The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra will current the oratorio Contemplating Matthew Shepard in a live performance that includes The Elora Singers on November 26. He oratorio by American composer Craig Hella Johnson is a shifting work written as a response to the lifetime of Matthew Shepard, tragically minimize brief by violence in 1998.
Matthew Shepard was a scholar on the College of Wyoming in 1998. Simply wanting 22 years previous, he was ambushed and attacked by two males, and left to die close to Laramie, Wyoming. Tied to a fence in a distant space, he was discovered and brought to hospital by rescuers, however died six days later from the horrific head accidents he’d suffered throughout the assault.
Whereas his murderers tried to argue that their motives have been theft, it appears clear that the assault was motivated by anti-LGBTQ sentiment.
The homicide sparked laws and a number of other inventive creations, together with Contemplating Matthew Shepard. Johnson wrote his oratorio as a response to the homicide, and extra importantly, as a celebration of Matthew’s life.
Composer Craig Hella Johnson and Contemplating Matthew Shepard
American choral conductor, composer, and arranger Craig Hella Johnson’s father was a Lutheran pastor, and rising up in Minnesota, his life was surrounded by music. He started to review piano as a baby, later including the organ. Johnson served as a church organist as a highschool scholar.
He’d add conducting whereas learning in the direction of his Bachelor’s diploma in piano efficiency at St. Olaf Faculty. After graduating, he went on to review on the Juilliard Faculty, the College of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, and Yale College, finally incomes a Physician of Musical Arts diploma.
He turned Inventive Director of acclaimed vocal group Chanticleer from 1998 to 1999, a place he later held for a number of years with the Victoria Bach Competition. He additionally directed the Houston Masterworks Refrain from 2001 to 2003. As we speak he’s Professor and Resident Artist in Choral Music at Texas State College.
Craig wrote and premiered Contemplating Matthew Shepard, his most well-known work, in 2016. A recording of the work by award-winning choir Conspirare was nominated for a GRAMMY.
Within the piece, he incorporates varied musical types and texts, together with works by Hildegard of Bingen, Lesléa Newman, Michael Dennis Browne, and Rumi. Matthew Shepard’s personal phrases are represented through passages from his journal, together with excerpts of interviews along with his household. The fusion oratorio is written in three elements additionally makes use of textual content drawn from newspaper accounts, together with further materials written by Johnson and Browne.
Whereas it doesn’t draw back from depicting his loss of life, the work for soloists, choir and chamber orchestra emphasizes selecting mild and hope over hatred and darkness. It has been carried out a whole lot of occasions since its premiere in 2016.
The Efficiency
Mark Vuorinen conducts The Elora Singers and the musicians of the HPO.
Content material be aware: Contemplating Matthew Shepard is a musical depiction of the particular occasions surrounding Matthew’s homicide and incorporates direct quotes referencing excessive violence and hate.
- Discover tickets to the November 26 live performance [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. Beforehand, she was a contract author with a specialty in tradition and journey for 3 a long time, and a inventive writing teacher for Ontariolearn.
