Performs

PortlandSymphonic Choir

May 5, 2012 at 7:30 pm and May 6, 2012 at 1:30 pm • St. Mary’s Cathedral

Steven Zopfi, Artistic Director

Steven Zopfi , Artistic DirectorAmerican Masters

Enjoy more of PSC’s music on two wonderful CDs!

Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All�Night Vigil (“Vespers”)The Portland Symphonic Choir directed by Steven Zopfi Recorded at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Portland, Oregon, June 2009Now available on CD Baby and Amazon Bryan Johanson’s Lux Aeterna and American works by Hanson, Whitacre, Dinerstein, and othersHamilton Cheifetz, celloThe Portland Symphonic Choir directed by Steven Zopfi You can purchase both CDs in the lobby, or order them from pschoir.org

Photo by Michael Jones

music on two wonderful CDs!

Welcome to our Spring concert! The Choir and I are proud to present

a concert of all American composers. From the fi rst working choral

composer in colonial America to Bernstein and Copland, we sing of our

land and its people.We’re also introducing some exciting new players, including composers

Eric Whitacre, Jeffrey Van, and Eric Sayre. With their songs, we sing of

Leonardo da Vinci’s dream of fl ight, Walt Whitman’s poem about the wages

of a Civil War, and a son’s farewell to his father. Let me take this opportunity to whet your appetite for next year. In September, we are thrilled to be singing Brahms’ Requiem, with soloists

Dominique Labelle and Richard Zeller, in partnership with the Oregon

Symphony. In early December, we’ll greet the holiday season with our

much-beloved WinterSong! concert. In spring, we’ll be celebrating my

tenth season with PSC by revisiting several of my favorite choral pieces,

performed by the Choir over the last decade. And lest I forget, in February

we’ll be the choir for Oregon Symphony’s production of the powerful

Britten’s War Requiem! Wow!I’m so grateful to be able to lead this wonderful group of people. I hope

you are as enthusiastic about them as I am! Please let them know how

much you appreciate the way they’re keeping the great choral tradition alive

with their loving work from week to week throughout the years. So now, let’s do some singing in the great American choral tradition!With sincere thanks,Steven Zopfi

Photo of Chihuly Bridge at the Museum of Glass © Andy Wallace

Graphic design courtesy of Lodestar Studio, Inc.

Steven ZopfiArtistic DirectorPortland Symphonic Choir

Hailed as one of the leading young conductors in the Pacific Northwest, Steven Zopfi serves as Director of Choral Activities at the University of Puget Sound and is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Portland Symphonic Choir, the official chorus of the Oregon Symphony. Critics have hailed his work as “magical” and “superb” and choirs under his direction have been invited to sing at the local and regional conventions of the American Choral Director’s Association, the Music Educator’s National Conference, and other professional organizations. Zopfi has served on the faculties of Penn State University, the University of Washington, and Pacific Lutheran University.

Zopfi, a native of New Jersey, attended the Hartt School of Music and the University of California at Irvine, and earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Colorado. He has served as Vermont State President of the American Choral Directors Association and on the executive boards of the Vermont Music Educators Association and the Washington Choral Director’s Association. He has prepared choruses for Carlos Kalmar, Bernard Labadie, Alastair Willis, Murray Sidlin, and Peter Schickele, and as a singer he has sung for many leading conductors, including Robert Shaw and Sir David Willcocks. Zopfi has performed with the Prague Philharmonic, The Colorado Symphony, and the New Jersey Symphony and is the founder and past Artistic Director of The Foundling Hospital Singers, The Boulder Schola Cantorum, The Grace Chamber Orchestra, and The Portland Sinfonietta.

Active as an editor of early music, Zopfi is also a passionate advocate for new music, and he has commissioned and conducted the world premieres of music by Edwin Lawrence, Timothy Melbinger, Bryan Johanson, and Judith Zaimont. His music reviews and articles have been published in The Choral Journal and his arrangements and editions are published by Colla Voce publishing. Zopfi is in constant demand as a conductor, adjudicator, and clinician.

Kathryn LehmannAssistant DirectorPortland Symphonic Choir

Kathryn Lehmann is a member of the voice faculty at the University of Puget Sound. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Pacific Lutheran University and a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where she also served on the faculty for three years.

She was granted the Francis Robinson Award for performance and academic achievement at Westminster and performed actively as a soprano soloist, including singing operatic roles at the Spoleto Festival, Aspen Music Festival and the Bowdoin Festival. She was given the National American Teachers of Singing scholarship for advanced study in voice for recognition of her performances that were a part of the program at the Aspen Music Festival.

Most recently, Lehmann was the Director of Choral Activities at Pacific Lutheran University. She has been the Director of Vocal and Choral Activities at Oregon State University and conducted the OSU Chamber Choir, Madrigal Singers, and the Opera Workshop. The OSU choirs performed nationally and internationally under Lehmann's direction, and in 1996 she was given the Stewart Award for faculty development and excellence. Lehmann was also an associate professor on the faculty of the University of Oregon, where she directed the U of O Chamber Choir, taught music education classes and directed the Eugene Chamber Singers. She was a performer and lecturer for the Oregon Bach Festival while in Eugene, studying choral conducting with Helmuth Rilling. She continued her studies of the Choral music of Bach at the International Bach Akademie in Stuttgart, Germany.

Kathryn Lehmann has taught public school vocal music at the elementary and secondary levels in the Clover Park and Puyallup School districts in Washington. As a public school educator, she directed performing groups at Music Educator conventions at the state and regional levels in the Pacific Northwest, gaining a reputation for her expertise in developing the voice in a choral setting.

Choir Administrative StaffDale Webber Choir PresidentMargaret Braun Choir Vice PresidentMark A. Petersen General ManagerCindy Scheel Development Director

Cameron Griffith HerbertWayne CarlonCatherine Robinson Choir Librarians Diana deTar Auditions coordinatorKatherine Lefever Membership coordinatorCarillon Nicol Usher Coordinator

Board of Directors

Board OfficersPhil Joslin - ChairMarianne Sweeney - Vice ChairMike Murray - SecretaryTom Hard - TreasurerBoard MembersChristine BergerMargaret BraunGary GrossKatherine LefeverBarry PurnellJames SaundersDale Webber

Resource CouncilJulie AdamsJack AllenJames BashJohn BellCharles Calmer Sally FisherDavid GalluzzoJeff HeatheringtonRalph NelsonTravis RigbyJohn SalmonTom SwaffordLarry Winkle

American MastersAn Anthem for Easter William Billings (1746-1800)

A Procession Winding Jeffrey Van (b. 1941)

Ian Luxton, guitar

Missa Brevis Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

Gary Shannon, Mark Woodward, countertenorsGordon Rencher, Tom Sessa, percussion

Kathryn Lehmann, conductor

Intermission

Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)Gordon Rencher, Tom Sessa, percussion

The Lord is ris'n indeed! Hallelujah!Now is Christ risen from the deadAnd become the first fruits of them that slept;Hallelujah! And did He rise?Hear it ye nations! hear it, O ye dead!He rose, He rose,He burst the bars of death,

And triumphed o'er the grave;Then I rose, then first humanityTriumphant passed the crystal ports of light,And seized eternal youth.Man all immortal hail,Heaven, all lavish of strange gifts to man,Thine all the glory, man's the boundless bliss.

Steven Zopfi - conductor Ron Fabbro - rehearsal accompanist

Tormented by visions of flight and falling,More wondrous and terrible each than the last,Master Leonardo imagines an engineTo carry a man up into the sun…

And as he’s dreaming the heavens call him,softly whispering their siren-song:“Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni a volare.” (“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly.”)Vicina all’elemento del fuocoImages of wing, frame and fabric fastened tightly

L’uomo colle sua congiegniate e grandi ale,facciendo forza contro alla resistente aria.

(A man with wings large enough and duly connectedmight learn to overcome the resistance of the air.)

As the candles burn low he paces and writes,Releasing purchased pigeons one by oneInto the golden Tuscan sunrise…

And as he dreams, again the calling,The very air itself gives voice:“Leonardo. Leonardo, vieni a volare.”(“Leonardo. Leonardo, come fly.”)

As the midnight watchtower tolls,Over rooftop, street and dome,The triumph of a human being ascendingIn the dreaming of a mortal man.

Leonardo steels himself,takes one last breath, and leaps…

Kyrie eleisonGloriaSanctusBenedictus Agnus DeiDona nobis pacem

By The Bivouac’s Fitful FlameBeat! Beat! Drums!Look Down Fair MoonReconciliation

In Paradisum Eric Sayre (b. 1989)Daniel Morrill, tenor (Saturday), Brian Haskins, tenor (Sunday)

The Promise of Living from The Tender Land (1954) Aaron Copland (1900-1990)Kathy Ganske, Kendra Friar, piano

In paradisum deducant te Angeli:in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.

El maleh rachamim shochayn bam’romimHam’tzay m’nucha n’chona tachat kanfei ha’sh’china b’ma’a lot k’doshim u’t’horimk’zohar harakia mazirimet nishmat avi she’halach le’olamob’gan aiden t’hey m’nuchatoh.

Ana ba’al harachamim hastirayhu b’tzel k’nafecha l’olamim u’tzror bitzror ha’chayim et nishmatoh.

Adonai hu nachalatohv’yanuach b’shalom al mishkavoh, v’nomar amen.

I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, even if he dies, shall live. - John 11:25

May the angels lead you into paradise;May the Martyrs welcome you upon your arrival,and lead you into the holy city of Jersusalem.

O God, full of compassion, who dwells on highgrant true rest upon the wings of the Divine Presence,in the exalted spheres of the holy and pure,illuminating like the brilliance of the skiesthe soul of my father who went to his eternal place of rest, may his place of rest be in the garden of Eden.

May the All-Merciful One shelter him with the cover of His wings forever, and bind his soul in the bond of life.

The Lord is his portion, may he rest in his resting-place in peace. And let us say Amen.

[Latin excerpt from the Catholic Requiem Mass, translation by Ron Jeffers. Hebrew is El Maleh Rachamim- Jewish prayer for the soul of the departed, Transliteration and translation by Mara Benjamin and Eric Sayre]

Soprano 1Brandee Austin-ConeMargaret BraunCarol CorcheroGail D'Aloisio *Dorothea Gauer LailChristina Gipson +Cameron Griffith Herbert **Bonnie JohnsonLauren McCuneJen Milius *Sue NelsonKurleen NowinkasPatricia RehmMorgan RoeTheresa SwansonLucy YandleSoprano 2Kathy AustenJoy BongiornoKari BurgessCara CantonwineHallie ClarkKendra FriarNan HaemerWendy Hein +Margaret KilzerLauren JenningsKatherine Lefever *Kathryn LehmannEmily Matus-BorgesSue-Del McCullochDonna MihnosRamona MooreMary Martin NelsonEmily StevensAlexa StuartLaura Whittemore

Alto 1Kristen Caldwell *Nancy CurtinDiana de TarHelen Deitz**Kathy GanskeKendra Killian-DavisJanelle ManskeDeborah MurrayLindsay RayAllison Robertson *Catherine RobinsonCarol RossioSharon SmithMary Lane StevensIrene WeldonTrisha WilliamsAlto 2Betsy CooperJamie FreyerMaria HeinKari Liebert *Melanie MadiganLois MaxwellRachel Portnoy Bradley +Colleen RenisonLaura RobsonAshley SalisburyRhonda SlinkardBryana SteckMarianne SweeneyKathy Teyler JarrettMelissa ThomasKate WithiamDeborah Wright

Tenor 1Brett BargmannCarl DahlquistDavid Foley *Stephen FountainJames HookAndy IsbellDaniel MorrillGerard NelsonJason O’Neill-ButlerJonathan ThomasJosh WeirMark Woodward *Tenor 2Jon GarrowBrian HaskinsDaniel HibbettJerome Patrick LarkinMichael MurrayRalph NelsonWill RichardsMatthew SchickGary Shannon**Mark SimmerMartin TobiasDale Webber

** Section Leader* Semi-chorus singer+ Leonardo solos

Bass 1Chris BrownJohn Eisemann *Don FalesGary GrossPhill Hurley +Jeremy JenningsBill KlatzDaniel KnaussJim MaddryJohn NicolTom RocksAriel Shai RogsonJim SaundersRik SimmondsEric SmithScott Sorensen-JolinkAaron Waggoner *Lorin WilkersonBass 2Don AlrickBrooke BenfieldWayne CarlonDan Dalzell *Paul Elison**Oscar FernandezJerry GilkersonTom HardPhil JoslinDaniel MilesMark PetersenPaul SadilekJohn SalmonBill ScottDwight Uphaus

Portland Symphonic Choir

Program Notes

Anthem for Easter – William Billings

William Billings (1746-1800) was one of the most important musicians of a group of American-born composers and teachers called the “Yankee tunesmiths.” Centered in New England, these composers specialized in writing sacred, unaccompanied choral music in four parts, publishing their works, and traveling town-to-town to distribute their music in a series of “singing schools.” Billings was a mostly self-taught musician and much of his music does not follow the classic rules of harmonic progression. Its charm lies instead in its vigorous rhythm and wonderful simplicity. Anthem for Easter is one of the composer’s most popular tunes during his day and continues to be one of his most enduring compositions.

A Procession Winding Around Me - Jeffrey Van

Guitarist and composer Jeffrey Van has premiered over 50 works for guitar including Dominick Argento’s Letters from Composers, five concertos and a broad variety of chamber music. His music for guitar and chorus has been sung by many leading choirs around the country, including the Dale Warland Singers and the Pacific Chorale. His most ambitious work to date for guitar and chorus is his 1991 cantata, A Procession Winding Around Me. Set to Civil War poetry of Walt Whitman, Van’s Procession is comprised of four movements. The first movement speaks to an army’s anticipation of battle. The second movement portrays the fury of war. The third movement depicts the eerie calm following a battle. The fourth movement involves both the realization of the humanity of an enemy combatant as well as a prayer for reconciliation. Throughout the work, Van makes use of unconventional percussive sounds on the guitar, whistling, dissonance, and a rich double choir effect at the very end of the cantata to more fully capture the mood of the text.

Missa Brevis – Leonard Bernstein

The genesis of Bernstein’s Missa Brevis stems from a set of incidental music that the composer wrote for Lillian Helman’s play, “The Lark” in 1955. The legendary American conductor Robert Shaw attended one of the first performances and suggested some changes, to create a Missa Brevis out of the material. It took Bernstein thirty-three years to make those changes and the completed Missa Brevis was finally dedicated to Robert Shaw in 1988 in honor of his retirement as Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony. The six-movement work for countertenor, percussion, and chorus begins with a solemn chant-like Kyrie. The second movement begins with an explosion of bells that contrasts greatly with the more restrained first movement. The third movement starts with a dialogue between an eager chorus and a restrained countertenor. Finally both join in an exuberant Osanna that brings the movement to a close. The fourth movement also begins with a dialogue between the chorus and the countertenor. This quickly transforms back into the Osanna material from the last movement as was the practice during the Baroque and Classical periods. The close of the movement also brings back the bells from the Gloria to end the middle section of the Missa. The fifth and six movements both start off with a similar dramatic setting of the text Agnus Dei. However, the fifth movement then moves to a lovely lilting initiative section reminiscent of Renaissance sacred polyphony and ends with the choir briefly chanting miserere nobis [have mercy on us]. The sixth movement, on the other hand, progresses to a dance-like setting of Dona nobis pacem set for chorus and percussion that brings the pieces to a happy close.

Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine – Eric Whitacre

Charles Anthony Silvestri is not only a brilliant poet, teacher and historian, he is a consummate choral singer blessed with a beautiful tenor voice. When Dr. Gene Brooks called and asked me to write the 2001 Raymond C. Brock Commission, I could think of no other author whose words I would rather set.

We started with a simple concept: what would it sound like if Leonardo DaVinci were dreaming? And more specifically, what kind of music would fill the mind of such a genius? The drama would tell the story of Leonardo being tormented by the calling of the air, tortured to such degree that his only recourse was to solve the riddle and figure out how to fly.

We approached the piece as if we were writing an opera brève. Charles (Tony to his friends) would supply me with draft after draft of revised ‘libretti’, and I in turn would show him the musical fragments I had written. Tony would then begin to mold the texts into beautiful phrases and gestures as if he were a Renaissance poet, and I constantly refined my music to match the ancient, elegant style of his words. I think in the end we achieved a fascinating balance, an exotic hybrid of old and new.

Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine is the second in a planned cycle of element works (the first, Cloudburst, coincidentally, was completed nine years earlier to the day). It is dedicated with much love and respect to my publisher, the radiant and elegant Ms. Gunilla Luboff. – notes by Eric Whitacre

In Paradisum – Eric Sayre

In Paradisum depicts my childhood fantasy of the journey a soul must take before reaching paradise.

I began composing this piece with a hypothetical soul in mind. However, less than a year later when my father passed away, the work immediately began to take new shape. I grew up in a family of multiple faiths, so the loss of my father inevitably raised many theological questions. This piece is my conclusion. It is not a debate between Judaism and Christianity, but rather a harmonious marriage of the two. – notes by Eric Sayre

The Promise of Living – Aaron Copland

Aaron Copland (1900-1990), known as the “Dean of American Composers,” was instrumental in developing a characteristic “American” style of composition in the first half of the twentieth century. Common to many of his symphonic, ballet, and vocal works, his use of archetypal “American” subjects and texts, his use of open fourths and fifths, and folk and jazz-based melodies all lend Copland’s works an archetypal “American” sound. The Promise of Living is from Copland’s 1954 Opera, “The Tender Land.” Commissioned by Rogers and Hammerstein, “The Tender Land” was originally conceived as a television opera but was first staged by the New York City Opera after NBC rejected the work. Set in the Midwest in the 1930s, and featuring the story of farm a family struggling to continue their family traditions, the Opera contains many popular choral and solo songs that have since been successfully excerpted for the concert stage. One of the most popular of these songs, The Promise of Living, appears at the end of the first act, and features the Moss family and their hired hands singing a song of thanksgiving for their land, their harvest, and their way of life.

– notes by Steven Zopfi (except as indicated)

Contributions to the Portland Symphonic Choir keep this glorious music alive in our community. Gifts of all sizes and kinds—whether cash, securities, or in-kind services—make all the difference to us.

Thank you for your time, your talents, and your monetary support of one of the area’s most prestigious and accomplished arts organizations.

Donors

Foundations and CorporationsArgosy The Collins FoundationJackson FoundationJuan Young Trust Multnomah County Cultural Commission Oregon Arts CommissionPacifi c Power FoundationRACCThe StandardUS Bank

Individuals$10,000 and aboveTom HardLarry Winkle

$2,000 to $9,999Christine BergerKathy Teyler JarrettPhil JoslinBill Scott

$1,000 to $1,999Don FalesGary GrossPatricia RehmMarianne SweeneyMarc WaltersSteven Zopfi

$500 to $999Virginia AdelsheimMalle KollomHelen DeitzDorothea Gauer LailMary Lane StevensRonni S LacrouteStephen McCarthyMichael MurrayJoan MuthJohn SalmonJames Saunders

Mark SimmerSally SollazzoAaron Waggoner

$250 to $499Julie E. AdamsDonavan Burkert-KerrCarol CorcheroDiana de TarDeb DeWigWilbur EichelbergKendra FriarKathryn L. GanskeBarbara GazeleyPhillip HurleyMichael MarchandSue-Del McCullochMary NelsonMarianne OttPeter StuartKate ThompsonSterling VasquezApril Walker

$100 to $249Alexander AlbertineJames BashChris BrownBetsy CooperStephen & Mary FreelandDiane FressolaKathryn GarrettRichard GerstlJerry GilkersonJulie GrandstaffMargaret GunnTiit & Kristi HeinsooNora HelfandCameron Griffi th HerbertDaniel HibbettCatherine HolderKatherine HoltHelga JoyceBrianne KerrKendra Killian-Davis

Bill KlatzKatherine LefeverRichard Lloyd-JonesDonna MihnosAlbert & Ginnie McBridePriscilla NelsonJohn & Carillon NicolDebra & Lee NoahAnne ParrMark PerryBenno PhilippsonBarry PurnellLinda ReisserThomas RocksJohn RoweJohn SollazzoScott Sorensen-JolinkJane StevensJohn TuoheyJohn VlaznyDale & Sally WebberDiane WithiamKirke WolfeConstance Zopfi

Up to $99John AllenDon AlrickJames AsaphKathy AustenPhillip AyersScott BakerFrances BarnesKay BoswellMargaret BraunSandy BumpusGerald CalbaumScappose ChiropracticRoy ClarkGail D’AloisioDavid DoedeThomas DymowskiMary E. EvjenDavid FoleyVanessa GiacomettiDavid Heim

Maria HeinEmily HoltHilary HutchinsonSharon JohnsonStanley JonesLawrence JordanGerald KibeJean KimseyKaren LabingerKari LiebertJudy LudwigsenLinda MantelMichael MarchandTeresa MarkusJudy MasonTerrance McCannGeoffrey McCarthyJoline MillerAndrea NicholasKathy NortonReid OlsenElizabeth PallesMark PetersenDarlene RobertsonDarrell SandersSuzanne ScheelPatricia ScherzingerMathew SchickAnn SitomerAnn SmitsDonna SteadmanElin TeylerDolores & Paul VetterAndrew & Julie WheelerDeborah WhiteJeanne WieberNorma WithiamLucy Yandle

While every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of this list, we invite you to contact our Development Director, Cindy Scheel, with any additions or corrections at:development@pschoir.org or 503-223-1217.

Portland Symphonic Choir

Grand. Glorious. Timeless.

Don’t miss our fabulous 2012-2013 season!

Brahms RequiemSeptember 29, 2012 at 7:30 pmArlene Schnitzer Concert HallPerformed with the Oregon SymphonySteven Zopfi conducting

WinterSong!December 1, 2012 at 7:30 pmDecember 2, 2012 at 1:30 pmSt. Mary’s Cathedral

Encore! Celebrating Steven Zopfi ’s 10th AnniversaryApril 27, 2013 at 7:30 pmApril 28, 2013 at 1:30St. Mary’s Cathedral

PortlandSymphonic Choir

Meyer Memorial Trust