ACDA Women's Commissioning Consortium Announces Compositions

Debra Spurgeon, Chair of the ACDA Women's Commissioning Consortium Chair has announced the compositions from the chosen composers, Elizabeth Alexander of Minneapolis and Ola Gjeilo of New York City.

Alexander's work, entitled Reasons, is based on a poem by the composer "Reasons for the Perpetuation of Slavery." The composer writes: "My interest in slavery as an economic and cultural institution began with a desire to understand that chapter in United States history, but inevitably it led far beyond that. Reasons is a meditation on the timeless institution of slavery, in the past, present, and the foreseeable future. This litany of temptations, rationalizations and justifications pours forth with ferocity, urgency, wry humor and compassion. Just as slavery is both ubiquitous and hidden, tucked into the corners of this piece are echos of music from many different times and places." For more information about Reasons, to hear a recording by Cantala of Lawrence University, or to purchase the music, go to Alexander's website.

Gjeilo's work is called Tundra. The lyrics are written by Charles Anthony Silvestri, specifically for this work. He explains, "I asked Tony to write a text based on the title, Tundra, and some photos of a part of my native Norway that is very dear to me; the Hardangervidda mountain plateau, close to where my father grew up, in the ski resort town called Geilo, in the mountains between Oslo and Bergen. Hardangervidda is Europe's largest mountain plateau, and a large part of it is tundra (areas where the subsoil is permafrost, or permanently frozen soil/Treeless plain). This area is quite barren, and intensely beautiful. It is easy to feel that you are treading on sacred land, which Tony so wonderfully expresses in his text."

Wide, worn and weathered,
Sacred expanse
Of green and white and granite grey;
Snowy patches strewn,
Anchored to the craggy earth,
Unmoving;

While clouds dance
Across the vast, eternal sky.

Gjeilo continues, "In the music, I wanted to emphasize the slight monotony of the landscape with a steady and quite repetitive (pattern-wise) piano part, in a kind of post-minimalist style. The choir material is comprised mainly of chord 'pads' and an atmospheric melody. The little soprano solos scattered around the piece are meant more as colorings, an obbligato, than a melodic focal point." Plans for publication are not yet finalized.

2010 ACDA Women's Commissioning Consortium Members:
Debra Spurgeon, Chair

• Aurora Chorus, Joan Szymko, conductor
• Bella Voce of Vermont, Dawn Willis, conductor
• California Lutheran University Women’s Chorale; Wyant Morton, conductor
• Cantala Women’s Choir, Lawrence University; Phillip Swan, conductor
• Central Bucks West Women’s Choir; Joseph Ohrt, conductor
• Elektra Women’s Choir; Morna Edmundson, conductor
• Emmaus High School Women’s Choir; Rita Cortez, conductor
• Flower Mound High School Women’s Chorale, Flower Mound, TX; Mark Rohwer, conductor
• Grand Rapids Women’s Chorus; Lori Tennenhouse, conductor
• Hathaway Brown School, Shaker Heights, Ohio; Jessica Allen, conductor
• Lewis and Clark College Women’s Chorus; Katherine FitzGibbon, conductor
• Luther College Aurora, Sandra Peter, conductor
• Miami University Choraliers; William Bausano, conductor
• Oriana Singers of Penn State University; Lynn Drafall, conductor
• Saint Mary’s College Women’s Choir; Nancy Menk, conductor
• Sistrum of Lansing, Michigan; Meredith Bowen, conductor
• South Dakota State Women’s Choir; Laura Diddle, conductor
• The Choir Project; Naples, Florida; Marian Dolan, artistic director
• The Ohio State University Women’s Glee Club; Richard Schnipke, conductor
• University of Mississippi Women’s Glee Club, Debra Spurgeon, conductor
• University of Pittsburgh; Lorraine Milovac, conductor
• Varsity Women’s Chorale, Wheaton Warrenville High School, Illinois; Gordon Krauspe, conductor
• Voces Angelorum, Tallahassee, Florida; Charles Witmer, conductor
• Voca Lyrica, Virginia Kerwin, conductor