Happy Holidays and a great 2020 to all!
Categories: art, art and religion • Tags: Christmas card
Category Archives: art and religion
Two oratorios sing the trials of our society and prayers of reflection
I am delighted to announce that Ensemble Concept/21 has invited the Euclid Quartet, Kosmologia, and the Notre Dame Children’s Choir to premiere the oratorios The Tower and the Garden by Gregory Spears and Beatitudes by Jorge Muñiz, under my direction, next Friday, May 10, at 7 pm, in the Campus Auditorium of Indiana University South Bend. This project joins together two important sponsors of creativity in this country– The New Frontiers Program at Indiana University, and the Ann Stookey Fund […]
Categories: art and religion, art and society, gesamtkünstwerk, intermedia, music composition, new choral music, new forms of presentation, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music • Tags: CARMEN HELENA TELLEZ, Denise Levertov, Gregory Spears, Jorge Muñiz, Notre Dame Vocale, Thomas Merton
Happy Holidays to all…with great music!
Categories: art, art and religion, cht art work, Uncategorized • Tags: angel, angel art
Notes from a recent performance of Mozart’s Requiem
Last September 14 I had the opportunity to conduct Mozart’s Requiem in the Decio Theater of Notre Dame, with the Notre Dame Festival Chorus and Orchestra and the wonderful soloists Jessica McCormack, soprano; Julia Bentley, mezzo-soprano; Nick Fitzer, tenor; and Stephen Lancaster, bass. Given that the hall is designed for drama and the spoken voice, I thought we would connect with our audience’s expectations better through a slightly unconventional approach, and instead of presenting a pre-concert talk, we delivered the […]
Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, Carmen's work, sacred music • Tags: Mozart's Requiem
Sharing the news of our new DMA at Notre Dame
On December 11 the University of Notre Dame approved a new Doctor of Musical Arts program with specializations in Choral Conducting and in Organ. The approach to training the new conductors includes deep study of the relationship of music with other arts and other disciplines. Although conductors will study the broad choral repertoires, it is inevitable to study Western sacred music, which lies a the foundation of most Western art music. After all, in my personal view, liturgy is one […]
Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, sacred music, scholarship • Tags: DMA at Notre Dame, James MacMillan
A thrilling new conference on Sacred Music ….
…with James MacMillan and a stellar panel of guest composers and scholars. Check the site here It was a privilege to be part of it!
Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, art and society, my work, new choral music, new conductor, sacred music
Sharing Don Freund’s Passion with Tropes
An interdisciplinary project produced last May, that has opened so many avenues for reflection! The interaction with great artists lighting designer Rob Shakespeare, video artist Susanne Schwibs. digital artist Margaret Dolinsky, choreographer Liz Shea, digital designer Ed Dambik, stage mechanics designer Paul Brunner and stage director Jonathan Courtemanche can change a life, in this case, mine. Bravo–composer Don Freund! (In the picture, tenor Nick Fitzer and digital art by Margaret Dolinsky).For more pictures, visit Margaret Dolinsky’s page here
Categories: art and religion, art and ritual, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, multimedia, my work, new opera and music drama • Tags: DON FREUND
The reviews of PASSION with Tropes are as variegated as the work itself
Composer Jeremy Podgursky has just published his review of Don Freund’s PASSION with Tropes in the excellent online journal Sequenza21.com. His full account and considered opinion teach us how an interdisciplinary presentation of a musical work originally conceived for concert oratorio format may provoke surprising revelations about the work itself. The layers multiply beyond the performance through the reception and critique of viewers. Podgursky’s impression of PASSION was affected by his experience of important films by Fellini and Godard. This […]
Categories: art, art and religion, art and ritual, art music video, contemporary music, gesamtkünstwerk, interdiscipline, meta-composition, multimedia, music composition, my work, new choral music, new conductor, new opera and music drama, postclassical music, sacred music
