BY CELEBRATED AMERICAN COMPOSER ERIC WHITACRE. WITH THE
ELORA FESTIVAL ... Features Eleven Choral Masterworks Including Lux
aurumque.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Paula Mlyn (646) 330-5254 /
[email protected]
IN JUNE NAXOS RELEASES A NEW RECORDING OF CHORAL WORKS BY CELEBRATED AMERICAN COMPOSER ERIC WHITACRE WITH THE ELORA FESTIVAL SINGERS LED BY NOEL EDISON ERIC WHITACRE CHORAL MUSIC Elora Festival Singers • Leslie De’Ath, piano • Carol Bauman, percussion • Noel Edison Features Eleven Choral Masterworks Including Lux aurumque Her Sacred Spirit Soars; A Boy and a Girl; Water Night; This Marriage; Lux aurumque (Light of Gold); little tree; When David Heard; Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine; I thank you God for most this amazing day; Sleep; Little Birds Naxos 8.559677 AVAILABLE JUNE 2010
In June 2010, Naxos releases its first recording of works by the celebrated American choral composer Eric Whitacre featuring the acclaimed, Toronto-based Elora Festival Singers led by Noel Edison. The new recording features eleven choral masterworks, including his beloved Lux aurumque, (Light of Gold), recently performed and broadcast on YouTube by a Virtual Choir comprised of 185 singers from twelve countries. Upcoming performances of works by Eric Whitacre include two concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall: Saturday, April 17 at 2 PM the city and the sea: The Music of Eric Whitacre meets the Poetry of e.e. cummings Tuesday, June 15 at 8 PM the concert version of his groundbreaking musical theater work Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings. Both concerts are presented by DCINY (Distinguished Concerts International New York). Eric Whitacre is quickly becoming one of the most popular composers and conductors of his generation, inspiring and motivating a new generation of singers and musicians. The “unearthly beauty and imagination” (Los Angeles Times) and “emotional directness and intensity” (American Record Guide) of Whitacre‟s music create a visceral, impassioned response in audiences and performers. In 2008, the allWhitacre choral CD Cloudburst (released by the British ensemble Polyphony on Hyperion Records) became an unexpected international best-seller, topping the classical charts and earning a Grammy nomination. Eric Whitacre began singing with his college choir at the age of 18, and the experience changed his life forever. He wrote his setting of Go, Lovely, Rose for that same choir three years later. Eric went on to earn his Master‟s degree in composition at the Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano. Since then, Whitacre has received numerous commissioning awards and honors. His work has received thousands of performances, with sheet music sales of over 1,000,000 copies worldwide. His cutting edge musical Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, which combines influences including trance, electronica,
and anime with choral, cinematic, and operatic traditions, won the ASCAP Harold Arlen Award, the Richard Rogers award, and 10 Ovation Award nominations. He is currently completing his first full-length oratorio for chorus, soprano soloist, and orchestra; a commission for the Berlin Rundfunkchor; and a major commission for the London Symphony Chorus which will be performed with the London Symphony Orchestra in October 2010. A true innovator, Whitacre writes music that incorporates contemporary sounds and influences while demanding the highest standards of precision, intonation, and ensemble. Eric Whitacre divides his time between conducting and teaching throughout the world and the everincreasing demands of his composing. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, acclaimed soprano Hila Plitmann, and their son. Whitacre has written, “As a choral composer, my first and greatest responsibility is to the poem. I work very hard to understand the meaning of each poem I am setting, and when it comes to time to compose the music I simply try to quiet myself enough to hear the notes already hidden below the poet‟s words.” Eric Whitacre‟s dedication to the beauty of sound, paired with exquisite texts, results in a poetic combination that creates a unique sonic experience. Whitacre‟s sonorities have been described as „warm‟, „glistening‟ or „shimmering‟, and share certain qualities with the music of Conte, Ligeti, Ticheli, Lauridsen, Pärt, Clausen, and others. His unique sound world is built around the harmonic interval of the second—which functions not as a suspension or dissonance, but rather as a consonance. Triads do appear in “pure form” throughout Eric Whitacre‟s music, but as ACDA Executive Director Tim Sharp points out in his liner notes, “they are extended, altered, or colored to create moments of tension and climax, [and] to highlight important words.” Hailed as one of “Canada‟s—and the world‟s—finest choirs” by David Vernier of ClassicsToday, the Elora Festival Singers recently released a recording on Naxos of choral works by American composer Julian Wachner.
Julian Wachner‟s music has been described as „bold and atmospheric‟ (The New York Times), „jazzy, energetic, and ingenious‟ (Boston Globe), and „highly enjoyable, touching, clever, and inspiring‟ (Deseret News). As the composer has written: „I have found equal inspiration from strict form or unbridled chaos; tonality, modality or post-tonality; and lyricism, pointillism or minimalism—I find it crucial to have as sweeping a palette of creative possibilities at my disposal as possible…The challenge therefore, is to ride this wave of self-proclaimed eclecticism with sincerity, individuality and spontaneity, writing music that speaks to the human condition.‟
In 2009, the Elora Festival Singers released the acclaimed Naxos recording featuring choral works by Morten Lauridsen. Morten Lauridsen is America‟s preeminent composer of choral music. Characterized by long, arching and highly expressive lines, his works are enjoyed by performers and audiences worldwide. O nata lux, perhaps Lauridsen‟s most popular work, is a serene evocation of heavenly light, while the searingly intense and technically demanding Madrigali inhabit a more feverish and earthy realm. The refined Les Chansons des Roses employ a design reminiscent of the formal gardens, filled with roses, found in the grounds of the great French châteaux. The unforgettable final movement is the now-famous Dirait-on. The Mid-Winter Songs for chorus and piano are a stunning example of compositional virtuosity. O magnum mysterium, for a cappella chorus, is a setting of a Christmas text that has inspired composers from Victoria to Poulenc.
The Elora Festival Singers a professional chamber choir, was founded in 1980 by Noel Edison as the principal choral ensemble of the Elora Festival. In 1992, the Elora Festival Singers was incorporated as a separate organization to manage its year-round activities. Since 1997, the choir has been the professional core of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the Mendelssohn Singers, and is the choral ensemble-in-residence of the Elora Festival for four weeks each summer. Through regular concert series, recordings, broadcasts, and touring, the Elora Festival Singers has established a reputation as one of the finest chamber choirs in Canada and beyond, contributing to the musical life, not only of the community, but on an international stage. The Elora Festival Singers is known for its rich, warm sound and clarity of texture, and is renowned for its diverse styles, from early music to spirituals to contemporary, for its commitment to Canadian repertoire, and for its collaborations with other Canadian artists.
