In the last decade of the 20th century, the composer Morten Lauridsen wrote a series of pieces while serving a residency for the Los Angeles Master Chorale that have had a lasting and international impact. This year the choral world celebrates the 20th anniversary of the largest of these milestones, Lux Aeterna. What has given the Lauridsen aesthetic its power to connect and attract? And why does it continue to move performers, composers, and listeners?
Is this growing trend a gimmick? Or a glimpse of the future?
This issue of the Research Memorandum Series focuses on resources pertaining to movement education in both the choral rehearsal and in teaching choral conducting. After a brief background on movement methodologies, author Caron Daley lists resources pertaining to the choral rehearsal and choral conducting.
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No other piece of music captivated iconic conductor Robert Shaw more than the Brahms Requiem. A symposium presented by Chorus America in honor of the Shaw centenary explored the conductor’s deep connection to this masterwork—and what it reveals about his approach to music and his legacy.
“There are so many commonalities between directing a community choir and the church music experience,” says Tom Dooling of First Presbyterian Church San Antonio.
As a graduate conducting student at Temple University in the 1980s, Diana V. Saez recalls being frustrated that there was no mention of Latin American composers—except for the famous composers Villalobos from Brazil and Ginastera from Argentina. When she moved to Washington DC, in 1990, she found a bustling choral music scene, with a wide variety of choruses. But Latin American music was not part of the standard repertoire.
After performing the Brahms Requiem as the centerpiece of Chorus America’s Robert Shaw Centenary Symposium in mid-April, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus brought the work to New York for a special performance at Carnegie Hall. Music journalist Matthew Sigman attended the New York performance—which also included Jonathan Leshnoff’s newly-commissioned work Zohar—and reflects on his experience hearing the masterpiece for the first time.
The Brahms Requiem served as the artistic focal point of Chorus America’s Robert Shaw Centenary Symposium, which centered around the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus’s April 2016 performance of this masterwork. Symposium faculty shared their thoughts on issues conductors ought to address as they prepare the piece.
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How does a chorus's legacy continue after its visionary founder is no longer around? It takes the will of a community.
This issue of the Research Memorandum Series focuses on the choral output of two influential Canadian composers - John Weinzwieg and John Beckwith. Although their choral output is relatively small in relation to their other output, it has had significant impact both in Canada and abroad. A brief biography of each composer is given before the listing of their choral compositions.
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