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Carl St.Clair

Photo: Pacific Symphony As Pacific Symphony’s Music Director since1990-91, Carl St.Clair has become widelyrecognized for his musically distinguishedperformances, commitment to outstandingeducational programs and innovative approachesto programming. St.Clair is known for thecritically acclaimed annual American ComposersFestivals, which began in 2000. In 2011-12, heinaugurated a three-year vocal initiative, with asemi-staged production of La Bohème and in2012-13, Tosca. Four years ago, he launched“Music Unwound,” featuring concerts highlightedby multimedia and innovative formats. In 2006-07, he led the orchestra’s move into its acoustichome in the Renée and Henry SegerstromConcert Hall in Orange County, Calif. In March2006, St.Clair took the Symphony on its firsthighly successful European tour. St.Clair hasserved as General Music Director of theKomische Oper in Berlin, and as General MusicDirector and Chief Conductor of the GermanNational Theater and Staatskapelle (GNTS) inWeimar, Germany. He was also Principal GuestConductor of the Radio SinfonieorchesterStuttgart. He has appeared with orchestras inIsrael, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, NewZealand and South America, and summerfestivals worldwide. In North America, St.Clairhas led many major orchestras, including theBoston Symphony Orchestra, where he servedas Assistant Conductor.

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Mount Rushmore (2010) for chorus and orchestra wascommissioned by Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair, MusicDirector and Conductor, with assistance fromVocalEssence, Philip Brunelle, Artistic Director. The worldpremière was given by Pacific Symphony and PacificChorale under the direction of Carl St.Clair at the Renéeand Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Centerfor the Arts, Costa Mesa, California on February 4, 2010.

Mount Rushmore (2010) for chorus and orchestra isinspired by the monumental sculpture located in the BlackHills of South Dakota of four American presidents: GeorgeWashington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) and Abraham Lincoln(1809-1865). Created during the Great Depressionagainst seemingly impossible odds, the American sculptorGutzon Borglum supervised a small crew of men in thecarving of these figureheads into the granite mountainsideof Mount Rushmore from 1927 until his death in 1941.Drawing from American musical sources and texts, mycomposition echoes the resonance and dissonance ofMount Rushmore as a complex icon of American history.Like Mount Rushmore, my libretto is carved out of thewords of each President.

For the first movement, I have divided the choir intotwo sections to reflect two phases in the life of GeorgeWashington, first as commander-in-chief during theRevolutionary War and later as the first President of theUnited States. Choir I performs fragments of Chester, thepopular Revolutionary War anthem by William Billings, inthe bright straight tones of shape-note singing common tothe period. Following orchestral echoes of YankeeDoodle, Choir II sings a fragment from Washington’sletter, written upon retirement from public life: “I will movegently down the stream of life, until I sleep with myFathers.”

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of America, wasa brilliant political writer and also an accomplished violinist,who wrote that “Music is the passion of my soul.” As theAmerican Minister to France (1785-89), the recentlywidowed Jefferson met Maria Cosway in Paris, and fell in

love with this young, charismatic, Anglo-Italian societyhostess, musician, and composer of salon music. Thesecond movement of my composition intertwines a lovesong composed by Cosway for Jefferson (Ogni DolceAura) together with a love letter composed by Jefferson forCosway (“Dialogue of the Head vs. the Heart”) and keyfragments from Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence”.

The third movement is based on the words ofAmerica’s 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt, who wasa great explorer of the uncharted wilderness. WhilePresident, Roosevelt created the National Park Serviceand successfully protected, against great opposition fromcommercial developers, over 234 million acres of naturalplains, forests, rivers and mountain ranges of theAmerican West. It was during his retreats into the barrenBadlands of North Dakota (not far from Mount Rushmore)that Roosevelt, as a young man, realized that the“majestic beauty” of the American wilderness needed tobe left “as it is” for future generations. I have composedmusic to suggest the robust and mystical sense ofRoosevelt’s “delight in the hardy life of the open” and “thehidden spirit of the wilderness.”

The fourth and final movement of Mount Rushmore isdedicated to Abraham Lincoln, who successfullyreconciled a divided United States and initiated the end ofslavery. I have set the rhythmic cadences and powerfulwords of his “Gettysburg Address” (1863) to music thatresonates with echoes of period music from the Civil War. Icreate a musical portrait of the 16th President of the UnitedStates, who expressed his vision with eloquence, and withhope that the human spirit could overcome prejudice anddifferences of opinion in order to create a better world.

Radio City: Symphonic Fantasy on Arturo Toscaniniand the NBC Symphony Orchestra (2011) fororchestra was commissioned by Pacific Symphony, CarlSt.Clair, Music Director and Condutor and MITO,Settembre Musica International Festival of Music, EnzoRestagno, Artistic Director, in celebration of the 150thanniversary of the Unification of Italy.

Michael Daugherty (b. 1954)

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John Alexander

Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Director since 1972, Alexander is one of America’s mostrespected choral conductors. His inspired leadership on the podium and as anadvocate for choral music has garnered national and international acclaim. Hisdistinguished career has encompassed conducting hundreds of choral andorchestral performances in 27 countries around the globe, including throughoutEurope, Asia, the former Soviet Union and South America and, closer to home, withPacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Musica Angelica and the Los AngelesChamber Orchestra. Equally versatile whether on the podium or behind the scenes,Alexander has prepared choruses for many of the world’s most outstandingorchestral conductors. Alexander is a composer of many works and serves as theeditor of the John Alexander Choral Series with Hinshaw Music. His numeroustributes and awards include: the “Distinguished Faculty Member” award fromCalifornia State University, Fullerton; the Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award;

the “Outstanding Individual Artist” Award from Arts Orange County; the “Gershwin Award,” presented by the County ofLos Angeles; and the “Outstanding Professor” Award from California State University, Northridge; and the “MichaelKorn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art” from Chorus America.

Pacific Symphony

Pacific Symphony, led byMusic Director Carl St.Clair,is the largest orchestraformed in the United Statesin the last 40 years, and isrecognized as an outstandingensemble making strides onboth the national andinternational scene as wellas in its own community of

Southern California. Pacific Symphony offers moving musical experiences with repertoire ranging from the greatorchestral masterworks to music from today’s most prominent composers, highlighted by the annual AmericanComposers Festival and a series of multi-media concerts called “Music Unwound.” Pacific Symphony is dedicated todeveloping and promoting today’s composers and expanding the orchestral repertoire – illustrated through its manycommissions and recordings, in-depth explorations of American artists and themes at the American ComposersFestival. The Symphony’s innovative approaches to new works received the ASCAP Award for AdventuresomeProgramming in 2005 and 2010. In 2010, Pacific Symphony was named one of five orchestras profiled by the League ofAmerican Orchestras in a study on innovation. Since 2006, the Symphony has performed in the Renée and HenrySegerstrom Concert Hall, designed by Cesar Pelli with acoustics by Russell Johnson. In March 2006, the Symphonyembarked on its first European tour – receiving an unprecedented 22 rave reviews.

Photo: Pacific Symphony

The world première was given by the Filarmonica ’900under the direction of David Kawka, at the Auditorium RAI‘Arturo Toscanini’, Torino, Italy on September 11, 2011. TheAmerican première was given by Pacific Symphony underthe direction of Carl St.Clair, at the Renée and HenrySegerstrom Concert Hall at the Segerstrom Center for theArts, Cosa Mesa, California on February 23, 2012.

Radio City is a symphonic fantasy on Arturo Toscaniniwho conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra, from NBCStudio 8-H at Rockefeller Center in New York City, in liveradio broadcasts heard by millions across America from 1937to 1954. Born in Parma, Italy, Toscanini (1867-1957) wasinternationally recognized as the most gifted conductor of histime, famous for his definitive interpretations of operatic andsymphonic repertoire. At the height of his career as MusicDirector of La Scala in Milan, Italy, Toscanini was forced intoexile for his refusal to become part of Mussolini’s Fascistregime. Like the aging magician Prospero, exiled from Milanto an island in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the seventy-year-old Toscanini sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to theisland of Manhattan, and cast his magic spell upon all whoheard him conduct.

I. O Brave New World (O Mirabile Nuovo Mondo). Thefirst movement begins with four French horns playing agrandiose musical theme, announcing Toscanini’s entryinto the “Brave New World” of America. From the NBCstudios in Rockefeller Center, otherwise known as “RadioCity,” Toscanini conducted Vivaldi to open his first NBCSymphony Orchestra broadcast on Christmas Day in 1937.I create a baroque tapestry of Vivaldi violins andkaleidoscopic orchestral fragments of Verdi’s La forza deldestino, accompanied by sleighbells. The music,periodically interrupted by dissonant brass chords, isreminiscent of a “brave new” Manhattan. After a slow,bluesy section with clarinets playing in octaves, the firstmovement builds to a grand, magical ending à la Toscanini.

II. Ode to the Old World (Ode al Vecchio Mondo). Iimagine Toscanini, exiled in America during World War II,standing alone at the top of the Rockefeller Centerskyscraper. As he gazes across the spectacular view fromthe Manhattan skyline to the Atlantic Ocean, heremembers when he first conducted Verdi’s Aida as a

young man and wonders when, if ever, he will be able toreturn to his beloved Italy. The music of this movement ismelancholic, mysterious, and turbulent. In addition tocloud-like cluster chords echoing in the glockenspiel,vibraphone, marimba, and chimes, we also hear nostalgicstring melodies performed con passione, contrasted withrousing orchestral tutti sections marked agitato.

III. On the Air (In Onda). In 1939, Life magazinereported, “the world knows Toscanini as a great conductorwith a fearful temper, an unfailing memory, and the power tolash orchestras into frenzies of fine playing.” And in1944, Toscanini conducted Tchaikovksy’s The Tempest:Symphonic Fantasy for a live radio performance with theNBC Symphony Orchestra. Just as Shakespeare’s Prosperocalls upon the spirit of Ariel to fly through the air at hiscommand, so also Toscanini commanded the radio wavesfor his broadcasts “on the air” across America. In the finalmovement of Radio City, I have composed music thatcaptures Toscanini’s tempestuous temperament, his musicalintensity, and the frenzied tempos of his performances.

The Gospel According to Sister Aimee (2012) for organ,brass and percussion was commissioned by PacificSymphony, Carl St.Clair, Music Director and Conductor, andthe San Diego State University School of Music and Dance(SDSU) for its 75th anniversary celebration and SDSU WindSymphony, Shannon Kitelinger, conductor. The worldpremière was given by Pacific Symphony under the directionof Carl St.Clair, with Paul Jacobs, organ soloist, at the Renéeand Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Centerfor the Arts, Costa Mesa, California on February 23, 2012.

The Gospel According to Sister Aimee is my musicalmeditation on the rise, fall and redemption of AimeeSemple McPherson (1890-1944), the first importantreligious celebrity of the new mass media era of the 1930s.Also known as Sister Aimee, she was able to combinePentecostal “old-time” religion, patriotism and theatricalpizzazz like no other religious leader of her time. For over35 years, Sister Aimee, bible in hand, delivered legendarysermons, often speaking-in-tongues, and practiced faithhealing from coast to coast at revivals held in tents, townsquares, opera houses and boxing rings across America.

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Paul Jacobs

Paul Jacobs is the only organ soloist ever to receive a GRAMMY® Award (2011). Hemade musical history at the age of 23 when he performed the complete organ worksof J.S. Bach in an 18-hour non-stop marathon performance, and subsequently hasperformed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in nine-hour marathonconcerts. Known for his presentations of new works and core repertoire, Jacobs hadperformed in all 50 of the United States by the age of 31, and also has toured inEurope, Asia, South America, and Australia. He has appeared as soloist with thesymphony orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cincinnati, KansasCity, and Phoenix, among others. Jacobs studied at the Curtis Institute of Music,double-majoring with John Weaver (organ) and Lionel Party (harpsichord), and at YaleUniversity with Thomas Murray. He joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in 2003,and was named chairman of the organ department in 2004, one of the youngestfaculty appointees in the school’s history. He received Juilliard’s prestigious WilliamSchuman Scholar’s Chair in 2007. Jacobs’ 2010 recording of Messiaen’s Livre duSaint Sacrement (Naxos 8.572436-37) was awarded a GRAMMY® in the Best SoloInstrumental category.

Pacific Chorale

Founded in 1968, Pacific Chorale is recognized for exceptionalartistic expression, stimulating American-focused programmingand influential education programs. Under the guidance of ArtisticDirector John Alexander, Pacific Chorale has infused an OldWorld art form with California’s hallmark innovation and culturalindependence. Presenting its season at Segerstrom Center forthe Arts in Orange County, Calif., Pacific Chorale is also indemand to perform with the nation’s leading symphonies. With amembership of 140 professional and volunteer singers,ensembles of various sizes are selected to meet the needs of therepertoire. In addition to its long-standing partnership with PacificSymphony, the Chorale has performed with the Los AngelesPhilharmonic in Disney Hall on numerous occasions. Other

collaborators include the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Boston Symphony, National Symphony and the Long Beach,Pasadena, Riverside and San Diego symphonies. Pacific Chorale has toured extensively in Europe, South America andAsia, performing with major orchestras around the globe. The Chorale has received numerous awards from ChorusAmerica, the service organization for North American choral groups, including the prestigious “Margaret HillisAchievement Award for Choral Excellence,” the first national “Educational Outreach Award” and the 2005 ASCAPChorus America Alice Parker Award for adventurous programming.


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In order to bring her evangelical message to an evengreater audience, Sister Aimee preached her conservativegospel in progressive ways by utilizing radio, movies andjournalism. Her fundamentalist “Foursquare Gospel”warned standing-room-only crowds at revivals and radioaudiences that drinking, gambling, dancing, Hollywoodand the teaching of evolution all represented “agencies ofthe devil to distract the attention of men and women awayfrom spirituality.” On the other hand, Sister Aimee wasahead of her time in campaigning for the right for womento vote. In later life, she was the target of numerous critics,including other evangelists, who viewed her lavish lifestyle, opulent fashion wardrobe, over the top theatrics, andquestionable love life as hypocritical and “modernist.”

After a decade living a nomadic life and preachingfrom town to town in revivals across America, sheeventually settled in Los Angeles. Raising over a milliondollars in donations, she built the spectacular AngelusTemple near Echo Park, a five thousand-seat megachurch that opened in 1923. Sister Aimee’s extravagantSunday services, which were broadcast on her radiostation and attended by thousands of followers from allwalks of life, were accompanied by the Silver Brass Bandand a mighty Kimball pipe organ.

I. Knock Out the Devil! In the first movement, Isummon the organ, brass and percussion to call to mind arevival held by Sister Aimee after a boxing match in a SanDiego amphitheatre. To publicize the revival, SisterAimee, wearing her trademark white robe, walkedthroughout the crowd with a huge sign inviting theaudience to join her after the fight to “Knock out the Devil!”

II. An Evangelist Drowns/Desert Dance. On May 16,1926, Sister Aimee, who was at the peak of her fame,went for a swim near Venice Beach, California andmysteriously vanished. Believed to have drowned,thousands gathered on the beach to pay their respects.But had she really drowned? Newspapers across Americaasked “Where is Sister Aimee?” In response to herdisappearance, Upton Sinclair, one of Sister Aimee’smost vocal critics, fictionalized her life in Elmer Gantry(1926), his seminal novel on religious hypocrisy, andwrote a sarcastic poem An Evangelist Drowns (1926):

What’s this? A terror-spasm gripsMy heart-strings, and my reason slips.Oh, God, it cannot be that I,The bearer of Thy Word, should die!My letters waiting in the tent!The loving messenger I sent!My daughter’s voice, my mother’s kiss!My pulpit-notes on Genesis!Oh, count the souls I saved for Thee, My Savior-wilt Thou not save me?Ten thousand to my aid would run,Bring me my magic microphone!

Around a month after her supposed death, Sister Aimeewas discovered in a Mexican village across the borderfrom Douglas, Arizona. She claimed she had beenkidnapped for ransom and held in Mexico only to escapeby walking days through the desert to freedom. The LosAngeles District Attorney did not believe her story: heaccused Sister Aimee of faking her disappearance inorder to run off with Kenneth Ormiston, a married manwho was the radio engineer at the Angelus Temple. Thescandal was a serious blow to Sister Aimee’s reputation.In the second movement, slow descending, mysteriouschords evoke Sister Aimee’s “drowning”, while a virtuosicdance for organ foot pedals calls forth her wandering thedesert for “40 days and nights.”

III. To the Promised Land. After the scandal, SisterAimee slowly rebuilt her reputation by focusing oncharitable endeavors for the needy and selling War Bondsduring the Second World War. The night before she was topreach her popular “Story of My Life” at a revival, SisterAimee accidentally took a fatal dose of sleeping pills andnever woke up. In To the Promised Land, I create a hymnfor Sister Aimee in her final hours, as she meditates on herhumble beginnings as a child in the Salvation Army, andher rise and fall as America’s most admired evangelist.The music builds to a dramatic conclusion, as she dreamsof her final comeback, returning to the “pearly gates” ofheaven and the biblical “promised land.”

Michael Daugherty


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Michael Daugherty

Michael Daugherty first came to internationalattention when his Metropolis Symphony wasperformed by the Baltimore Symphony at CarnegieHall in 1994. Since that time, Daugherty’s musichas entered the orchestral, band and chambermusic repertoire and made him, according to theLeague of American Orchestras, one of the tenmost performed American composers of concertmusic today. Born in 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,Daugherty is the son of a dance-band drummerand the oldest of five brothers, all professionalmusicians. In 1991, Daugherty joined theUniversity of Michigan School of Music, Theatreand Dance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where, asProfessor of Composition, he is a mentor to manyof today’s most talented young composers.Daugherty is also a frequent guest of professionalorchestras, festivals, universit ies andconservatories around the world. In 2011, theNashvil le Symphony’s Naxos recording ofDaugherty’s Metropolis Symphony and Deus exMachina was honored with three GRAMMY®

Awards, including Best Classical ContemporaryComposition. His Naxos recordings include UFO,Colorado Symphony, Marin Alsop (1999); Fire andBlood, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Neemi Järvi(2005); Metropolis Symphony, Nashvil leSymphony, Giancarlo Guerrero (2009); Route 66,Bournemouth Symphony, Marin Alsop (2010) andMount Rushmore, Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair(2012). Daugherty’s music is published byPeermusic Classical, Boosey and Hawkes, andMichael Daugherty Music. For more information onMichael Daugherty, see www.michaeldaugherty.netand his publisher’s websites.

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Sister Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) preaching the gospel at Angelus Temple in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California.

Photo: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Los Angeles, California

Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York, NY. Photo: Library for Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, New York, NY.


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3 III. Theodore Roosevelt

There is delight in the hardy life of the open. Forest and rivers Mountains and plains There is delight in the hardy life of the open.

There are no words that can tell the hidden spirit of the wilderness, that can reveal its mystery, its melancholy, and its charm.

Leave it as it is. The ages at work

There is delight in the hardy life of the open. Wonderful grandeur Majestic beauty Natural wonderThere is delight in the hardy life of the open.

Keep it for your children. Leave it as it is.

(Speech at the Grand Canyon, May 6, 1903; African Game Trails; Theodore Roosevelt, 1910)

Rock of Ages cleft for me,Let me hide myself in thee.

(Rock of Ages, hymn by Augustus Montague Toplady, words, and Thomas Hastings, music, 1763)

4 IV. Abraham Lincoln

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forthon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, anddedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testingwhether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and sodedicated, can long endure. We are met on a greatbattlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portionof that field, as a final resting place for those who heregave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogetherfitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The bravemen, l iving and dead, who struggled here, haveconsecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.The world will little note, nor long remember what we sayhere, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for usthe living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinishedwork which they who fought here have thus far so noblyadvanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to thegreat task remaining before us – that from these honoreddead we take increased devotion to that cause for whichthey gave the last full measure of devotion – that we herehighly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain– that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth offreedom – and that government: of the people, by thepeople, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

(Gettysburg Address; Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863)

Mount Rushmore

1 I. George Washington

Let tyrants shake their iron rod, And slav’ry clank her galling chains, We’ll fear them not; we trust in God, New England’s God forever reigns.

(Chester, Revolutionary War Anthem by William Billings, 1770)

I will move gently down the stream of life, until I sleep with my fathers.

(Letter from George Washington to the Marquis de Lafayette,February 1, 1784)

2 II. Thomas Jefferson

Ogni dolce Aura che spira par che dica ecco il mio ben l’alma in sen d’amor sospira qua l’attendo e mai non vien

Translation:Each sweet breeze that blows Seems to say, “Behold my beloved.” The soul in the breast of love sighs. Here I await but my love never comes…

(Ogni Dolce Aura; song composed by Maria Cosway for Thomas Jefferson, December 24, 1786, Paris, France)

my Head my Heart

(Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Maria Cosway, 1786, Paris, France)

Music is the passion of my soul

(Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Giovanni Fabbroni, June 8, 1778)

Declaration Tyranny Liberty Slavery Necessity Justice Declaration of Independence

(Declaration of Independence; Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1776)


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Michael Daugherty

Michael Daugherty first came to internationalattention when his Metropolis Symphony wasperformed by the Baltimore Symphony at CarnegieHall in 1994. Since that time, Daugherty’s musichas entered the orchestral, band and chambermusic repertoire and made him, according to theLeague of American Orchestras, one of the tenmost performed American composers of concertmusic today. Born in 1954 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa,Daugherty is the son of a dance-band drummerand the oldest of five brothers, all professionalmusicians. In 1991, Daugherty joined theUniversity of Michigan School of Music, Theatreand Dance in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where, asProfessor of Composition, he is a mentor to manyof today’s most talented young composers.Daugherty is also a frequent guest of professionalorchestras, festivals, universit ies andconservatories around the world. In 2011, theNashvil le Symphony’s Naxos recording ofDaugherty’s Metropolis Symphony and Deus exMachina was honored with three GRAMMY®

Awards, including Best Classical ContemporaryComposition. His Naxos recordings include UFO,Colorado Symphony, Marin Alsop (1999); Fire andBlood, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Neemi Järvi(2005); Metropolis Symphony, Nashvil leSymphony, Giancarlo Guerrero (2009); Route 66,Bournemouth Symphony, Marin Alsop (2010) andMount Rushmore, Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair(2012). Daugherty’s music is published byPeermusic Classical, Boosey and Hawkes, andMichael Daugherty Music. For more information onMichael Daugherty, see www.michaeldaugherty.netand his publisher’s websites.

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Sister Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944) preaching the gospel at Angelus Temple in Echo Park, Los Angeles, California.

Photo: International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, Los Angeles, California

Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra, New York, NY. Photo: Library for Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, New York, NY.


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Paul Jacobs

Paul Jacobs is the only organ soloist ever to receive a GRAMMY® Award (2011). Hemade musical history at the age of 23 when he performed the complete organ worksof J.S. Bach in an 18-hour non-stop marathon performance, and subsequently hasperformed the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in nine-hour marathonconcerts. Known for his presentations of new works and core repertoire, Jacobs hadperformed in all 50 of the United States by the age of 31, and also has toured inEurope, Asia, South America, and Australia. He has appeared as soloist with thesymphony orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cincinnati, KansasCity, and Phoenix, among others. Jacobs studied at the Curtis Institute of Music,double-majoring with John Weaver (organ) and Lionel Party (harpsichord), and at YaleUniversity with Thomas Murray. He joined the faculty of The Juilliard School in 2003,and was named chairman of the organ department in 2004, one of the youngestfaculty appointees in the school’s history. He received Juilliard’s prestigious WilliamSchuman Scholar’s Chair in 2007. Jacobs’ 2010 recording of Messiaen’s Livre duSaint Sacrement (Naxos 8.572436-37) was awarded a GRAMMY® in the Best SoloInstrumental category.

Pacific Chorale

Founded in 1968, Pacific Chorale is recognized for exceptionalartistic expression, stimulating American-focused programmingand influential education programs. Under the guidance of ArtisticDirector John Alexander, Pacific Chorale has infused an OldWorld art form with California’s hallmark innovation and culturalindependence. Presenting its season at Segerstrom Center forthe Arts in Orange County, Calif., Pacific Chorale is also indemand to perform with the nation’s leading symphonies. With amembership of 140 professional and volunteer singers,ensembles of various sizes are selected to meet the needs of therepertoire. In addition to its long-standing partnership with PacificSymphony, the Chorale has performed with the Los AngelesPhilharmonic in Disney Hall on numerous occasions. Other

collaborators include the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Boston Symphony, National Symphony and the Long Beach,Pasadena, Riverside and San Diego symphonies. Pacific Chorale has toured extensively in Europe, South America andAsia, performing with major orchestras around the globe. The Chorale has received numerous awards from ChorusAmerica, the service organization for North American choral groups, including the prestigious “Margaret HillisAchievement Award for Choral Excellence,” the first national “Educational Outreach Award” and the 2005 ASCAPChorus America Alice Parker Award for adventurous programming.


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In order to bring her evangelical message to an evengreater audience, Sister Aimee preached her conservativegospel in progressive ways by utilizing radio, movies andjournalism. Her fundamentalist “Foursquare Gospel”warned standing-room-only crowds at revivals and radioaudiences that drinking, gambling, dancing, Hollywoodand the teaching of evolution all represented “agencies ofthe devil to distract the attention of men and women awayfrom spirituality.” On the other hand, Sister Aimee wasahead of her time in campaigning for the right for womento vote. In later life, she was the target of numerous critics,including other evangelists, who viewed her lavish lifestyle, opulent fashion wardrobe, over the top theatrics, andquestionable love life as hypocritical and “modernist.”

After a decade living a nomadic life and preachingfrom town to town in revivals across America, sheeventually settled in Los Angeles. Raising over a milliondollars in donations, she built the spectacular AngelusTemple near Echo Park, a five thousand-seat megachurch that opened in 1923. Sister Aimee’s extravagantSunday services, which were broadcast on her radiostation and attended by thousands of followers from allwalks of life, were accompanied by the Silver Brass Bandand a mighty Kimball pipe organ.

I. Knock Out the Devil! In the first movement, Isummon the organ, brass and percussion to call to mind arevival held by Sister Aimee after a boxing match in a SanDiego amphitheatre. To publicize the revival, SisterAimee, wearing her trademark white robe, walkedthroughout the crowd with a huge sign inviting theaudience to join her after the fight to “Knock out the Devil!”

II. An Evangelist Drowns/Desert Dance. On May 16,1926, Sister Aimee, who was at the peak of her fame,went for a swim near Venice Beach, California andmysteriously vanished. Believed to have drowned,thousands gathered on the beach to pay their respects.But had she really drowned? Newspapers across Americaasked “Where is Sister Aimee?” In response to herdisappearance, Upton Sinclair, one of Sister Aimee’smost vocal critics, fictionalized her life in Elmer Gantry(1926), his seminal novel on religious hypocrisy, andwrote a sarcastic poem An Evangelist Drowns (1926):

What’s this? A terror-spasm gripsMy heart-strings, and my reason slips.Oh, God, it cannot be that I,The bearer of Thy Word, should die!My letters waiting in the tent!The loving messenger I sent!My daughter’s voice, my mother’s kiss!My pulpit-notes on Genesis!Oh, count the souls I saved for Thee, My Savior-wilt Thou not save me?Ten thousand to my aid would run,Bring me my magic microphone!

Around a month after her supposed death, Sister Aimeewas discovered in a Mexican village across the borderfrom Douglas, Arizona. She claimed she had beenkidnapped for ransom and held in Mexico only to escapeby walking days through the desert to freedom. The LosAngeles District Attorney did not believe her story: heaccused Sister Aimee of faking her disappearance inorder to run off with Kenneth Ormiston, a married manwho was the radio engineer at the Angelus Temple. Thescandal was a serious blow to Sister Aimee’s reputation.In the second movement, slow descending, mysteriouschords evoke Sister Aimee’s “drowning”, while a virtuosicdance for organ foot pedals calls forth her wandering thedesert for “40 days and nights.”

III. To the Promised Land. After the scandal, SisterAimee slowly rebuilt her reputation by focusing oncharitable endeavors for the needy and selling War Bondsduring the Second World War. The night before she was topreach her popular “Story of My Life” at a revival, SisterAimee accidentally took a fatal dose of sleeping pills andnever woke up. In To the Promised Land, I create a hymnfor Sister Aimee in her final hours, as she meditates on herhumble beginnings as a child in the Salvation Army, andher rise and fall as America’s most admired evangelist.The music builds to a dramatic conclusion, as she dreamsof her final comeback, returning to the “pearly gates” ofheaven and the biblical “promised land.”

Michael Daugherty


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John Alexander

Pacific Chorale’s Artistic Director since 1972, Alexander is one of America’s mostrespected choral conductors. His inspired leadership on the podium and as anadvocate for choral music has garnered national and international acclaim. Hisdistinguished career has encompassed conducting hundreds of choral andorchestral performances in 27 countries around the globe, including throughoutEurope, Asia, the former Soviet Union and South America and, closer to home, withPacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Musica Angelica and the Los AngelesChamber Orchestra. Equally versatile whether on the podium or behind the scenes,Alexander has prepared choruses for many of the world’s most outstandingorchestral conductors. Alexander is a composer of many works and serves as theeditor of the John Alexander Choral Series with Hinshaw Music. His numeroustributes and awards include: the “Distinguished Faculty Member” award fromCalifornia State University, Fullerton; the Helena Modjeska Cultural Legacy Award;

the “Outstanding Individual Artist” Award from Arts Orange County; the “Gershwin Award,” presented by the County ofLos Angeles; and the “Outstanding Professor” Award from California State University, Northridge; and the “MichaelKorn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art” from Chorus America.

Pacific Symphony

Pacific Symphony, led byMusic Director Carl St.Clair,is the largest orchestraformed in the United Statesin the last 40 years, and isrecognized as an outstandingensemble making strides onboth the national andinternational scene as wellas in its own community of

Southern California. Pacific Symphony offers moving musical experiences with repertoire ranging from the greatorchestral masterworks to music from today’s most prominent composers, highlighted by the annual AmericanComposers Festival and a series of multi-media concerts called “Music Unwound.” Pacific Symphony is dedicated todeveloping and promoting today’s composers and expanding the orchestral repertoire – illustrated through its manycommissions and recordings, in-depth explorations of American artists and themes at the American ComposersFestival. The Symphony’s innovative approaches to new works received the ASCAP Award for AdventuresomeProgramming in 2005 and 2010. In 2010, Pacific Symphony was named one of five orchestras profiled by the League ofAmerican Orchestras in a study on innovation. Since 2006, the Symphony has performed in the Renée and HenrySegerstrom Concert Hall, designed by Cesar Pelli with acoustics by Russell Johnson. In March 2006, the Symphonyembarked on its first European tour – receiving an unprecedented 22 rave reviews.


The world première was given by the Filarmonica ’900under the direction of David Kawka, at the Auditorium RAI‘Arturo Toscanini’, Torino, Italy on September 11, 2011. TheAmerican première was given by Pacific Symphony underthe direction of Carl St.Clair, at the Renée and HenrySegerstrom Concert Hall at the Segerstrom Center for theArts, Cosa Mesa, California on February 23, 2012.

Radio City is a symphonic fantasy on Arturo Toscaniniwho conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra, from NBCStudio 8-H at Rockefeller Center in New York City, in liveradio broadcasts heard by millions across America from 1937to 1954. Born in Parma, Italy, Toscanini (1867-1957) wasinternationally recognized as the most gifted conductor of histime, famous for his definitive interpretations of operatic andsymphonic repertoire. At the height of his career as MusicDirector of La Scala in Milan, Italy, Toscanini was forced intoexile for his refusal to become part of Mussolini’s Fascistregime. Like the aging magician Prospero, exiled from Milanto an island in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, the seventy-year-old Toscanini sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to theisland of Manhattan, and cast his magic spell upon all whoheard him conduct.

I. O Brave New World (O Mirabile Nuovo Mondo). Thefirst movement begins with four French horns playing agrandiose musical theme, announcing Toscanini’s entryinto the “Brave New World” of America. From the NBCstudios in Rockefeller Center, otherwise known as “RadioCity,” Toscanini conducted Vivaldi to open his first NBCSymphony Orchestra broadcast on Christmas Day in 1937.I create a baroque tapestry of Vivaldi violins andkaleidoscopic orchestral fragments of Verdi’s La forza deldestino, accompanied by sleighbells. The music,periodically interrupted by dissonant brass chords, isreminiscent of a “brave new” Manhattan. After a slow,bluesy section with clarinets playing in octaves, the firstmovement builds to a grand, magical ending à la Toscanini.

II. Ode to the Old World (Ode al Vecchio Mondo). Iimagine Toscanini, exiled in America during World War II,standing alone at the top of the Rockefeller Centerskyscraper. As he gazes across the spectacular view fromthe Manhattan skyline to the Atlantic Ocean, heremembers when he first conducted Verdi’s Aida as a

young man and wonders when, if ever, he will be able toreturn to his beloved Italy. The music of this movement ismelancholic, mysterious, and turbulent. In addition tocloud-like cluster chords echoing in the glockenspiel,vibraphone, marimba, and chimes, we also hear nostalgicstring melodies performed con passione, contrasted withrousing orchestral tutti sections marked agitato.

III. On the Air (In Onda). In 1939, Life magazinereported, “the world knows Toscanini as a great conductorwith a fearful temper, an unfailing memory, and the power tolash orchestras into frenzies of fine playing.” And in1944, Toscanini conducted Tchaikovksy’s The Tempest:Symphonic Fantasy for a live radio performance with theNBC Symphony Orchestra. Just as Shakespeare’s Prosperocalls upon the spirit of Ariel to fly through the air at hiscommand, so also Toscanini commanded the radio wavesfor his broadcasts “on the air” across America. In the finalmovement of Radio City, I have composed music thatcaptures Toscanini’s tempestuous temperament, his musicalintensity, and the frenzied tempos of his performances.

The Gospel According to Sister Aimee (2012) for organ,brass and percussion was commissioned by PacificSymphony, Carl St.Clair, Music Director and Conductor, andthe San Diego State University School of Music and Dance(SDSU) for its 75th anniversary celebration and SDSU WindSymphony, Shannon Kitelinger, conductor. The worldpremière was given by Pacific Symphony under the directionof Carl St.Clair, with Paul Jacobs, organ soloist, at the Renéeand Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Centerfor the Arts, Costa Mesa, California on February 23, 2012.

The Gospel According to Sister Aimee is my musicalmeditation on the rise, fall and redemption of AimeeSemple McPherson (1890-1944), the first importantreligious celebrity of the new mass media era of the 1930s.Also known as Sister Aimee, she was able to combinePentecostal “old-time” religion, patriotism and theatricalpizzazz like no other religious leader of her time. For over35 years, Sister Aimee, bible in hand, delivered legendarysermons, often speaking-in-tongues, and practiced faithhealing from coast to coast at revivals held in tents, townsquares, opera houses and boxing rings across America.

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Carl St.Clair

Photo: Pacific Symphony As Pacific Symphony’s Music Director since1990-91, Carl St.Clair has become widelyrecognized for his musically distinguishedperformances, commitment to outstandingeducational programs and innovative approachesto programming. St.Clair is known for thecritically acclaimed annual American ComposersFestivals, which began in 2000. In 2011-12, heinaugurated a three-year vocal initiative, with asemi-staged production of La Bohème and in2012-13, Tosca. Four years ago, he launched“Music Unwound,” featuring concerts highlightedby multimedia and innovative formats. In 2006-07, he led the orchestra’s move into its acoustichome in the Renée and Henry SegerstromConcert Hall in Orange County, Calif. In March2006, St.Clair took the Symphony on its firsthighly successful European tour. St.Clair hasserved as General Music Director of theKomische Oper in Berlin, and as General MusicDirector and Chief Conductor of the GermanNational Theater and Staatskapelle (GNTS) inWeimar, Germany. He was also Principal GuestConductor of the Radio SinfonieorchesterStuttgart. He has appeared with orchestras inIsrael, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, NewZealand and South America, and summerfestivals worldwide. In North America, St.Clairhas led many major orchestras, including theBoston Symphony Orchestra, where he servedas Assistant Conductor.

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Mount Rushmore (2010) for chorus and orchestra wascommissioned by Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair, MusicDirector and Conductor, with assistance fromVocalEssence, Philip Brunelle, Artistic Director. The worldpremière was given by Pacific Symphony and PacificChorale under the direction of Carl St.Clair at the Renéeand Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Centerfor the Arts, Costa Mesa, California on February 4, 2010.

Mount Rushmore (2010) for chorus and orchestra isinspired by the monumental sculpture located in the BlackHills of South Dakota of four American presidents: GeorgeWashington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826),Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) and Abraham Lincoln(1809-1865). Created during the Great Depressionagainst seemingly impossible odds, the American sculptorGutzon Borglum supervised a small crew of men in thecarving of these figureheads into the granite mountainsideof Mount Rushmore from 1927 until his death in 1941.Drawing from American musical sources and texts, mycomposition echoes the resonance and dissonance ofMount Rushmore as a complex icon of American history.Like Mount Rushmore, my libretto is carved out of thewords of each President.

For the first movement, I have divided the choir intotwo sections to reflect two phases in the life of GeorgeWashington, first as commander-in-chief during theRevolutionary War and later as the first President of theUnited States. Choir I performs fragments of Chester, thepopular Revolutionary War anthem by William Billings, inthe bright straight tones of shape-note singing common tothe period. Following orchestral echoes of YankeeDoodle, Choir II sings a fragment from Washington’sletter, written upon retirement from public life: “I will movegently down the stream of life, until I sleep with myFathers.”

Thomas Jefferson, the third President of America, wasa brilliant political writer and also an accomplished violinist,who wrote that “Music is the passion of my soul.” As theAmerican Minister to France (1785-89), the recentlywidowed Jefferson met Maria Cosway in Paris, and fell in

love with this young, charismatic, Anglo-Italian societyhostess, musician, and composer of salon music. Thesecond movement of my composition intertwines a lovesong composed by Cosway for Jefferson (Ogni DolceAura) together with a love letter composed by Jefferson forCosway (“Dialogue of the Head vs. the Heart”) and keyfragments from Jefferson’s “Declaration of Independence”.

The third movement is based on the words ofAmerica’s 26th President, Theodore Roosevelt, who wasa great explorer of the uncharted wilderness. WhilePresident, Roosevelt created the National Park Serviceand successfully protected, against great opposition fromcommercial developers, over 234 million acres of naturalplains, forests, rivers and mountain ranges of theAmerican West. It was during his retreats into the barrenBadlands of North Dakota (not far from Mount Rushmore)that Roosevelt, as a young man, realized that the“majestic beauty” of the American wilderness needed tobe left “as it is” for future generations. I have composedmusic to suggest the robust and mystical sense ofRoosevelt’s “delight in the hardy life of the open” and “thehidden spirit of the wilderness.”

The fourth and final movement of Mount Rushmore isdedicated to Abraham Lincoln, who successfullyreconciled a divided United States and initiated the end ofslavery. I have set the rhythmic cadences and powerfulwords of his “Gettysburg Address” (1863) to music thatresonates with echoes of period music from the Civil War. Icreate a musical portrait of the 16th President of the UnitedStates, who expressed his vision with eloquence, and withhope that the human spirit could overcome prejudice anddifferences of opinion in order to create a better world.

Radio City: Symphonic Fantasy on Arturo Toscaniniand the NBC Symphony Orchestra (2011) fororchestra was commissioned by Pacific Symphony, CarlSt.Clair, Music Director and Condutor and MITO,Settembre Musica International Festival of Music, EnzoRestagno, Artistic Director, in celebration of the 150thanniversary of the Unification of Italy.

Michael Daugherty (b. 1954)


AMERICAN CLASSICS

MICHAEL DAUGHERTYMount Rushmore

Radio City • The Gospel According to Sister AimeePaul Jacobs, Organ

Pacific Symphony • Pacific Chorale • Carl St.Clair

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John Alexander, Artistic Director of Pacific Chorale, Carl St.Clair, Music Director of Pacific Symphony, and composer Michael Daugherty following the world première of Mount Rushmore by Pacific Symphony and Pacific Chorale at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts,

Costa Mesa, California, February 4, 2010. Photo: Stan Sholik

Mount Rushmore, Radio City: Symphonic Fantasy on Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and The Gospel According to Sister Aimee were recorded at Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall,

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, California, USA, from 4th to 6th February, 2010 (tracks 1-4), and from 23rd to 25th February, 2012 (tracks 5-10).

Producer and editor: Blanton Alspaugh • Engineer: Ted Ancona • Mixed and Mastered at Soundmirror by Mark DonahuePublishers: Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, Inc., Hendon Music (BMI) (tracks 1-4); Michael Daugherty Music (tracks 5-10)


Album Booklet - Daugherty m Mount Rushmore Radio c

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