Transient Glory: The voices of children 2002

The Young People's Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Núñez, conductor

Theresa L. Kaufmann Concert Hall
Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 3pm

Jon Holden, piano
The Perspectives Ensemble
Camellia Johnson, soprano
Cara S. Tasher, soprano

Host
John Schaefer

Guest Panelist
Nancy Morgan

Veljo Tormis
Lauliku Lapsepõli

Bohuslav Martinu
Two Sacred Songs on Czech Popular Rhymes
1. Narozeni Páne
2. Na nebe vstoupeni Páne

Jenny Johnson
The Smiling Eyes (world premiere)

Otmar Mácha
Hoj Hura Hoj

Walter Thompson
Sound Painting 41402 for chorus (world premiere)

Francisco J. Núñez
Misa Pequeña
1. Señor Ten Piedad
2. Gloria a Dios
3. Creo En Dios
4. Santo, Santo, Santo
5. Cordero De Dios

Steven Mackey
The Attic Which is Desire (world premiere)

Knut Nystedt
Hosanna

intermission

Claude Debussy
La Damoiselle Elue (1884) (world premiere of re-orchestration)
Orchestrated by Nils Vigeland

Composer Biographies

Jenny Johnson

Jenny Johnson (b. 1978 in Santa Monica, CA) composes music for both the concert hall and the dramatic stage. Currently a doctoral candidate in composition and theory at New York University, where she studies with Louis Karchin and Elizabeth Hoffman, Jenny also holds degrees from Barnard College at Columbia University and Manhattan School of Music. Her past teachers include Jonathan Kramer, Tristan Murail, J. Mark Stambaugh, and Nils Vigeland, with masterclass instruction from Andre Bon and Allain Gaussin. She has also studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School and the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, where she received the Prix de Composition and the Prix Tournon-Branly de l'Ecole des Beaux-Arts for a collaborative project with architecture students Sharon Trask and Elizabeth Leidy.

Walter Thompson

Walter Thompson—Composer, Conductor, Woodwinds, Educator—is founder of, and composer/conductor for, The Walter Thompson Orchestra, based in New York City. Thompson has been composing professionally for the past 30 years, performing and conducting his compositions internationally. Presently, he is composing Soundpainting Piano Concerto, a multidisciplinary piece comprising musicians, tap dancers, dancers, actors, youth chorus, and visual artists, and featuring guest soloist Marilyn Crispell. He is also writing a book about Soundpainting, his unique conducting/composing language of more than 700 gestures for performers working in the medium of structured improvisation.

Steven Mackey

Steven Mackey’s first musical passion was playing the electric guitar in northern California rock bands. He later discovered concert music and has composed for orchestras, operas, and chamber and dance ensembles. Recognized as one of America’s most gifted and original composers, Mr. Mackey has received commissions from many musical organizations and artists, such as the Koussevitzky and Fromm Foundations, Dawn Upshaw, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the San Francisco Symphony, where Michael Tilson Thomas has been one of his most dedicated advocates. Mr. Tilson Thomas recorded an all-Mackey CD with the New World Symphony and most recently conducted the San Francisco Symphony in the premiere of Mr. Mackey’s Pedal Tones.

Nils Vigeland

Nils Vigeland was born in Buffalo in 1950. He made his professional debut as a pianist with The Buffalo Philharmonic in 1969 with Lukas Foss, conductor. He later studied with Mr. Foss at Harvard College, where he earned his BA. His graduate studies were at The State University of New York at Buffalo where his principle teachers were Morton Feldman, composition and Yvar Mikhashoff, piano. His work has been performed by The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Pasadena Chamber Symphony, The Buffalo Philharmonic and The Oslo Radio Orchestra and is available on CD releases from MODE and Lovely Music. Mr. Vigeland has written more than a dozen works for the YPC. He has taught at Manhattan School of Music since 1984 and is presently the Chair of the Composition Department.