A Musical Wilderness of
MARCH 29
Saturday • 7:30PM
Alamo Heights United Methodist Church, San Antonio, TX
MARCH 30
Sunday • 3:00PM
The Chapel of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX
20th Anniversary Season
A Musical Wilderness of
FEATURING
Richard Bjella, Artistic Director
Scott MacPherson, Founding Artistic Director
Eric Thompson, Collaborative Pianist
S. Andrew Lloyd, Organist Michelle Liu, violinist
SATURDAY, MARCH 29, 2025 • 7:30PM
SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2025 • 3:00PM
Concert Sponsors:
The City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture
The San Antonio Symphony League
The Sunday Concert is presented by Caritas Concert Series
Through exquisite music and innovative programming, the San Antonio Chamber Choir elevates the spirit, enlightens the mind, and nurtures the soul.
A MUSICAL WILDERNESS OF MIRRORS
I
Holy Radiant Light
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864–1956) Worthy is the Lamb* Joanna Marsh (b. 1970) Andrew Lloyd, Organist
II
Exultate Justi Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (ca. 1560–1627) Exaltabo te** Gyônsyôsi Levente (b. 1975)
III
Hard Times Come Again No More
Stephen Foster (1826–64) arr. Shawn Kirchner (b. 1979) Will the Circle be Unbroken Appalachian tune arr. J. David Moore (b. 1962)
Trio: Antonia Rahe, LaDawn Petersen, Mary Cowart
IV
Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph the Second Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770–1827) A Silence Haunts Me Jake Runestad (b. 1986)
Quartet: Lindsay Selli, Jennifer Root, Gregory Hilliard, Rob Saldaña
Intermission
V
“You Rise, I Fall” from The Sacred Veil Eric Whitacre (b.1970) A Little Snow Was Here and There** Andrew Rindfleisch (b. 1963)
VI
“This Little Babe” from Ceremony of Carols Benjamin Britten (1913–76) Careless Carols A. Rindfleisch
VII
Mille regretz
Josquin des Prez (ca.1450–1521) Abendlied Josef Rheinberger (1839–1901)
Scott MacPherson, conductor
VIII
Duido Latvian folk song arr. Ilona Rupaine (b. 1966)
Soloists: Sarah Davis and Anna Osterman
“Fascinatin’ Rhythm” / “I Got Rhythm” from By George!
Soloists: Kelly Leary and Joseph Herron
George Gershwin (1898–1937)
* Texas Premiere
** World premiere
SOPRANO 1
Cami Everitt
Nancy Poffenbarger
Antonia Rahe
Lindsay Selli
SOPRANO 2
Natalie Baker
Sarah Davis
Anna Osterman
SAN ANTONIO CHAMBER CHOIR
Richard Bjella, Artistic Director
Roland Barrera, Executive Director
ALTO 1
Kelly Leary
Jennifer Quintero
Hillary Schranze
ALTO 2
Christian N. Cruz
Crystal Jarrell Johnson
LaDawn Petersen
Jennifer Root
TENOR 1
Mary Cowart
Seth Lafler
Manny Lopez
TENOR 2
Joseph Herron
Gregory Hilliard
Sean Osman
BARITONE
Jordan Boyd
Chaz Nailor
Rob Saldaña
BASS
Jairus Stephen Brambila-Gil
Colin Powell
Michael Zuniga
The SanAntonio Chamber Choir (SACC) is completing its twentieth anniversary season. SACC has provided art of the highest professional quality through choral music and singing. The ensemble is made up of professional singers, originating from San Antonio and surrounding areas. Many of the singers are active performers or music educators throughout the SanAntonio area. SACC members have worked passionately to engage with all areas and peoples of the SanAntonio community with concert offerings, summer choir camps, and weekly gatherings of theAlamo City Street Choir which serves many unhoused neighbors. Under the current direction ofArtistic Director, Richard Bjella, SACC singers apply their musicianship and diverse experiences to elevate the choir to new heights of excellence. SACC was founded in 2005 and since then has offered concert experiences in exquisite venues throughout the state of Texas.
Since its founding, SACC has performed more than five hundred works on seventy programs in nine Texas cities with a repertoire ranging from the fifteenth to the twenty-first centuries. SACC has a growing presence in San Antonio that is reflected in their diverse and innovative programming. The organization has had twoArtistic Directors - Scott MacPherson and Richard Bjella. Bjella joined SACC in 2014 when MacPherson moved on to Ohio for work at Kent State University. Since 2018, SACC has presented three successful productions in the H-E-B Performance Hall at the Tobin Center for the PerformingArts. SACC has collaborated with other musical organizations such as theYouth Orchestras of SanAntonio, Children's Chorus of San Antonio, the SAPhil, SOLI, as well as åvarious local high school, church, and college choirs.
SACC has commissioned new works fromAmerican composers including Jake Runestad, Shawn Kirchner,Andrew Rindfleisch, Kyle Pederson and Stacey V. Gibbs. In addition, SACC has presented concerts for audiences at professional conferences of the Texas Choral DirectorsAssociation (2014) and theAmerican Choral DirectorsAssociation (2013).
SACC is privileged to also offer two community connection programs. First, SACC offers theAll-State forALLChoir Camp to high school choir students which, includes three days of intensive music-learning of the TMEAAll-State Choir audition repertoire.And theAlamo City Street Choir offers a musical outlet for those experiencing homelessness and severe disadvantage. SACC is committed to providing programming that helps others to find joy through singing. Thank you for attending this concert series and please stay in touch for the 2025–26 Concert SeasonAnnouncement.
Holy Radiant Light
PROGRAM
Holy radiant Light, Thou holy radiance of the Father, glorious and mighty, Thou only begotten Son of God eternal, holy Jesu. Come we, now, to the hour of setting sun; The lights of evening round us shine; Holy, O Holy Ones, holy Trinity eternal, We sing Thy praise, evermore we sing Thy praise, holy Trinity. With undefiled lips evermore Thy glory to be praised art thou worthy, To be praised evermore. Holy Son of God, source of every life, Now all the world doth praise thee evermore.
Early Greek Hymn of Sophronius
Worthy is the Lamb Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, And hath redeemed us to God by His Blood, To receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, And honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him That sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, Forever and ever. Amen.
Revelations 5:12
Exultate Justi
Rejoice in the Lord, o ye just: Praise is fitting for the upright. Give praise to God upon the harp, Play upon the ten-stringed psaltery. Sing to him a new song, Sing skillfully with a strong voice.
Psalm 33
Exaltabo te
I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Amen.
Psalm 145
Hard Times Come Again No More
Let us pause in life’s pleasures and count its many tears, While we all sup sorrow with the poor: There’s a song that will linger forever in our ears; Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary; Hard Times, Hard Times, come again no more: Many days you have lingered around my cabin door; Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
While we seek mirth and beauty and music light and gay, There are frail forms fainting at the door.
Though their voices are silent, their pleading looks will say, Oh! Hard times, come again no more.
‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary; Hard Times, Hard Times, come again no more: Many days you have lingered around my cabin door; Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
‘Tis a sigh that is wafted across the troubled wave, ‘Tis a wail that is heard upon the shore, ‘Tis a dirge that is murmured around the lowly grave, –Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
‘Tis the song, the sigh of the weary; Hard Times, Hard Times, come again no more: Many days you have lingered around my cabin door; Oh! Hard Times, come again no more.
Stephen Foster
Will the Circle be Unbroken Will the circle be unbroken By and by Lord, by and by, There's a better home awaitin’ If we try Lord, if we try.
I was singing with my sisters, I was singing with my friends, And we all can sing together, Cause the circle never ends.
Will the circle be unbroken By and by Lord, by and by, There's a better home awaitin’ If we try Lord, if we try.
I was born down in the valley Where the sun refuse to shine. But I’m climbing up to the highland, Gonna make that mountain mine.
Will the circle be unbroken By and by Lord, by and by, There's a better home awaitin’ If we try Lord, if we try.
Lyrics by Betsy Rose, Cathy Winter, and Marcia Taylor
Cantata on the Death of Emperor Joseph, the Second Dead! Death shatters through the wretched night. Rocks hurl cries back in an echo!
And the waves of the ocean howl it out from deepest regions. Joseph, the mighty, is dead!
A Silence Haunts Me
Hear me, brothers —
PROGRAM (CONTINUED)
I’ve a confession painful to make. Six years I have endured a curse that deepens every day. They say that soon I’ll cease to hear the very music of my soul. What should be the sense most perfect in me fails me, shames me, taunts me. A silence haunts me.
They ask me — Do you hear the shepherd singing far-off soft? Do you hear a distant fluting dancing joyously aloft? No. I think so? No. I think so? No.
God, am I Prometheus? exiled in chains for gifting humankind my fire? Take my feeling take my sight — take my wings midflight but let me hear the searing roar of air before I score the ground!
Why? Silence is God’s reply — and so I beg me take my life — when lo — I hear a grace and feel a ringing in me after all —
so now as leaves of autumn fall, I make my mark and sign my name and turn again to touch my flame of music to the world, a broken man, as best I can,
As ever, Faithfully yours, (— A bell? A bell?) Hear me, and be well.
After Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament by Todd Boss
“You Rise, I Fall” from The Sacred Veil Listening to your labored breath, Your struggle ends as mine begins. You rise; I fall.
Fading, yet already gone;
What calls you I cannot provide. You rise; I fall.
Broken, with a heavy hand I reach to you, and close your eyes. You rise; I fall.
Charles Anthony Silvestri
A Little Snow was Here and There
A little Snow was here and there Disseminated in her HairSince she and I had met and played Decade had gathered to Decade -
But Time had added not obtained Impregnable the Rose For summer too indelible Too obdurate for Snows -
Emily Dickinson
“This Little Babe” from Ceremony of Carols
This little Babe so few days old is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at his presence quake, though he himself for cold do shake;
For in this weak unarmèd wise the gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights and wins the field, his naked breast stands for a shield;
His battering shot are babish cries, his arrows looks of weeping eyes, His martial ensigns Cold and Need, and feeble Flesh his warrior's steed.
His camp is pitchèd in a stall, his bulwark but a broken wall; The crib his trench, haystacks his stakes; of shepherds he his muster makes;
And thus, as sure his foe to wound, the angels’ trumps alarum sound.
My soul with Christ join thou in fight; stick to the tents that he hath pight
Within his crib is surest ward; this little Babe will by thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, then flit not from this Heavenly boy!
Robert Southwell
Careless Carols
Sing the song of the moment in careless carols, in the transient light of the day.
Sing of the fleeting smiles that vanish and never look back.
PROGRAM (CONTINUED)
Weave not in memory’s thread the days that would glide into nights.
Let the moments end in moments with their cargo of fugitive songs.
Take to your breast with a smile what is easy and simple and near.
Today is the festival of phantoms that know not when they die.
Let your laughter flush in meaningless mirth like twinkles of light on the ripples.
Let your life lightly dance on the verge of Time like a dew on the tip of a leaf.
Sing the song of the moment....
Rabindranath Tagore
Mille regretz
I lament a thousand times that I am forsaking you And leaving behind your loving face.
I feel such overwhelming grief and painful sorrow That soon you will see me to waste away.
Josquin des Prez
Abendlied
Stay with us, for evening approaches; And the day is spent.
Gospel of Luke 24: 29
Duido
Winter solstice song texts with the untranslatable refrains “duido” and “kaladu”.
Christmas has arrived in a decorated sleighwith the horse's mane trailing along the ground and travelling barefoot.
The children are urged to run and greet the horse bringing Christmas (this undoubtedly refers to a procession of masked revellers including one with a horse's mask).
Come in, Christmas, we've been waiting for you! We're ready for three days and nights of celebration! Prepare the torches, light up the house and let God enter our dwelling!
Come in, Christmas! The mistress of the house opens the door and lights the way.
God enters and asks for the master of the house. The master is invited to sit at the head of the table and make sure everyone receives refreshments according to his social standing, with the leader of the masked procession receiving sweet ale to drink.
Laima Bērziņa.
Fascinatin’ Rhythm / I Got Rhythm Oh! Fascinating rhythm You've got me on the go! Fascinating rhythm, I'm all a quiver!
What a mess you're makin’! The neighbors want to know Why I'm always shakin’ Just like a flivver.
Each morning I get up with the sun, To find at night no work has been done.
I know that once it didn't matter, But now you're doing wrong; When you start to patter, I'm so unhappy.
Won't you take a day off? Decide to run along, Somewhere far away off, And make it snappy!
Oh, how I long to be the girl I used to be! Fascinating rhythm, Oh, won't you stop pickin’ on me?
I got rhythm, you got rhythm, They got rhythm, We got rhythm! I got rhythm, I got music, I got my man, Who could ask for anything more?
I got daisies in green pastures, I got my man, Who could ask for anything more? Old man trouble, I don't mind him, You won't find him 'round my door.
I got starlight, I got sweet dreams, I got my man Who could ask for anything more? Who could ask for anything more?
Ira Gershwin
PROGRAM NOTES
The San Antonio Chamber Choir programs presented over the years are all especially notable for their thoughtful choice of repertoire. There is something special in how each piece, in its individual way, reflects the overall theme of the concert. They are purposefully put together to tell a story, each contributing a part of the whole narrative. Then they are ordered not only to create program unity but also to reflect the variety of texts, tempos, key centers, length, historical provenance, and a myriad of other elements. So the whole program is in itself a work of art with a form that is based on the principles of unity and variety.
The SACC concert themes and titles are often a bit puzzling until they are revealed over the course of an hour and fifteen minutes or so. The meaning of a “Musical Wilderness of Mirrors” may appear especially obscure. SACC Artistic Director Richard Bjella offers a few of his thoughts.
We are often pairing repertoire generally accepted as well-known, and other pieces that are more obscure. When we look into a mirror, we only see a portion of reality. We're surprised by the reflection or deflection we see due to light, angle, and magnification. Thus it causes our senses to see what we are able based upon our unique perspective. We are pairing pieces that would normally be considered dissimilar. However, by juxtaposing them and exploring similarities in the wilderness that exists between them, we can find how they mirror each other.
IRussian composer Alexander Gretchaninov attended the Moscow Conservatory in 1881. Against his father’s wishes or knowledge, he studied with leading Russian composers of the time. Eventually he had a quarrel with his teacher Anton Arensky and left Moscow for St. Petersburg. There he became a favorite student of Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov and took on all the elements of his teacher’s full-blown late-Romantic style. Gretchaninov’s writing for chorus resembled his symphonic style featuring the variety of colors and textures found in his orchestrations.
His setting of Holy Radiant Light, op25b, appeared in a collection of Slovanic Ecclesiastical Songs in 1901. His expressive devices range from a legato homophonic opening to marcato, large divisi chords. They lead at one point to a fff dynamic followed by a crescendo and climax on the text “Worthy art Thou to be praised evermore.” Immediately after a brief silence, the chorus re-enters a voice or two at a time subito piano. At that entrance a shocking modulation occurs featuring a sudden shift from the key signature of four flats to three sharps.
British composer Joanna Marsh has divided her life, since 2007, between Dubai and the U.K. She attended the Royal Academy of Music in London and then served as an organ scholar at Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge. She studied composition with one of Britain’s leading composers, Judith Bingham. Her prominent commissions have included a large work for the BBC Orchestra that was first performed at the BBC Proms in Dubai. Her first opera, obviously influenced by her life in the U.A.E, was titled My Beautiful Camel.
Worthy is the Lamb was commissioned by the choir Ensemble Altera, Christopher Lowry, Founder and Director. It was first performed by the choir at St. Paul’s Parish Church, Cambridge, MA, August 20, 2022. Marsh chose the well-known text from Revelation 5:12, maybe most famously set by G.F. Handel in his Messiah. She writes for a double SATB chorus accompanied by a virtuoso organ part played in this concert by guest organist Andrew Lloyd. The work is framed by the opening section with the organ part marked “trumpety.” that returns for the closing section. The choral writing is marked by the full eightpart chorus much of the time. However, when the text reaches the text “to receive power, and riches, wisdom and strength, and glory and honor, blessing,” the two choirs sing antiphonally. At the final “Amen section, the choruses sing antiphonally, reaching a fortissimo climax. The organ has the last word—three chords marked “explosive!”
II
Ludovico Grossi da Viadana published Exultate justi in Domino in a collection of motets, Cento Concerti Ecclesiastici, op. 12 (1602). Thus, he was an important composer on the cusp of the change in style between Renaissance and early Baroque music. He was an early exponent of the new style that, most importantly, employed a basso continuo— use of a bass line most often played by a viola da gamba and a system of figuration denoting chords to be played by a keyboard instrument or lute. This setting of Psalm 33, however, is written without continuo in a style antico more typical of the older Renaissance
PROGRAM NOTES
idiom, consisting of a series of themes for each new line of text. Each new musical idea would often depict the new line of text. For example, at the word “invociferatione” (“with a great noise”) the rhythmic and melodic material reflect the verbal declamation and the word meaning.
Hungarian composer Gyöngyösi Levente studied at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest under György Orban, one of the leading musical figures in his country. Though Levente’s harmonic vocabulary is often atonal, he writes, “For me, traditional musical forms are not shackles, but frameworks that can be gradually expanded.” Exaltabo me was jointly commissioned by the SACC under Rick Bjella and by the Iowa State University Singers, James Rodde, Director The setting of Psalm 145 begins with an excited quick-note rhythmic opening of the text “I will exalt you O God.” The rhythmic motion, however, is halted suddenly by sfz long-note chords repeatedly proclaiming “Rex” (“King”). The energetic initial rhythmic figure returns in complex part-writing until a climactic moment when the incessant iteration of the word “exaltabo” is halted by a “subito p con gloria” followed by a large crescendo. A series of similar dynamic effects follows leading to the loudest and highest setting of “exaltabo.” The work ends with a breakneck-speed “Amen.”
III
Shawn Kirchner’s arrangement of Stephen Foster’s parlor song Hard Times Come Again No More was commissioned by the SACC with generous support from the Tri-M Foundation. Los Angeles based Kirchner scores the tune for piano, fiddle, and mixed chorus divisi. Foster wrote the song in 1854, seven years before the American Civil War. The words ask the fortunate few to consider the plight of the poor. Though in modern terms, the verses can be heard as maudlin, the piece gained great popularity in its time as an expression of suffering and hardship. Hard Times has even been taken up by one of today’s leading songsters. Bruce Springsteen made Foster’s piece a focal point of his 2009 “Working on a Dream Tour.”
The official founding of the bluegrass movement is marked by some writers by the 1940 arrival of Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. One of the most iconic bluegrass songs is based on the 1937 gospel hymn Will the Circle Be Unbroken. The words were written by Alda S. Habershorn and set to music by Charles H. Gabriel, who was also the composer of many Temperance Songs. Habershorn’s intended meaning, according some interpreters, was to ask whether one will lead a virtuous life and rise to join other deceased family members, or will the circle be broken.
J. David Moore’s extremely popular arrangement of this gospel tune can be seen in the very large number of YouTube recordings by mixed, men, and women’s choirs of all levels. Moore resides in Minneapolis, MN. He conducts an a cappella group called Dare to Breathe. He is also the Founder and Director of the First Readings Project, a chamber choir that acts as a resource for composers in the development of new works.
IV
Emperor Joseph II was beloved by Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven for his support of the musical arts and composers of the day. In gratitude, Beethoven dedicated his early, formidable cantata to the Emperor upon his death in 1790. The drama, power, and pathos that are synonymous with the works of the mature Beethoven are evident in this early work.
Jake Runestad is an award-winning composer who believes in the power of music to create positive change. In 2017, Jake Runestad travelled to Europe where he found himself in the Haus der Musik Museum in Vienna. There he encountered a facsimile of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament, which contained Beethoven’s first admission to his brothers that he was going deaf. Beethoven put it this way, “Ah, how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which ought to be more perfect in me than others, a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection, a perfection such as few in my profession enjoy or ever have enjoyed.”
Because of the length of Beethoven’s letter, a verbatim setting was impractical. Runestad turned to his friend and frequent collaborator, Todd Boss, to help. The librettist produced a poem entitled A Silence Haunts Me – After Beethoven’s Heiligenstadt Testament. It creates a scena in Beethoven’s voice. Their collaboration, A Silence Haunts Me, sounds more like a self-contained monologue from an opera than a traditional choral piece. Runestad uses some of Beethoven’s own musical ideas to provide context. Stitched into the work are hints at familiar themes from the Moonlight Sonata, the 3rd, 6th, and 9th Symphonies, and Creatures of Prometheus, but they are, in Runestad’s words, “filtered through a hazy, frustrated,
PROGRAM NOTES (CONTINUED)
and defeated state of being.” In 2018 he became the youngest person to win the Raymond W. Brock commission from the American Choral Directors Association.
VEric Whitacre is clearly a leader on the world’s choral music stage as composer, conductor, clinician, lecturer, pioneer—truly an icon. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music in New York City. He served two terms as Artist-in-Residence with the Los Angeles Master Chorale following five years as Composer-in-Residence at Cambridge University in the U.K.
One of his long-form works is titled The Sacred Veil. Its twelve movements set the poetry of Charles Anthony Silvestri. In these verses the poet describes the long journey taken with his wife Julie from her cancer diagnosis to her death. “You Rise, I Fall” is the penultimate movement, but Whitacre recalls that it was the second one that he composed. “Before I had a note of music written, I jotted down the words, “You rise, I fall,” thinking that it perfectly encapsulated the culmination of Tony and Julie’s journey together—just as Julie was finally released from all the suffering, Tony began his spiral downward.
Longtime Cleveland resident, Andrew Rindfleisch is Professor of Music and Head of Composition Studies at Cleveland State University. He provides the following note about his setting of A Little Snow Was Here and There for this concert: In 2014, as Scott MacPherson was preparing to step down from his position as music director of the professional chorus he founded, and as Rick Bjella was preparing to assume leadership of this ensemble, the San Antonio Chamber Choir commissioned me to compose a farewell work for the departing conductor's final concert. Emily Dickinson's poem “I Sing to Use the Waiting" provided the perfect vehicle for such a farewell. Now, over a decade later, a celebration of the organization's twentieth season has resulted in another commission. This time, to compose a work observing the brief reuniting of this ensemble's founder and its singers. Again, through some stroke of luck and serendipity, Emily Dickinson provides an unusually appropriate text, A Little Snow Was Here and There. The poem depicts the experience of old friends reuniting, and the firm bond that endures despite the passing of years. Here, the resulting musical canvas portrays this experience with both pleasure and sadness, the bittersweet outcome of the passing of time. The piece is dedicated to the San Antonio Chamber Choir, Richard Bjella, Artistic Director, and its Founder, Scott MacPherson.
VI
British composer Benjamin Britten composed his Ceremony of Carols during a perilous transatlantic voyage in 1942. On his long journey from the U.S. back to England, he had brought a copy of The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems. Britten chose the poem New Heaven, New War for the text of “This Little Babe.” The poet was Robert Southwell (1561–95), a Jesuit priest active in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. Originally written for treble voices singing in three parts, Britten’s tempo marking is “presto con fuoco (“fast with fire”). The first verse is sung in unison, the second is a two-part canon, and the third is a three-part canon. The resulting texture becomes a blur of fiery cacophony. A version for SATB mixed voices was published in 1943.
Careless Carols is a celebratory choral work by composer Rindfleisch. It was commissioned by Lawrence University’s Richard Bjella and Phillip Swan in 2007. The piece is a setting of verses by the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. The opening is energetically charged with rhythmic effects created by succinct, overlapping melodic exclamations and the alliteration of “sing and song.” After a harmonically rich middle section, the exuberance of the beginning section returns heightened with a sense of unbridled jubilation, as the full voices of the choir conclude, imploring “sing the careless carols, sing the song!”
VII
Josquin des Prez, one of the most famous composers of his age, worked variously in the Low Countries, Italy, and France. The first attribution of the chanson Mille regretz to Josquin came only in 1549, some years after his death. The brief text about great remorse for abandoning one’s lover could have also been written by him. A simple four-part vocal texture conveys the depth of despair, and the piece closes with repetitions of “my days will soon dwindle away.”
Josef Rheinberger, a contemporary of Johannes Brahms, spent most of his life in Munich, Germany. He was a strong musical force there, through his appointments at the Conservatorium and as Court Music Director. Rheinberger’s music, however, has remained in the shadow of the more famous Brahms. Although Abendlied was written when Rheinberger was
PROGRAM NOTES (CONTINUED)
just sixteen years of age, it demonstrates his early musical maturity. This short motet comes and goes with long arching phrases and a harmonic palette made all the richer by his use of a six-voice texture throughout.
VIII
Duido is a highly rhythmic, percussive piece arranged by Latvian composer Ilona Rupaine. The Christmas text, welcoming the winter solstice, is a tongue twister as it receives a rapid delivery by one part of the choir while the other parts repeat a rhythmic and melodic ostinato. The content of each text line receives a new ostinato in a highly infectious perpetual motion piece accompanied by two percussion parts for claves. Conductor Bjella comments that in this final set of pieces, the “bluing of notes” at certain measures is shared by the both Duido and the Gershwin pieces to follow.
George Gershwin’s 1924 composition Fascinatin’ Rhythm was first introduced by Fred and Adele Astaire in the Broadway musical Lady Be Good. Later in the movie version of the musical, Eleanor Powell introduced a famous dance sequence to accompany the song. I Got Rhythm was originally composed as a slow song for Treasure Girl (1928). In its more famous swing version, it was sung first by Ethel Merman in the Broadway production of Girl Crazy. Broadway legend tells the story that George, after seeing the opening reviews, warned Merman never to take a singing lesson.
-Notes by John Silantien, Scott MacPherson, and Richard Bjella
BIOGRAPHIES
Scott MacPherson
Renowned for his innovative programming of diverse repertoire from early music through premiering new works, conductor Scott MacPherson has established a national and international reputation for musical excellence. In addition to serving as clinician and guest conductor of numerous all-state, all-region/district, and other festival ensembles in the USA, MacPherson has been frequently invited as guest conductor in Germany, Taiwan, and China; most recently he conducted a concert with the Beijing Youth Choir in Zhuhai, China in November 2024. He is also sought after for his expertise in choral eurhythmics workshops. Culminating a 44-year teaching career, MacPherson retired from his position as Director of Choral Studies at Kent State University in 2023, a post he held since 2008. While at KSU he conducted the Chorale and the Kent Chorus and led the graduate program in choral conducting. Additionally, MacPherson worked with the KSU Orchestra, conducting annual performances of the major choral-orchestral repertoire. Before moving to Ohio, MacPherson served as Director of Choral Activities at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX from 1993-2008. From 1985-88 and again 1990-93, he served as Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Outside of the collegiate arena, MacPherson is the Founding Artistic Director of three critically acclaimed choral groups, all of which have continued under new artistic direction—the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble in Madison, WI (2002-2017), the San Antonio Chamber Choir (2005-2014), and the Cleveland Chamber Choir, an award-winning professional ensemble of 32 voices (2015-2022). In June 2021, competing against 250 choirs, the Cleveland Chamber Choir earned First Prize and the distinction “Choir of the World” at the World Choir Festival/Hong Kong. Under MacPherson’s artistic direction, all three of these ensembles earned invitations to perform at the prestigious conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. MacPherson holds the Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education degree and Master of Music degrees in Orchestral and choral conducting from the University of WisconsinMadison. His Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral and orchestral conducting is from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Currently, MacPherson serves as Associate Conductor of the Tuscarawas Philharmonic Orchestra as well as Chorus Master since July of 2023.
Richard Bjella
Richard Bjella has distinguished himself as an internationally-acclaimed conductor, clinician, choral pedagogue, and choral arranger. In 2014, Bjella was appointed Artistic Director of the San Antonio Chamber Choir. He retired from Texas Tech University in 2017, but previous to his work in Lubbock, Bjella served 25 years as Director of Choral Studies at the Lawrence Conservatory of Music. Choirs under his leadership have performed on numerous occasions for the American Choral Directors Association and the Texas Music Educators Association. Bjella has presented numerous workshops at several prestigious international and national professional organizations as well as serving as the TMEA All-State Large School Mixed Choir Conductor at the 2025 conference in San Antonio. He is the editor for the Richard Bjella Choral Series with Hal Leonard Publications and has presented sessions on programming for teachers throughout the world. He has written over fifty choral arrangements for choral ensembles around the globe. He served as Guest Professor at Carthage College (2021), and at the University of Madison (2023-24). Bjella was the recipient of the Professor of Excellence Award at Texas Tech and the Lawrence University Teaching Award. He was also honored to receive professional awards of achievement from the Wisconsin Choral Directors.
Andrew Rindfleisch
Composer Andrew Rindfleisch has enjoyed a career in music that has also included professional activity as a conductor, pianist, vocalist, improviser, record producer, radio show host, educator, and concert organizer. As a composer, he has produced dozens of works for the concert hall, including solo, chamber, vocal, orchestral, brass, and wind music, as well as an unusually large catalog of choral music. His committed interest in other forms of music-making have also led him to the composition and performance of jazz and related forms of improvisation.
Mr. Rindfleisch is the recipient of the Rome Prize, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, the Aaron Copland Award, and the Koussevitzky Foundation Fellowship from the Library of Congress. Over forty other prizes and awards have followed honoring his music. He has participated in dozens of renowned music festivals and has received residency fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation (Italy), the Czech-American Institute in Prague, the Charles Ives Center for American Music, the June in Buffalo Contemporary Music Festival, the MacDowell Colony, and the Pierre Boulez Conductor’s Workshop at Carnegie Hall. He holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison (Bachelor of Music), the New England Conservatory of Music (Master of Music), and Harvard University (PhD).
BIOGRAPHIES
As a conductor and producer, Mr. Rindfleisch’s commitment to contemporary music culture has brought into performance and recording over 500 works by living composers over the past 20 years. He has founded several contemporary music ensembles and currently heads the Cleveland Contemporary Players Artist in Residency Series at Cleveland State University, and the Vertigo Ensemble at the Utah Arts Festival in Salt Lake City. He has made guest conducting appearances throughout the United States and abroad with many diverse musical organizations; from opera and musical theatre, to orchestral, jazz, improvisational, and contemporary avant-garde ensembles.
Gyöngyösi Levente
Romanian-born composer Gyöngyösi Levente studied at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest under the tutelage of György Orbán.
His first opera, The Stork Caliph, was premiered by the Hungarian State Opera House in 2005. He has composed several choral works for renowned Hungarian and international choirs such as Pro Musica Girls' Choir (Hungary), Stellenbosch University Choir (South Africa) and The King's Singers (UK). His choral works are very popular in Japan and the USA, but also in South Africa and the Philippines.
In addition to his choral works, he has composed 4 symphonies (Symphony No. 3 commissioned and performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra), 4 masses, Piano Concerto, Flute Concerto, Piccolo Concerto, St. Luke Passion and Christmas Oratorio. His most important work, the opera-musical The Master and Margarita, after novel of M. A. Bulgakov, was premiered by the Hungarian State Opera House in 2021.
In 2023, the Hungarian State awarded him the title of Merited Artist of the Republic of Hungary.
Dr. Eric Thompson, collaborative pianist
Eric Thompson was born and raised in San Antonio, graduated from John Jay High School and received degrees in piano performance from UTSA and The University of Texas. He has been employed at Texas State University-School of Music since 2006 and currently holds the position of Program Faculty of Collaborative Piano.
Dr S. Andrew Lloyd, organist
S. Andrew Lloyd, whose music has been described as “monumental, hair-raising, and leaving you agape in awe” (Classical Music Sentinel), is a concert organist and composer, and the Bess Hieronymus Endowed Fellow and Assistant Professor of Organ and Composition at the University of Texas at San Antonio, as well as the 2019/2020 Marlin K. Jensen Artist in Residence at the University of Utah, having previously worked at the University of North Texas.
As an active recitalist, Andrew Lloyd has performed at venues throughout the United States including: the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the Eccles Organ Festival at the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, St. John the Evangelist and MusicFest Northwest in Spokane, WA, and as a presenter at the 2015 Southwest Regional AGO Convention in Fort Worth.
Originally from Spokane, WA, Lloyd (b. 1979) earned degrees from the University of North Texas (DMA) the University of Kansas (MM), and Brigham Young University (BM). He studied with the notable composers and organists Forrest Pierce, Jon Nelson, Andrew May, James Worlton, James Higdon, Jesse Eschbach, Douglas Bush, and Janet Ahrend.
Roland Barrera
Roland Barrera was named Executive Director of the San Antonio Chamber Choir in July 2018. Upon arrival, he led the development of the organization's overall growth, innovation, and community engagement. He works passionately to bring groundbreaking artists and programming to unique venues throughout San Antonio and other cities in Texas. Roland joined SACC following a two-year tenure at Conspirare in Austin, where he served as the Concierge and Office Manager. And before Conspirare, Roland worked for two years on the opening staff of the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts in San Antonio. Roland also works as the Director of Music and Worship Arts at Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas. At TUMC, Roland has served in music leadership roles since 2017. He oversees three ensembles in a vibrant multi-generational music ministry program. Roland is professionally affiliated with the A.C.D.A, T.C.D.A., and the T.M.E.A. He attended Texas State University where he completed music studies in their internationally-renowned School of Music.
Kelly Ranson, President
SACC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President, Ranson Properties
Kay Sherrill, Vice President
Retired Music Educator, Judson I.S.D.
James Reed, Treasurer
Directo, Product Management, USAA
Sarah Brandt
Senior Director of Prospect Mgmt. & Research, University of Texas at San Antonio
Adam Cason
Vice President - Global & Strategic Alliances, Futurex
SACC
Maestro’s Circle:
$25,000 and above
Anonymous
H-E-B Grocery Co.
Kelly Ranson
Mary Ann Winden
Sponsor’s Circle:
$10,000–$24,999
Bexar County
Timothy C. Beyer
Family Fund
Caritas Concert Series
City of San Antonio
Dept. of Arts & Culture
Kronkosky Foundation
Bonnie Mut Estate
Edith De Lay, executor
Becky & Jeffrey Nodland
San Antonio
Symphony League
Composer’s Circle:
$5,000–$9,999
Linda & Rick Bjella
Sarah Brandt &
A. Thomas Papagiannakis
Adam & Mollie Cason
Corazon San Antonio
Jennifer & Scott Rose
Texas Commission
on the Arts
Diamond Level:
$2,500 to $4,999
Cynthia I. Gonzales
Norbert Gonzales Jr.
San Antonio Area
Foundation
The Gonzales Group
CPA Firm
Tracy Bjella Powers
& Kit Powers
Kay Sherrill
Randy Walker & Co.
Carol Gamble
Director of Community Engagement, Corazon San Antonio
Norbert Gonzales, Jr., C.P.A., J.D.
Owner & President, The Gonzales Group, CPA
Natalie Luna Kuhn, C.P.A. & C.F.E.
Audit Partner, Randy Walker & Co.
Angus McLeod, Secretary
Retired Music Educator, Alamo Heights I.S.D.
Kit Powers, M.D.
Cardiologist, University Medical Associates
CIRCLE
John Silantien, D.M.A.
Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at San Antonio
AD HOC MEMBERS
Richard Bjella
Artistic Director
Roland Barrera
Executive Director
Tracy Bjella Powers
Alamo City Street Choir Director
OF SUPPORTERS
(based on cumulative gift totals of sustained givers since October 2023)
Platinum Level:
$1,000 to $2,499
Roland Barrera
Cristian Cantu
Frost Bank
Frank & Natalie Kuhn
Pat & Kevin Pernicano
Cathy & James Reed
Beverly Roth
Jill & David Trawick
Jennifer Whatley
Gold Level:
$500 to $999
Carol & Bruce Cauley
Frances & Jim Garner
Lamont Jefferson
Nancy & Cliff Jenkins
Ann & Carl Leafstedt
Scott MacPherson
Gwen & Angus McLeod
Angus Ranson
Terri Peña & Allan Ross
Harold Sager
Caroline Vickrey
Silver Level:
$250 to $499
Rosalinda & Pedro Barrera
Klimt Fabian
Carol Gamble
Janice Grantz
Mildred & James Harnish
Renee Meriwether
Anne Mulligan Patrice & Joey Oliver
Adrienne P. Bingamon
University Methodist
Church
John & Helen Silantien
Marga Speicher
Alice & Sergio Viroslav
Bronze Level:
$100 to $249
Stephen Alexander
Calhoun Law Firm
Shirley Coffman
Nancy Cook-Monroe
Lynne & Merlin Gackle
Alex Gmeinder
Mary Greer
Valerie Jeannin
Joan Kearl
Kealey & Keith Martinez
Kevin Meidl
Joseph Milligan
Paul Myers
Warren Neisler
Anna & Joe Osterman
LaDawn Petersen
Karen Pfefferle
Lars Ranson
Kim Riojas
James Rodde
Kimberly Sherrill
George Spencer
Joy & William Surbey
Cathy Talcott
Ana M. Valadez
Larke Witten
Friends: up to $99
Daryl Anderson
Alyssa Avenatti
Martin Ayala
Gabriela Barba
Jane Baker
Rachel Benefiel
Diane Burchers
Karla Busch-McEwen
Joan Carlson
Regina Chew
Juliette Conte
Mary Cowart
Robert Dalglish
John Davenport
Dean David
Paul De Stefanoi
Cynthia Denton
Mary Esther Escobedo
Cass Everitt
Debra Faszer-Mcmahon
Jaimes Flores
Donald Frantz
Jesus Garcia
Mireya Garza
Melissa Garza
Laura Giacomoni
Silva Gitsas-Pourliakas
Gary Goethe
Billie Gonzales
Tom Grothues
Debra Habingreither
Jerry Hamilton
John Hammer
Barry Hubbard
Crystal Jarrell Johnson
Carrie Jasso
Denise Kellum
Stephanie Key
Minji Kim
Rebecca Krogness
Elizabeth Lampright
Debra Lolmaugh
Gary Mabry
Clay Mayo
Susan McAllister
Melie McIntosh
Megan Miller
Patricia Morgan
Toni & Joe Murgo
Elizabeth Nabutovsky
Dena Orth
Marianne Orton
Ron Osman
Casey & Maureen
Papovich
Melissa Peck
Lauren Phillips
Jeanette Pierce
Linda Kay Purcell
Richard Reams
Harriet Redman
Keith Riggle
Christina Rivera
Maryann Robledo
Kelly Robles
Kathy Scruggs
Brigitte Smith
Linda Smith
Raul Soria
Aimee Stead
William Surbey
Irma Taute
Maria Velasco
Margi Wallace
Nicki Weaver
Robert Weidman
Tribute Giving:
In memory of Len Bjella In memory of Mimi Gonzales In memory of James Hare In memory of Muriel Leafstedt In memory of Art Winden In honor of Roland Barrera In honor of David Becker In honor of Richard Bjella In honor of James Brown In honor of Alyx Gonzales In honor of Kelly Ranson
In honor of Kay Sherrill
In honor of Tracy Bjella Powers & the Alamo City Street Choir In honor of Jennifer Whatley In honor of Mary Ann Winden
Special Thank You:
Sophia Balmer
Jadin Blanchard
Sarah Brandt
Alexis Cairy
Norbert Gonzales Jr.
Sister Mary Henry
Angus McLeod
Tracy Bjella Powers & Kit Powers
Kelly Ranson
Kay Sherrill
John Silantien
SACC COMMUNITY CONNECTION PROGRAMS
Alamo City Street Choir Tracy Bjella Powers, Director
Started in 2019, The Alamo City Street Choir offers a musical outlet for those experiencing homelessness and severe disadvantage. Their voices of hope and wisdom will bring the community to a higher level of beauty through the art of singing. ACSC meets weekly at Travis Park Church in partnership with Corazon San Antonio. H-E-B generously underwrites this program. Contact Tracy Bjella Powers, Director for more information please email - tracy@sachamberchoir.org.
All-State for ALL Choir Camp
Thursday, July 10 — Saturday, July 12
The 2025 10th Annual All-State for ALL Choir Camp is three days of intensive music-learning from Thursday, July 10 through Saturday, July 12. This year’s All-State for ALL Choir Camp will be in-person at Judson ISD Performing Arts Center in Converse, TX.
Pre-registration is required and there are currently spots available. Singers will learn the TMEA All-State Choir audition music in less than one week! There is a $175 tuition for this camp and it includes a t-shirt, daily lunch meals with snacks, and the audition music packet. Choir Camp is held from 9:00am to 4:00pm each day with check-in starting @ 8:30am. THIS IS NOT AN OVERNIGHT CAMP EXPERIENCE. Our talented staff are all educators from throughout the San Antonio musical community and they focus on teaching both accuracy and musicality. Richard Bjella (SACC Artistic Director) will serve as the main conductor and clinician for the camp.
For more information contact Roland Barrera at rbarrera@sachamberchoir.org.
ADDITIONAL
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Bach Reflections & Reverberations
This is the inaugural program of a multi-year project in celebration of the music and influence of J.S. Bach, a composer who stands at the fountainhead of Western classical music and whose influence on the history of music is as profound as any musician who has ever lived.
J.S. Bach: Easter Oratorio
Fri., April 11 @ 7:30PM Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower
Sat., April 12 @ 7:30PM OLLU Sacred Heart Chapel
Mon., May 12 @ 7:00PM St. Mark's Episcopal Church
Composer Armando Bayolo’s “Cancionero de luto” is his heart-wrenching response to events at the Robb Elementary shooting in 2022 & others like it. Cancionero de luto (“Mourning Songbook”) sets six texts in as many languages with the aim to fill the need for an ecumenical music of grief that also embraces freethinkers, atheists, and other non-spiritual traditions as well. Commissioned by SOLI Chamber Ensemble & Yale University, this new work is scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, & percussion with chorus, & will be SOLI’s second wonderful collaboration with SACC. This will be the World Premiere performance of this new work.
THANKS TO OUR GENEROUS 2024 – 2025 SPONSORS:
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
CORPORATE SPONSORS
PARTNERS FOUNDATION SUPPORT
