. As would be expected from such a title, these pieces are comparatively simple, strophic settings in a folk-song vein. The four poets represented in these six pieces were highly respected and notable figures (indeed, each of the three gentlemen has his own postage stamp), but history has not remembered them all equally. Helmina von Chézy (Im Grünen) is best known today for having written the libretto for Carl Maria von Weber’s opera “Euryanthe” and for her play “Rosamunde,” for which Schubert wrote the incidental music (she also raised some eyebrows during her lifetime for her somewhat chequered love life). Johann Ludwig Uhland (Ruhethal) began his career as a lawyer, but later gave up the law for a career in literature, serving for a time as a professor of literature at the University of Tübingen. Rather surprisingly, he is commemorated by a town in Texas, where a German immigrant changed the name of the very small community of Live Oak to Uhland in 1900. Better known still is Joseph von Eichendorff (Abschied vom Walde and Jagdlied), who is more properly known as Josef Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (Freiherr translating most accurately as “Baron”). Often called “the last champion of Romanticism,” his poetry is among the most often set of all the German poets, and many songs set to his texts have become folk songs, for all practical purposes. And finally, the most famous of the four is of course Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Frühzeitiger Frühling and Die Nachtigall), one of Germany’s – indeed, the world’s – greatest men of letters, and one of the most remarkable figures in Western history for his contributions to science and philosophy, as well as literature.

This season is JOEL M. RINSEMA’s first year as Artistic Director of Kantorei. Dedicated to expanding the artistic reach and transformative power of quality choral arts, he won the coveted Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from Chorus America in 2013. For the past 14 years, he served as the Assistant Conductor of the Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale, working with internationally renowned conductor Charles Bruffy.

Joel assisted in all aspects of artistic planning and leadership, and during his tenure, Phoenix Chorale recordings earned a total of two Grammy awards and eight Grammy nominations. The group’s recording “Northern Lights: Music of Ola Gjeilo” was named iTunes Classical Vocal Album of the year in 2012.

Joel holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Arizona State University, and a B.A. in vocal and choral performance from Whitworth College in Washington. He commutes to Denver weekly from Phoenix, where he lives with his wife, Dana, and children, Rachel and Derek, and continues in his role as President & CEO of the Phoenix Chorale.

assistant conductor SARAH HARRISON is in her ninth year of teaching choir and AP

Music Theory at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village.

Under her direction, choirs have appeared at several regional and state conventions. Prior to CCHS, Sarah opened and spent five years at Silver Creek Middle/Senior High School in Longmont, Colo. In addition to teaching, Sarah sings with various ensembles throughout the community, including Kantorei, and is an orchestra and jazz string bassist. She was Kantorei’s Interim Director for the 2013-2014 season. She also recently served as Colorado’s ACDA High School Mixed Repertoire and Standard Chair. Sarah earned her Bachelor of Music Education degree, with instrumental and vocal certification, from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and her Master of Music in conducting and music education from Colorado State University.

Irish composer, teacher and conductor Charles Stanford was one of the founding members of the Royal College of Music in London, where he taught composition to pupils such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

His composition The Blue Bird is the third in a set of eight songs published in 1910, set to the poetry of Mary Coleridge. The simple beauty of this a capella piece perfectly captures the serenity and timelessness of watching a blue bird as it flies over a lake.

accompanist

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed “Three Shakespeare Songs” for the National Competitive Festival of the British Federation of Music Festivals in June 1951; it was held barely a month after the death of his first wife, and it is tempting to imagine that working with these texts provided some consolation for him. The cross-rhythms in his setting of “Full fathom five” effectively jumble the accents and blur the metre, like overlapping eddies at the turn of the tides. Prospero’s speech in Act IV of The Tempest, from which “The cloud-capp’d towers” is extracted, contains some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. This text, coming as it does after Prospero’s display of his powers for Ferdinand’s edification, is given an evocative setting whose solemn, stately chords gravely sweep away the magical nuptial mass, ‘this insubstantial pageant’ (IV.i.167).

“Over hill, over dale” (A Midsummer-Night’s Dream) is sung by a fairy of Titania’s court, Vaughan Williams here conjuring a scene in which she dashes away to bejewel the green as the Queen’s train approaches, the hills sending the echoes back through the night to Puck’s listening ear.

Master of Music degree in piano performance and music theory at Indiana University, Bloomington. Alicia was one of the original members of Kantorei, both as a singer and accompanist. She has performed with the Estes Trio, the Aspen Music Festival and the Boulder Chamber Orchestra. Alicia has been teaching music at the Children’s Music Academy, based in Littleton, for 15 years. She is passionate about music as an art form, a teaching tool and an expressionistic medium, and enjoys having all of the musical opportunities in her life.

Program notes by Kathryn Parke, except “The Earth Adorned” (Katrina Becker) and “The Blue Bird” (Lyn Berry-Helmlinger).

ALICIA RIGSBY came to Colorado in 1997 after completing her

PROGRAM

Aaron Copland

in the beginning

(1900-1990)

Sarah Harrison, mezzo-soprano

the earth adorned

Waldamar Åhlén (1894-1982)

Wendi Sue Grover, soprano

INTERMISSION

PROGRAM NOTES

ABOUT THE STAFF

Perhaps rather surprisingly, Aaron Copland actually wrote relatively little music for chorus. Although he received accolades for his instrumental chamber music, solo songs, film scores (in addition to earlier nominations, his score for “The Heiress” won the Academy Award in 1949), ballets (Martha Graham’s commission, “Appalachian Spring,” was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1944), and, of course, his many orchestral scores (surely everyone on the globe recognizes his “Fanfare for the Common Man”), he was a bit daunted when Harvard approached him for a commissioned work. “It was brave of me to accept a commission for a choral work to be premiered at a Symposium on Musical Criticism in May 1947, never having composed anything of length for chorus,” he later reminisced. Harvard had suggested that he choose an ancient Jewish text, but, despite his roots as the descendant of Lithuanian Jews, Copland had no real experience with Hebrew, and instead elected to set the Creation Story as told in the Book of Genesis (1:1-2:7). The result was his extended motet “In the Beginning,” which received its debut performance by the Harvard University Collegiate Chorale under the baton of Robert Shaw. Copland subsequently wrote to Leonard Bernstein, “Bob Shaw did a bee-utiful job with my new chorus. Most people seemed to like it, but the press was only mildly interested. I can't imagine how you'll react to it. Anyhow, you won't have to conduct it – since there's nothing but voices.” If Copland felt that the critics had been underwhelmed at the time – not that there is much press to justify that contention – he was gratified as the work grew in popularity and stature. Copland himself conducted what must have been one of the more unusual performances – al fresco in Israel! “I leave for Tel Aviv in two days,” he wrote to Irving Fine on April 3, 1951. “Sort of excited about it. I’m to conduct 'In the Beginning' to open a Passover Service on the shores of Galilee. Seems unreal.”

artistic director

A mezzo-soprano soloist acts as the voice of God, setting the stage “in a gentle, narrative manner, like reading a familiar and oft-told story.” The unaccompanied chorus describes the fulfillment of the pronouncements, chanting their subtly varied refrain (“and the evening and the morning…”) at the end of each day’s completion. In “Copland Since 1943,” co-authored with Vivian Perlis, the composer states: “It does not incorporate folk music or jazz materials, but jazz rhythms are used in various sections, particularly for the verse ‘And let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens….’” Most glorious of all, however, is the final radiant climax, the musical embodiment of the breath that awakened the soul of man.

One of the best-known and well-loved works in Swedish music is “The Earth Adorned” by Gustav Waldemar Åhlén, a Swedish teacher and composer born in 1894. Åhlén served as organist at Stockholm’s St. Jacob’s Church for many years, and died in 1982. His setting of an old tune uses text giving praise both to the beauties of nature and to God, written by Carl David af Wirsén, a poet and secretary of the Swedish Academy born in 1842 (d. 1912).

6 lieder im freien zu singen, op.59 (six songs to be sung in the open air)

Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

i. im grünen ii. frühzeitiger frühling iii. abschied vom wald iv. die nachtigall v. ruhetal vi. jagdlied

the blue bird Alicia Rigsby, soprano

Charles V. Stanford (1852-1924)

Ralph Vaughan Williams three shakespeare songs (1872-1958) i. full fathom five (the tempest, act i) ii. the cloud capp'd towers (the tempest, act iv) iii. over hill, over dale (a midsummer night's dream, act ii)

Please consider turning in your program at the end of the concert to be re-used and recycled.

Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the great Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, wrote three sets of “Sechs Lieder im Freien zu singen” (which translates as “Six Songs to Be Sung in the Open Air,” or variously “To Be Sung Outdoors”). This program will present the third set, composed in 1843. As would be expected from such a title, these pieces are comparatively simple, strophic settings in a folk-song vein. The four poets represented in these six pieces were highly respected and notable figures (indeed, each of the three gentlemen has his own postage stamp), but history has not remembered them all equally. Helmina von Chézy (Im Grünen) is best known today for having written the libretto for Carl Maria von Weber’s opera “Euryanthe” and for her play “Rosamunde,” for which Schubert wrote the incidental music (she also raised some eyebrows during her lifetime for her somewhat chequered love life). Johann Ludwig Uhland (Ruhethal) began his career as a lawyer, but later gave up the law for a career in literature, serving for a time as a professor of literature at the University of Tübingen. Rather surprisingly, he is commemorated by a town in Texas, where a German immigrant changed the name of the very small community of Live Oak to Uhland in 1900. Better known still is Joseph von Eichendorff (Abschied vom Walde and Jagdlied), who is more properly known as Josef Karl Benedikt, Freiherr von Eichendorff (Freiherr translating most accurately as “Baron”). Often called “the last champion of Romanticism,” his poetry is among the most often set of all the German poets, and many songs set to his texts have become folk songs, for all practical purposes. And finally, the most famous of the four is of course Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Frühzeitiger Frühling and Die Nachtigall), one of Germany’s – indeed, the world’s – greatest men of letters, and one of the most remarkable figures in Western history for his contributions to science and philosophy, as well as literature.

This season is JOEL M. RINSEMA’s first year as Artistic Director of Kantorei. Dedicated to expanding the artistic reach and transformative power of quality choral arts, he won the coveted Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from Chorus America in 2013. For the past 14 years, he served as the Assistant Conductor of the Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale, working with internationally renowned conductor Charles Bruffy.

Joel assisted in all aspects of artistic planning and leadership, and during his tenure, Phoenix Chorale recordings earned a total of two Grammy awards and eight Grammy nominations. The group’s recording “Northern Lights: Music of Ola Gjeilo” was named iTunes Classical Vocal Album of the year in 2012.

Joel holds a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Arizona State University, and a B.A. in vocal and choral performance from Whitworth College in Washington. He commutes to Denver weekly from Phoenix, where he lives with his wife, Dana, and children, Rachel and Derek, and continues in his role as President & CEO of the Phoenix Chorale.

assistant conductor SARAH HARRISON is in her ninth year of teaching choir and AP

Music Theory at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village.

Under her direction, choirs have appeared at several regional and state conventions. Prior to CCHS, Sarah opened and spent five years at Silver Creek Middle/Senior High School in Longmont, Colo. In addition to teaching, Sarah sings with various ensembles throughout the community, including Kantorei, and is an orchestra and jazz string bassist. She was Kantorei’s Interim Director for the 2013-2014 season. She also recently served as Colorado’s ACDA High School Mixed Repertoire and Standard Chair. Sarah earned her Bachelor of Music Education degree, with instrumental and vocal certification, from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., and her Master of Music in conducting and music education from Colorado State University.

Irish composer, teacher and conductor Charles Stanford was one of the founding members of the Royal College of Music in London, where he taught composition to pupils such as Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

His composition The Blue Bird is the third in a set of eight songs published in 1910, set to the poetry of Mary Coleridge. The simple beauty of this a capella piece perfectly captures the serenity and timelessness of watching a blue bird as it flies over a lake.

accompanist

Ralph Vaughan Williams composed “Three Shakespeare Songs” for the National Competitive Festival of the British Federation of Music Festivals in June 1951; it was held barely a month after the death of his first wife, and it is tempting to imagine that working with these texts provided some consolation for him. The cross-rhythms in his setting of “Full fathom five” effectively jumble the accents and blur the metre, like overlapping eddies at the turn of the tides. Prospero’s speech in Act IV of The Tempest, from which “The cloud-capp’d towers” is extracted, contains some of Shakespeare’s most famous lines. This text, coming as it does after Prospero’s display of his powers for Ferdinand’s edification, is given an evocative setting whose solemn, stately chords gravely sweep away the magical nuptial mass, ‘this insubstantial pageant’ (IV.i.167).

“Over hill, over dale” (A Midsummer-Night’s Dream) is sung by a fairy of Titania’s court, Vaughan Williams here conjuring a scene in which she dashes away to bejewel the green as the Queen’s train approaches, the hills sending the echoes back through the night to Puck’s listening ear.

Master of Music degree in piano performance and music theory at Indiana University, Bloomington. Alicia was one of the original members of Kantorei, both as a singer and accompanist. She has performed with the Estes Trio, the Aspen Music Festival and the Boulder Chamber Orchestra. Alicia has been teaching music at the Children’s Music Academy, based in Littleton, for 15 years. She is passionate about music as an art form, a teaching tool and an expressionistic medium, and enjoys having all of the musical opportunities in her life.

Program notes by Kathryn Parke, except “The Earth Adorned” (Katrina Becker) and “The Blue Bird” (Lyn Berry-Helmlinger).

ALICIA RIGSBY came to Colorado in 1997 after completing her

ABOUT THE CHOIR

KANTOREI ("singers") formed in 1997 under Richard Larson’s leadership and has expanded into an auditioned, 52-voice ensemble. Its members come from schools with strong choral music programs, such as Augustana, Brigham Young, Concordia, Luther, St. Olaf, University of Denver, Wartburg and University of Northern Colorado.

Kantorei established itself as one of the nation’s premier choral ensembles after performing as an auditioned choir for the 2003 national American Choral Director’s Association conference at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the Vatican in June 2007.

More recently, Kantorei has been featured in several regional and national conferences, including the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention and 2010 Southwestern Regional ACDA convention, both held in Denver. In March 2011, Kantorei returned to the national ACDA conference, with performances at Roosevelt University and Symphony Hall in Chicago. Kantorei completed its second European tour in 2012, traveling to Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Larson retired from Kantorei in May 2013. Joel M. Rinsema became Artistic Director of the group in the summer of 2014, following a nationwide conductor search.

MEET OUR GROUP soprano

alto

tenor

bass

Mary Christ Theresa Derr Juliane Dowell Kim Dunninger Beryl Fanslow Wendi Sue Grover Heather Gunnerson Stacie Hanson Sara Michael Alicia Rigsby Brenda Rolling Pearl Rutherford Annie Sullins

Emily Alexander Jan Ankele Lindsey Aquilina Lizabeth Barnett Lyn Berry-Helmlinger Sarah Harrison Shannon Lemmon-Elrod Melissa Menter Erin Meyerhoff Jennifer Moore Michelle Tombre Andrea Ware

Kai Berry-Helmlinger Landon Covington Keith Ferguson Kevin Gunnerson Jason Hindman Steve Howie Justin Kerr Brad Larson Alex Menter Jonathan Von Stroh Ryan Wright

Michael Bizzaro Michael Boender Garth Criswell Andrew Halladay Stephen Hooper Brad Jackson Karl Johnson John Ludwig Larry Meerdink John Schaak Tim Tharaldson Matt Weissenbuehler

KANTOREI'S 2015-2016 SEASON

CONCERT DATES AVAILABLE FOR OUR UPCOMING SEASON!

If you didn't receive a "save the date" flier when you entered the sanctuary, please be sure to grab one on the way out. Keep an eye on your mailbox for our annual season brochure, which will include lots more information about our upcoming concerts and special events. Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see you in October!

FOLLOW KANTOREI ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND YOUTUBE! Facebook.com/kantorei | Twitter.com/kantoreidenver | Youtube.com/kantorei

KANTOREI BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kevin Gunnerson, President John Ludwig, Vice President Susan Lewkow, Treasurer Sara Michael, Secretary Michael Bizzaro Julianne Dowell

Jason Hindman Brad Jackson Katherine Mulready -------------------Lyn Berry-Helmlinger, Executive Director lyn@kantorei.org

*Kantorei is a 501(c)(3) organization and any donations to the group are deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Please consult your tax advisor for more information.

ABOUT THE CHOIR

KANTOREI ("singers") formed in 1997 under Richard Larson’s leadership and has expanded into an auditioned, 52-voice ensemble. Its members come from schools with strong choral music programs, such as Augustana, Brigham Young, Concordia, Luther, St. Olaf, University of Denver, Wartburg and University of Northern Colorado.

Kantorei established itself as one of the nation’s premier choral ensembles after performing as an auditioned choir for the 2003 national American Choral Director’s Association conference at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the Vatican in June 2007.

More recently, Kantorei has been featured in several regional and national conferences, including the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention and 2010 Southwestern Regional ACDA convention, both held in Denver. In March 2011, Kantorei returned to the national ACDA conference, with performances at Roosevelt University and Symphony Hall in Chicago. Kantorei completed its second European tour in 2012, traveling to Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Larson retired from Kantorei in May 2013. Joel M. Rinsema became Artistic Director of the group in the summer of 2014, following a nationwide conductor search.

MEET OUR GROUP soprano

alto

tenor

bass

Mary Christ Theresa Derr Juliane Dowell Kim Dunninger Beryl Fanslow Wendi Sue Grover Heather Gunnerson Stacie Hanson Sara Michael Alicia Rigsby Brenda Rolling Pearl Rutherford Annie Sullins

Emily Alexander Jan Ankele Lindsey Aquilina Lizabeth Barnett Lyn Berry-Helmlinger Sarah Harrison Shannon Lemmon-Elrod Melissa Menter Erin Meyerhoff Jennifer Moore Michelle Tombre Andrea Ware

Kai Berry-Helmlinger Landon Covington Keith Ferguson Kevin Gunnerson Jason Hindman Steve Howie Justin Kerr Brad Larson Alex Menter Jonathan Von Stroh Ryan Wright

Michael Bizzaro Michael Boender Garth Criswell Andrew Halladay Stephen Hooper Brad Jackson Karl Johnson John Ludwig Larry Meerdink John Schaak Tim Tharaldson Matt Weissenbuehler

KANTOREI'S 2015-2016 SEASON

CONCERT DATES AVAILABLE FOR OUR UPCOMING SEASON!

If you didn't receive a "save the date" flier when you entered the sanctuary, please be sure to grab one on the way out. Keep an eye on your mailbox for our annual season brochure, which will include lots more information about our upcoming concerts and special events. Have a wonderful summer, and we'll see you in October!

FOLLOW KANTOREI ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND YOUTUBE! Facebook.com/kantorei | Twitter.com/kantoreidenver | Youtube.com/kantorei

KANTOREI BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kevin Gunnerson, President John Ludwig, Vice President Susan Lewkow, Treasurer Sara Michael, Secretary Michael Bizzaro Julianne Dowell

Jason Hindman Brad Jackson Katherine Mulready -------------------Lyn Berry-Helmlinger, Executive Director lyn@kantorei.org

*Kantorei is a 501(c)(3) organization and any donations to the group are deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Please consult your tax advisor for more information.