MEET THE composers
In anticipation of our upcoming concert, To the Hands (Sept. 14-15), we'd like to highlight the composers of the music featured. Enjoy!
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Ysaÿe M. Barnwell, Ph.D. MSPH, is a commissioned composer, arranger, author, actress and former member of the African American female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock. She is a vocalist with a range of over three octaves and appears on more than twenty-five recordings with Sweet Honey as well as other artists. Trained as a violinist for 15 years beginning at the age of 2 1/2, she holds degrees in speech pathology (BS, MSEd), cranio-facial studies (Ph.D.), and public health (MSPH). She was a professor at Howard University College of Dentistry for over a decade, and over the following 8 years developed training programs in Child Protection at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, and administered community-based health programs at Gallaudet University, all in Washington DC. For almost thirty years, and on three continents, Barnwell has led the workshop Building a Vocal Community—Singing In the African American Tradition, which utilizes oral tradition, an African world view and African American history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to build communities of song among singers and non-singers alike. Her pedagogy is highly respected among musicians, educators, health workers, activists, organizers, and members of the corporate and non-profit sectors.
Ken Burton's musical activities cover a wide range of genres and roles, internationally.
Among those roles are: choral and orchestral conductor, composer, and arranger, performer, presenter, TV judge, educator, and producer.
The genre he is most associated with is sacred music for larger ensembles; he is one of the most regular appearing faces on British television with near weekly appearances on BBC1's flagship Songs Of Praise programme for which he has contributed hundreds of works as an arranger, conductor and performer.
At the heart of his music is a combination of his strong faith, musicianship, formal music education, his natural passion he brings to his work, and his strong desire to continually develop and grow. His work crosses boundaries: one day it could be a major concert stage, the next day delivering a workshop in a school, the next recording or conducting for major film or album releases, the next delivering music to inmates in a prison, or the residents of a care home. His philosophy is: it's all equal. He believes in giving his all, no matter what the nature of the project, and will testify to the fact that he derives a huge amount of satisfaction, and most memorable moments of his career from any engagement. He may fly business class one day, and be on the bus the next day; Hilton one day, a smaller bed and breakfast tomorrow. The greatest joy for him is lives positively impacted through music - be they the listeners, or through empowering and enabling others to reach their potential. This is evident through the time and energy he devotes to amateur groups. He enjoys the process of seeing singers who doubt themselves often ending up being deeply emotional when they realise what is possible. His meticulous manner of working, where he always wants the participants to always take something away which is enjoyable, life impacting, and educational - something they didn't know before - has led to many a school, church, or community choir to aim higher. Indeed, he was brought to public attention in the mid 90's when he entered the biannual national Choir Of The Year competition - one of the most prestigious in Europe and widely covered on UK television - and ended up with two out of three choirs in the final, one of them having started life as a totally non auditioned choir of 'whoever was willing to be a part'.
He credits his musical genesis to upbringing. He is the last child of ten, born to West Indian Christian parents, which meant one thing was a very likely central feature family life: morning and evening worship. These worship gatherings consisted of prayer, Bible reading and study, and singing. It wasn't just simply the fact the family went through the routine. Indeed, many families did, but it was not a given that every child was going to end up singing in the choir. The key elements which made the Burton family worship difference was the passion with which songs were sung. The songs were from traditional hymn repertoire, and therefore lyrically very strong. In addition, participation was encouraged - everyone had to read, or would be occasionally selected to pray. This built up confidence. Following Bible readings, it was standard practice to ask 'What moved you? What jumped out at you?', resulting in the ability to think beyond the mere meaning, but to think about the power of words to impact. There was also the sound of music in the home, as family members practiced instruments, but one instrumental practice regime caught Ken's attention: that of his sister Vanessa. Ken would listen attentively outside, and then would somehow work out the notes. At church, Ken was invited to play for two choirs: the church choir (a more friendly way of what was considered the 'senior' choir) and the newly formed youth choir, which he would later be invited to direct, and continues to do so. Having to play individual voice parts regularly, as well as read accompaniments, and occasionally having to accompany without scores, was developing an appreciation for how music is constructed. A pivotal figure in Ken's music learning was his piano teacher - the late Margaret Carr Singh, who discovered, developed and encouraged the musicianship skills in him, such as improvisation, extemporisation, harmonisation, sight reading, and aural perception. Ken therefore became the musician he is today not just through the logical routes of reading music at university, and exams, but through the additional skills, characteristics, and attitudes picked up through the family worship, listening to practice, accompanying and banging out parts from an early age, and someone who saw the potential. This is why his approach and methodology seeks to do more than just have the music ready to go, but to have the participant more deeply engaged and connected with the process of what makes a rendition powerful.
The result of these childhood experiences resulted in Burton's ability to pick music up quickly without a score and be able to improvise freely on the one hand as well as to be the accompanist of choice at university due to his quick sight reading skills, on the other. It enabled him to feel totally comfortable preparing and conducting an orchestral score for a Stravinsky work, whilst being totally authentic to make a freely improvised piece of complex gospel really 'rock'!
Taking a look at some of his activities:
He regularly directs two choirs - the London Adventist Chorale, and Croydon SDA Gospel Choir, and following the latter's regular involvement in several BBC1 Songs Of Praise performances, founded the session broadcast choir The Adventist Vocal Ensemble, out of which came a quartet, Tessera, which he founded and sings with regularly on the programme. He has also been a guest conductor of the London Youth Choir. Whilst most of his work, and the area he is best known for, is in the sacred music genre, he has also contributed extensively to other music genres, although it is his practice to be selective in what he does take on. Under various makeshift names - Ken Burton Voices, The Ken Burton Singers - he has contracted choirs for events including a series of Christmas television show for Danish Television, conducted by David Firman, and a rather special invitation: a surprise tribute to Steven Spielberg at the Cannes Film festival, conducted by Jazz musician Guy Barker. Whilst Burton respects and never judges individuals whose ensembles bear their names, he felt a lot more comfortable with a neutral name, often joking that 'we rise and fall together'. As a result he came up with a name which reflected what he wants to achieve - a vocal delivery that combines appropriate techniques and approaches with integrity and fervour, and hence decided to use a portmanteau of 'vocal quality', and the Voquality name was born. When tasked with putting a small ensemble together for a one of performance of an arrangement of the Beatles' All You Need Is Love for television, and asked to come up with a name, he came up with the name Vocal Creation. This meant that with the Adventist Vocal Ensemble, Voquality, and Vocal Creation, he was able to keep the word 'vocal' as a consistent part of his ad hoc session ensembles. As a result of his breadth of musical experience, he has been able to create the different groups with different musical emphases and styles. When reading music, he was a first study pianist, and second study singer, studying under the late baritone Charles Corp. The study repertoire was largely in the field of oratorio, lighter opera, and art songs. Missing this particular branch of his musical life, he adapted a hymn arrangement he had originally done for congregation, for a trio-solo format, inspired by the Classical male trio format popularised by opera singers 'The Three tenors', and 'Three Mo' Tenors'. Arranging traditional hymns, dividing the verses between the soloists, with occasional choreography gave birth to Dixon, Burton and Billett, where he joins two members of the bass section of his Croydon SDA Gospel Choir - David Billett, and Everol Dixon, in a crossover 'gospel meets Classical' sound. Someone once joked that Burton 'has a vocal ensemble for every day of the week'.
Burton's mindset is not just simply to have groups that perform, but wherever possible to think entrepreneurial. As a result, most of the groups have recorded with recordings distributed by labels set up, either for profit, or not for profit. The Voquality company deals mostly with supplying services to the commercial music and film industry, but also acts as a publisher for Burton's self-published music. Many of his works are published by some of the world's leading music publishers: Faber Music, Edition Peters, Oxford University Press, RSCM, and Walton.
Burton is a regular adjudicator for Choir Of The Year- the very competition where, in 1994, he had his two regular choirs in the same final, the London Adventist Chorale winning. He works extensively as a TV judge; as one of the judges for Channel 4's Gospel Singers Of The Year, BBC Songs Of Praise School Choir Of The Year (BBC1), and was one of the judges of the eight part BAFTA-nominated series The Choir: Sing While You Work (BBC2), presented by Gareth Malone.
He appeared in the credits, as choirmaster, in the multiple Oscar and Grammy winning Marvel film Black Panther, and has also been credited as a choral conductor in other films including Jingle Jangle. He has contributed as a conductor, contractor, and singer to a number of film soundtracks.
He has appeared and worked extensively on some of the biggest programmes on British television and internationally, among them the aforementioned Songs Of Praise (BBC) as a regular conductor, arranger, interviewee, performer, and consultant, and The X Factor (ITV), The X Factor USA(Fox), Britain's Got Talent (ITV), Prom At The Palace (BBC), Eastenders (BBC), Soul Noel (BBC) and numerous others. His roles on the programmes have included performing, vocal contracting, conducting, arranging, musical directing, and production. In 2013 he was one of six invited choral figures to guest present on BBC Radio 3's The Choir, where he explored the changing face and settings of gospel music. His Adventist Vocal Ensemble has been a regular contributor to the biggest days in the calendar (Easter and Christmas) for BBC Radio 2 Good Morning Sunday. Ken has contributed extensively to numerous programmes on The Hope Channel, an international television channel owned and operated by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church organisation. In 2014 and 2015 he presented two nine-part series programmes of Music In My Life: With Ken Burton for Life Connect TV, where he interviewed and made music with a number of established and aspiring gospel and contemporary Christian music artists from across Europe.
His work, however, is not confined to the genre of gospel music. He also has a strong background of (and actually studied) Classical music, and has worked as a chorusmaster training choirs to sing large-scale works such as Verdi Requiem, and Brahms Deutsches Requiem. He has conducted, written and arranged numerous choral and orchestral works for orchestras including London Mozart Players, CBSO, Orchestra Of The Swan, and various BBC orchestras. He conducted the 60th annual performance of Handel's Messiah at the Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington DC. He has been a studio guest on Proms Plus (BBC Television), preceding a concert which included Tippett's A Child Of Our Time, and commenting on Beethoven's Fidelio & Symphony 9, and has conducted and performed at several Proms concerts, including his own music.
In 2019, he had his original music performed on the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival, in the form of a choral prelude entitled You Saved Me, which preceded the performance of Blinded By Your Grace, by British artist Stormzy.
In addition to his regular performance based activities, he has been involved with the Kijani Kenya Trust - a UK based charity which raises funds for HIV and conservation projects in Kenya. His trips to Kenya have involved visits to a large number of orphanages, where music education work is carried out with the orphans, who often have the opportunity to perform on stage as part of the major music festival.
In 2012, the year of the London Olympics, he worked as a vocal coach for the UK Charity Youth Music's cultural olympiad choir Youth Music Voices which performed at venues including WOMAD and the Royal Opera House.
As a guest conductor and workshop leader, he has led workshop choirs across the world, often being commissioned to write new pieces for them.
Dieterich Buxtehude was a Danish organist and composer of the Baroque period, whose works are typical of the North German organ school. As a composer who worked in various vocal and instrumental idioms, Buxtehude's style greatly influenced other composers, such as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Buxtehude is considered one of the most important composers of the 17th century.
Shawn Kirchner is a composer, arranger, and songwriter based in Los Angeles whose choral works are performed throughout the world. His long creative relationship with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Artistic Director Grant Gershon culminated in his tenure as the ensemble’s Swan Family Composer in Residence from 2012-2015. Equally active as a performer, Kirchner has sung twenty seasons as a tenor with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in concerts featuring the world’s leading conductors, composers, and soloists. As a pianist, Kirchner appears throughout the country in performances of his music with collaborating choirs and is celebrated for his wide stylistic range, improvisation, and musicianship.
Kirchner’s composing commissions have included numerous premieres with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at LA’s Disney Hall, as well as writing for Conspirare, San Antonio Chamber Choir, Atlanta Master Chorale, Fort Worth Chorale, Lorelei Ensemble, Tonality, Princeton Chapel Choir, Rockefeller Chapel Choir, Golden Bridge, Choral Arts Northwest, and WomenSing. His work has been performed by such acclaimed international choirs as Ansan City Choir (Rep. of Korea), Elektra Women’s Choir, the Vancouver Youth Choir, Montreal’s Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul for the CBC’s Christmas Sing-In broadcast, and by the Nairobi Chamber Choir for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s 2012 Diamond Jubilee Pageant events at Windsor Castle. Kirchner’s music can be heard on recordings by the LA Master Chorale, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Tonality, Oasis Chorale, Wartburg Choir, and Sacra/Profana, and his publishers are Boosey & Hawkes, Oxford University Press, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and Shawn Kirchner Publishing.
Kirchner’s music finds a middle ground between classical choral and instrumental traditions and the inheritance of the folk, carol, and hymn traditions. He is best-known worldwide for his lively, contrapuntal setting of the Kenyan song Wana Baraka, which went flashmob viral on YouTube, and for Heavenly Home: Three American Songs, praised by the LA Times as “arranged with mastery.” He has also written imaginative choral cycles on the poetry of Pablo Neruda (Sonetos de Amor), Sylvia Plath (Plath Songs), Gerard Manley Hopkins (Inscapes), William Blake (Songs of Innocence), and the Psalms (Songs of Ascent.) Kirchner’s most recent concert-length work is the Solstice oratorio The Light of Hope Returning, featuring the texts of British-American novelist Susan Cooper, known for her award-winning Dark is Rising sequence. His original songwriting ranges in style from jazz and gospel to folk and bluegrass, the latter featured on his CD Meet Me on the Mountain.
As a singer since 2001 with the LA Master Chorale under Grant Gershon, Kirchner has sung the full span of the Western choral tradition, featured as a soloist on Sederunt principes of Pérotin (c. 1199) as well as in contemporary works of Meredith Monk and Arvo Pärt. He has sung in hundreds of performances with the Music Directors of the LA Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Zubin Mehta. Career highlights include a post-encore choral/piano chamber music concert with András Schiff, and touring John Adams’ Gospel According to the Other Mary with the LA Phil. Kirchner has sung on LA Master Chorale’s recordings of the music of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, David Lang, Henryk Górecki, and Nico Muhly, and currently sings countertenor in LAMC’s touring production of Orlando di Lasso’s Lagrime di San Pietro. This ground-breaking, fully staged version of the Renaissance masterpiece directed by Peter Sellars has been featured at the Salzburg Festival and around the world in Melbourne, Auckland, London, Mexico City, and at Cité de la Musique in Paris. As a session singer, Kirchner has sung on four dozen feature film soundtracks including Avatar, La La Land, The Lorax, and Frozen.
Raised with his triplet brother and sister in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Kirchner’s musicianship was shaped through intensive piano study with Joan Smalley and George Katz, as well as at church where he accompanied the choir and played organ. He has continued to be a church musician alongside his other musical pursuits, providing local and national music leadership for the Church of the Brethren (a historic peace church.) Kirchner’s principal creative mentor is the banjo-playing poet Steve Kinzie, with much owed as well to the trail blazed by American choral matriarch Alice Parker. Kirchner earned a BA in Peace Studies (Manchester University) and an MA in Choral Conducting (University of Iowa) where his teachers included William Hatcher, Richard Bloesch, and Donald Jenni. Kirchner’s outside interests include organic gardening, foreign languages, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Enneagram. He also works with Dr. Lucy Jones in the Tempo: Music for Climate Action leadership group, and serves on the board of Tonality, an innovative and dynamic choir committed to presenting concerts that reflect current struggles for social justice and environmental care, founded by Alexander Lloyd Blake.
shawnkirchner.com
Born in 1964 in Dublin, Ireland, Michael is a composer of music and lyrics, film maker and runs the three connected vocal ensembles that he founded ANÚNA, M’ANAM and Systir.
Michael has produced and recorded nineteen albums for ANÚNA and M’ANAM. ANÚNA (1993), Celtic Origins (2007) and Christmas Memories (2008) have featured in the US Billboard Charts. Deep Dead Blue (1999) was nominated for a Classical Brit Award and went top five in the UK Classical Charts. In February 2017 he composed a score for and co-directed, with Japanese National Treasure Gensho Umewaka, a collaborative Noh Theatre/ANÚNA performance entitled Takahime at Orchard Hall, Tokyo (see below)
His extensive musical output includes a number of choral pieces that have entered the standard repertoire of choirs all over the world. Michael’s musical language fuses modality, alternating time signatures and medieval tonal colours in a unique fashion that is instantly recognisable as his work. While he is deeply passionate about creating music in the Irish language his music is expansive, spanning genres, languages and exploring the links between film making and musical creativity.
In 2017 Michael was the recipient of the University College Dublin Alumni Award in Arts/Humanities and was visiting Eminent Scholar at Florida Atlantic University (2011-2013). In 2019 he became part of the UCD Creative Fellows. He was Artistic Director of the Tampere Vocal Festival (2021) where he curated and created a series of ground-breaking films about vocal music.
In 2022 he was invited to give a presentation on the genesis of his compositions at the Nordic Choral Directors Conference in Reykjavík, and his film “Mutability and Transcendence” was premiered at the World Symposium on Choral Music 2023 in Istanbul. He was also invited to present at the 2015 Amercian Choral Directors National Conference in Salt Lake City USA in 2015.
Michael’s music has been commissioned, recorded and performed by ensembles that include Chanticleer, the BBC Singers, Rajaton, Voces8, Apollo5, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, Grammy-winning US ensembles Conspirare and the Phoenix Chorale. These include "Amhrán na Gaoithe" for Chanticleer and "O pia virgo" for New York Polyphony which appears on their Grammy nominated CD Sing Thee Nowell. In 2019 Kansas City Chorale released an entire CD dedicated to Michael’s compositions entitled Artifacts : The Music of Michael McGlynn which won a Grammy Award for Production in 2020.
He has written songs in many genres, collaborating with The Wiggles, Elvis Costello and with country music legend Rodney Crowell whose acclaimed 2017 album Close Ties includes a song written with Michael and features Crowell duetting with Sheryl Crow. In 2023 the Platinum/Nintendo video game Bayonetta Origins was released with the title song featuring a lyric composed by him to a melody by Hitomi Kurokawa and sung by his daughter Lauren McGlynn.
As a tenor soloist Michael specialised in early music repertoire and in that capacity shared a stage with Jeff Buckley at Elvis Costello’s Meltdown curatorship in London. He has also featured on a top twenty single in Ireland, duetting with Jerry Fish on the track "True Friends".
He currently lives in Ireland, bouncing between Donegal and Dublin and is a year-round sea swimmer and occasional surfer.
michaelmcglynn.com
Sarah McLachlan's tender and lyrical singer/songwriter pop has won her a dedicated following over the years since the Nova Scotia native emerged in 1988 with her Canadian platinum, U.S. gold-certified debut, Touch. Following a successful self-booked tour with Paula Cole in 1996, McLachlan co-founded the touring festival Lilith Fair with the purpose of billing female musicians back-to-back, something of an anomaly for concert promoters at the time. Featuring the likes of Sheryl Crow, Tracy Chapman, Jewel, Fiona Apple, Emmylou Harris, and many more, the inaugural Lilith Fair was the top-grossing festival tour of 1997, and its three-year run more than proved the commercial drawing potential of female artists. During that stretch in the late '90s, McLachlan had two U.S. Top Five hits in "Adia" and "Angel," both from her Canadian chart-topping, U.S. number two Surfacing, her fourth studio LP. Meanwhile, two of three Grammys came courtesy of the hits "Building a Mystery" and live version of "I Will Remember You." Her Top Ten streak in North America continued with albums like 2003's Afterglow, 2006's Wintersong, and 2014's Shine On. Following the Juno-winning, Grammy-nominated Christmas album Wonderland in 2016, McLachlan was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2017. She continued to tour into the late 2010s.
Simply Red is a British soul and pop band which formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since the release of their debut studio album Picture Book (1985), they have had ten songs reach top 10 in the UK Singles Chart, including "Holding Back the Years" and "If You Don't Know Me by Now", both of which reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. They have had five number one albums in the UK, with their 1991 album, Stars, being one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.
Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She works often in collaboration with others, as producer, composer, violinist, and vocalist. Caroline is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. This year’s projects include the score to “Fleishman is in Trouble” (FX/Hulu), vocal work with Rosalía (MOTOMAMI), the score to Josephine Decker’s “The Sky Is Everywhere” (A24/Apple), music for the National Theatre’s production of “The Crucible” (dir. Lyndsey Turner), Justin Peck’s “Partita” with NY City Ballet, a new stage work “LIFE” (Gandini Juggling/Merce Cunningham Trust), the premiere of “Microfictions Vol. 3” for NY Philharmonic and Roomful of Teeth, a live orchestral score for Wu Tsang’s silent film “Moby Dick” co-composed with Andrew Yee, two albums on Nonesuch (“Evergreen” and “The Blue Hour”), the score for Helen Simoneau’s dance work “Delicate Power”, tours of Graveyards & Gardens (co-created immersive theatrical work with Vanessa Goodman), and tours with So Percussion featuring songs from “Let The Soil Play Its Simple Part” (Nonesuch), amid occasional chamber music appearances as violist (Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, La Jolla Music Society). Caroline has written over 100 works in the last decade, for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, LA Phil, Philharmonia Baroque, Seattle Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Aizuri Quartet, The Crossing, Dover Quartet, Calidore Quartet, Brooklyn Rider, Miro Quartet, I Giardini, Ars Nova Copenhagen, Ariadne Greif, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Britt Festival, and the Vail Dance Festival. She has contributed production to albums by Rosalía, Woodkid, and Nas. Her work as vocalist or composer has appeared in several films, tv series, and podcasts including The Humans, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, Beyonce’s Homecoming, Tár, Dolly Parton’s America, and More Perfect. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite smell is rosemary.
Acclaimed as writing music of “austere beauty” that exhibits the “pressure and presence of personal conviction,” Kevin Siegfried (b. 1969) is in demand as a composer of distinctive and engaging musical works. His music was recently described as “hypnotic and beautifully written” by The Boston Musical Intelligencer, and is known for its direct expression, lyricism, and accessibility.
Siegfried’s music is published by E. C. Schirmer, Earthsongs, G. Schirmer, and MorningStar and has been performed by leading ensembles including The Byrd Ensemble, Choral Arts Initiative, Conspirare, The Dale Warland Singers, The Exon Singers, and The New York Choral Society. Recent festival performances include the American Masterpieces Choral Festival, Llangollen International Musical Eistoddfod (Wales), Minnesota Beethoven Festival, and the St. Magnus International Festival (Scotland). Siegfried’s music has been featured at both national and regional conventions of the American Choral Director’s Association, and was performed by the ACDA National Youth Honor Choir during their inaugural concert tour of England. “Lay Me Low” from Shaker Songs, one of Siegfried’s most performed works, was sung by The Joint Armed Forces Chorus at the State Funeral of President George H. W. Bush. Siegfried is the recipient of grants and awards from ASCAP, Choral Arts New England, National Endowment for the Arts, and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.
Since 2014, Siegfried has been composer-in-residence with the Capitol Hill Chorale in Washington, DC. The Chorale has commissioned and premiered over a dozen works, including two cantatas: “Child of Earth,” for mezzo-soprano, SATB chorus, strings, and harp, and “Angel of Light,” for soprano solo, and SATB chorus a cappella. In 2018, the Capitol Hill Chorale received a Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award, giving special recognition to the Chorale’s relationship with Siegfried and their mission to spotlight innovative musical programming. He also recently served as composer-in-residence with Choral Arts Northwest, one of Seattle’s premier choral ensembles.
Siegfried is actively involved in the research and performance of early American music and his arrangements of Shaker music have been performed and recorded by choirs across the globe. The Tudor Choir’s “Gentle Words” CD, the premiere recording of Siegfried’s Shaker arrangements, received wide acclaim and was praised as “a stunning addition to the repertoire” by Fanfare Magazine. In recent years, Siegfried has performed at the Maine Festival of American Music, where he has presented concerts in collaboration with Brother Arnold Hadd at the only active Shaker community located in Sabbathday Lake, Maine.
Siegfried teaches at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he teaches songwriting, theory, and piano in the Theater Division. Siegfried graduated from The New England Conservatory with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition. He studied additionally in Paris, through the European American Musical Alliance, and in India, having received a Stanley Fellowship to study South Indian classical music with performing artist Sriram Parasuram. His previous teaching experience includes Harvard University, The New England Conservatory, and The University of Iowa.
kevinsiegfried.com
As a composer, Moira Smiley is known worldwide for choral arrangements like Bring Me Little Water, Silvy and originals, Stand in That River and How Can I Cry. She’s in demand as a commissioned composer, writing multi-movement pieces like Time In Our Voices and In The Desert With You for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Vonnegut Requiem: Light Perpetual for Voces Novae, Loud My Soul for Ad Astra Festival and Headwaters for The Myrna Loy Theater. The European premiere of Time In Our Voices was performed by the voices and mobile phones of Ars Nova Copenhagen under the direction of Paul Hillier. In 2018-2019 Moira released the album and choral songbook, Unzip The Horizon as companion to her The Voice Is A Traveler solo show. She continues composing and improvising in collaboration with artists in film, video game production, theater and dance, and her work can be heard on feature film soundtracks, BBC & PBS television programs, NPR, and on more than 70 commercial albums. Upcoming premieres and current projects include Greta Sails for youth choir, Utopias for voices and strings, and a re-telling of Ovid’s tale of Narcissus for mobile phones and voices.