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Chorus
2021
Alto
Baritone
Bass
Contralto
Countertenor
Mezzo-soprano
Soprano
Tenor
- Program Notes
- In May 2021, I had the opportunity to perform Sarah Hopkins’, “Past Life Melodies”. A beautiful piece written in memoriam to her father, John Hopkins, but also pays homage to the aboriginal populations of Australia by using various vocal techniques not used within Western-classical choral music. During the preparation for the piece, I noticed the evident lack of lyrics but rather Sarah’s focus on different mouth shapes such as vowel height to create a different tone within the choir. After the performance of the piece, I began reminiscing about it and was captivated by the idea of using different mouth shapes and sounds to create contrast, I began writing “Sunrise”. A piece tells a story of a day-night cycle in some fictional village and how these villagers react to key moments of the cycle. The tranquil village as the sun gradually peers over the horizon, slowly waking everyone up until the clamorous festivity as the sun has risen. The tranquility of the middle day, the passing moments, and the final festivity as the sun sets, where the cycle repeats. While lyrics are presented, these are completely made up and mean nothing, but add to the narrative of this fictional village celebrating the day-night cycle—we do not know what they are saying, but we can understand the emotion based on the energy the choir gives to each moment.
- Recording Notes
- MIDI Mockup
- External Links