The Chamber Singers (Geoffrey Boers) and University Chorale (Giselle Wyers) present their Winter Quarter concert. The University Chorale presents “Village Bells," a program of works by Ralph Vaughn Williams, Aaron J. Kernis, Veljo Tormis, and others. With special guest narrator Guntis Smidchens, and soloist Sophia Parker. The Chamber Singers presents "Improvisation, Collaboration, Creation," a program of music by Claudio Monteverdi, Jocelyn Hagen/Spearfisher, and young composers from Seattle's Columbia Choirs organization (Katrina Turman, executive director). With special guest Marc Seales, piano.
Download the complete concert program
Program
Chamber Singers
GEOFFREY BOERS, director
DHAYOUNG YOON, rehearsal pianist
"Improvisation, Collaboration, Creation”
With special guests:
CARRIE SHAW, UW voice faculty
MARC SEALES, UW jazz faculty
STUDENT COMPOSERS, Columbia Choirs
Claudio Monteverdi: Hor che’l ciel e la terra
Marc Seales, piano
Young Composers of Columbia Choirs: Miscellaneous Works
Jocelyn Hagen/Spearfisher: Hummingbird
University Chorale
GISELLE WYERS, conductor
SERENA CHIN, piano
“Village Bells"
Solos in order of appearance: Mia Jang, Claire Killian, Emma Koslosky
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Full Fathom Five from Three Shakespeare Songs
Mykola Leontovich: Shchedryk (English version, arranged by Giselle Wyers)
Aaron J Kernis: Dorma Ador
Sophia Parker, solo
Veljo Tormis: The Tower Bell in my Village
Guntis Smidchens, guest narrator
Nilo Alcala: Kaisa-Isa Niyan
Program Notes: Chamber Singers
Program Notes, University Chorale
Veljo Tormis: The Tower Bell in my Village
In 1978, the year when Veljo Tormis (1930-2017) composed “Tower Bell in My Village,” a massive hotel was built across the street from his apartment window in Estonia’s capital city Tallinn, forever blocking his view of the sky. One cannot but see a connection to his song’s defiant critique of urbanized claustrophobia.
Part I concludes in “moonlit ruins,” conjuring images of centuries-old Estonian village churches whose bells were looted and towers burned during the Second World War, leaving their charred stone walls and elaborate interiors to crumble under the rain and snow during decades of postwar Communist occupation. It was in these actual ruined churches of western Estonia that conductor Tõnu Kaljuste and Ellerhein choir premiered Tormis’s work in the summer of 1978, raising donations to preserve their nation’s architectural and spiritual heritage. Within weeks, Soviet government censors silenced the “Tower Bell” concert tour, but Ellerhein choir’s underground popularity would grow into new initiatives. And Veljo Tormis would double down and compose ever more subversive songs of resistance to the Soviet destruction of indigenous cultures.
Tormis found refuge in traditional regilaul folksongs of Estonian villages: long, lilting threads of oral poetry that were as endless as the improvisational skill of singers. Part IV features folk melodies of Jaaniöö, Midsummer night (June 23, Saint John’s Night in the Christian calendar), which Estonians and other North Europeans today continue to celebrate as they have for centuries: They light enormous bonfires and pass the night through dawn, dancing and singing. We can but listen from a distance, longing to hear more of their musical wealth.
—Guntis Šmidchens
Lyrics
Hor che'l ciel e la terra Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
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Hummingbird Spearfisher & Jocelyn Hagen (b. 1980)A numbing made of many wings. A kissing so fast they look like blurs. A plump passive drop of fur with all the swirl and anxiety of a city’s veins hovering past its puff head to create an irritating song in this drain like voice and humility. An awareness of good; a need to make to control each cloud of jewels, the child’s mispronunciation, the cold in the back corner, her own foolish dreams. She keeps a bubble around herself and it is not bad the layers because a wall can be made of static vibration, not not stopped, but settled assumed where the paths are walkable despite the odd looks of a black girl as stranger or rebarb to guard the body against the gunshot the frown-look the need to press small where it can to gold the air, dot each beat with falsetto: feathers dry winking wings and her hope for love maybe right there the frantic motion propelling her to keep murmuring for more. |
Full Fathom Five from 3 Shakespeare Songs Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
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Щедрик, щедрик, щедрівочка, Прилетіла ластівочка, Стала собі щебетати, Господаря викликати. Вийди, вийди, господарю, Подивися на кошару. Там овечки покотились, А ягнички народились. В тебе товар весь хороший, Будеш мати мірку грошей. В тебе жінка чорноброва. Хоч не гроші, то полова, В тебе жінка чорноброва. |
Shchedryk, shchedrivochka Here flew the swallow from afar Started to sing, lively and loud Asking the master to come out Come here, o come, master, it’s time In the sheepfold wonders to find Your lovely sheep have given birth To little lambs of great worth. All of your wares are very fine Coins you will have in a big pile. You have a wife, fair as a dove If not the coin, then the chaff You have a wife, fair as a dove. |
Dorma Ador (sung in Portuguese) Aaron J Kernis (b. 1960)
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Dorma, ador, adormeça Boyoyo balu |
Sleep, go to sleep, My sweet little boy. |
Tower Bell in my Village Veljo Tormis (1930-2017)
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CHOIR: I. Oh, tower bell in my village! Sorrowful, nocturnal ringing, Every time that you’re chiming, My soul replies, Like an echo. II. Lui-lui lui lui lui Melodies come from the meadow Uii-uii uii uii uii III. Oh death, it’s a bend in the road and You can’t be seen when you’ve passed by But still your steps continue Our own existence is endless. IV. La-li-lu-li, la li lu li V. Oh, tower bell in my village… …As ruefully as our lives are, So measuredly are ringing, That first chimes are just recurrence. Recurrence is all that’s ringing. |
RECITER: I. From my village, I can see as much of the universe as can be seen from anywhere on earth. Because my village is as large as any country. Because I am as tall as I am able to see… …and not simply as tall as I am. In cities, life is smaller that it is here, in my village, by this hillside… In cities, big houses obstruct the view; they fill the horizon; and they keep our eyes from taking in the whole sky… They make us small because we can only grasp what our eyes are able to show us… and they make us poor because seeing is the only thing that makes us wealthy. But something false is creeping into us, and into the crumbling moonlit ruins of our times. II. A fife in the night… A shepherd, maybe? This lu-ii-lu-ii-lu-ii is lilting along as aimlessly as life itself. No beginning to it nor any ending, melodies come from the meadow. No special skill to it nor thrilling pleasure - pure air and echo. No secret harmonies I might remember, And even while listening, I yearn to hear it again… and for it to stop! And—if everything does go silent? Maybe it’s not so hard, Because my eyes are already getting used to the darkness. III. The earth, too, is made from heaven. A lie shall not be inherited. No one can simply vanish. Everything is only the truth, and the way. IV. It is Midsummer night over there, beyond my garden wall. I am here, on this side, without Midsummer night. Because Midsummer night is there, where the celebrations are. All I have is the glow of their bonfires in the night, and echoes of bursts of laughter and thumping feet, and a random shout from someone who doesn’t know I exist. V. Chime as nearby as you please — To me, forever wandering, You are like a dream Ringing beyond farthest distance. |
Kaisa-Isa Niyan (Maguindanaon counting chant) Nilo Alcala (b. 1978)
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Kaisa-isa niyan, Kaduwa-duwa niyan, Katelo-telo niyan, Kapati pingapatan, Kalima ni tagedteb, Kanem i dagedeban, Kapito-pito naga, Kawalo banubugan, Kasiyam kabankaban, Kasapolo bindasan. |
Just one, Two, Or three of that. Four are alternating. Five: too noisy, it’s disturbing. Six: a sound so loud! Seven: a dragon… Eight: pounds heavily on a puddle. Nine: a box. Ten: a drawer. |
CHAMBER SINGERSSOPRANOS Kaelyn Barnes, Everett, WA; BM, Vocal Performance Sydney Belden, San Clemente, CA; Sophomore BM/BS, Music-Voice/Environmental Studies Aida Bowen, Mount Vernon, WA; Junior Vocal Performance & American Indian Studies Mavis Chan✧, Bellevue, WA; BM, Vocal Performance and BA, Business Administration - Marketing Naomi-Hal Hoffman, Bellevue, WA; Vocal Performance Drama: Design Sydney Huang, Cleveland, OH; Freshman Pre-health Science Shalini Pullarkat, La Cañada, CA; BS, General Biology Nandini Rathod, Mercer Island, WA; Freshman Pre-Sciences Lauren Reynolds, Colorado Springs, CO; MMA, Marine and Environmental Affairs Caitlin Sarwono, BA Music Education
ALTOS Cee E. Adamson, Washington, D.C.; DMA, Vocal Performance Lily Campbell, Olympia, WA; BA, Public Health-Global Health Anjali Chudasama, Upland, CA; MM, Choral Conducting Kristin Deitrich, Baroda, MI; Music Education Heather Halverson, Woodinville, WA; Sophomore BM/BA,Vocal Performance/Communications Elizabeth Lu, Tacoma, WA; BS, Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology Anna Messenger, Olympia, WA; BM, Music Education Jaminfaye Reduque✧, DuPont, WA; BS, Bioresource Science and Engineering Larke Witten, San Antonio, TX; MM, Choral Conducting
TENORS Eyad Alsimimy, Mount Vernon, WA; Computer Eng. Oliver Callahan, Anaheim, CA; BM, Music Education Caleb Chin-Yung Chan, Portland, Oregon; BS, Computer Science Tyler Todd Kimmel, Seattle, WA; DMA, Choral Conducting Marshell Lombard, Johannesburg, Gauteng Place of Gold, South Africa; DMA, Choral Conducting Chad Miller, Lansing, KS; PhD, Psychology Tri Nguyen, Everett, WA; BS, Mechanical Engineering Maggie Petersen, Mercer Island, WA; Undeclared Freshman Isaac Tian, San Diego, CA ; PhD, Computer Science & Engineering
BASSES Justin Birchell, Anchorage, AK; DMA, Choral Conducting Charlie Dawson✧, Austin, TX; Economics Scott Fikse, Tacoma, WA; MM, Choral Conducting Grant Hopkins, Blue Bell, PA; PhD student, Biostatistics Evan Norberg, Seattle, Washington; DMA Choral Conducting Christian Rolfson, Mount Vernon, WA; Environmental Science and Resource Management Trey Wheeler, Vancouver, WA; BM, Music Education & Vocal Performance James Wilcox, Nashville, TN; Computer Science & Engineering
✧- CHOIR LEADERSHIP UNIVERSITY CHORALE
SOPRANO Tia Bjornson, Tacoma, Wa; Community, Environment and Planning Emily Cameron, Snohomish, WA; Mechanical Eng. Chloe Chapman, Vancouver, WA; Astronomy and Physics Lauren Chenoweth, Bellevue, WA; Intended: Linguistics Sarah Clark, Mercer Island WA; Political Science Kate Connors, Kennewick, WA; Vocal Performance Julia Fung, Bothell, WA; Pre-major Claire Killian, Evergreen, CO; Political Science & Phil. Emma Koslosky, Castro Valley, CA; Linguistics Anna Kucinski, Redmond, WA; Human-Centered Design & Engineering Meena Kuduva, Kirkland, WA; Computer Science Ellen Kwon, Federal Way, WA; Piano Performance and Music Education Lena Lee, Lynwood, WA; Music Education; Pre-major Joely Loucks, Friday Harbor, WA; Music Education Anna Messenger, Olympia, WA; Music Education Julia Nipert, Renton, WA; Pre-Nursing Chloe O'Keefe, San Francisco, CA; Gender, Women, Sexuality Studies and Public Health Sophia Parker, Bothell, WA; Vocal Performance Clara Propst, Seattle, WA; Psychology Meliza Redulla, Olympia, WA; Music Education Sophie Root, Kirkland, WA; Psychology Anne Tinker, Seattle, WA; Pre-Health Erin Tsai, Irvine, CA; Environmental Science and Resource Management
ALTO Lyla Cain, Seattle, WA; Electrical Engineering Sofiia Fedzhora, Kyiv, Ukraine; Slavic Languages and Literatures Department Alexis Georgiades, Basking Ridge, NJ; Chemistry Christine Han, Suzhou, China; Intended: Philosophy Naomi-Hal Hoffman, Bellevue, WA; Vocal Performance Drama: Design Hongyi Ji, Shanghai China; Computer Science Lexi Koperski, Chicago, IL; Anthropology and Music history Ella L'Heureux, Leavenworth, KS; Linguistics Hannah Limb, Mountlake Terrace, WA; Biology Karissa Longo, Pittsburgh, PA; Music Education Sophie Ma, Tokyo, Japan; Music Composition Akhila Narayanan, Redmond, WA; Computer Eng. Ari Okin Los Angeles, CA; Ethnomusicology Leah Peterson, Bellevue, WA; Astronomy and Physics Natalie Peterson, Poulsbo, WA; Pre-Science Jaminfaye Reduque, DuPont, WA; Bioresource Science and Engineering Silvana Segura, Redmond, WA; Psychology Maya Shah, Portland, OR; Undeclared Nelly Sunstrum, Redmond, WA; Civil Engineering Jessica Thaxton, Tampa, FL; Psychology Aliyah Wachob, Belmont, CA; Law, Societies and Justice & Creative Writing Ruby Whelan, Madison, WI; Sociology
TENOR Hannah Carpenter, Puyallup, WA; Physics and Astronomy Gray Creech, Nashville, TN; Political Science Eric Gagliano, Magnolia, TX; Civil Engineering Cam Gardner, Sammamish, WA; Political Economy Michael Lim, Du Pont, WA; Music Education Karsten Lomax, Edmonds, WA; Comparative History of Ideas & Cinema and Media Studies Marshell Lombard, Johannesburg, Gauteng (Place of Gold), South Africa, DMA Choral Conducting Tri Nguyen, Everett, WA; BS, Mechanical Engineering John O’Kane, Seattle, WA; Industrial Systems Eng. Luke van Sickel, Oregon City, OR; Engineering undeclared Ryan Singh, Redmond, WA; Geography: Data Science Ethan Walker, Lynnwood, WA; Biology Trey Wheeler, Vancouver, WA; Music Education & Vocal Performance
BASS Eyad Alsilimy, Mount Vernon, WA; Computer Eng. Zaref Anderson, Seattle, WA; Community, Environment and Planning Zane Bowmer-Vath, Issaquah, WA; Marketing Nshan Burns, Graham, WA; Economics Charlie Dawson, Austin, TX; Economics Matthew Hansen, Camas WA Will Henry, Richland, WA; Civil Engineering Andrew Hoch, Burr Ridge, IL; Informatics Jacob Knight, Lynnwood, WA; Computer Science Jonah Ladish-Orlich, Renton, WA; Undeclared Sidharth Lakshaman, Bellevue, WA; Computer Engineering Zach Shafer, Camas, WA; Computer Science Daniel Troyan, Mission Viejo, CA; Intended: Psych |
Director and Guest Artist Biographies
Guntis Šmidchens
Guntis Šmidchens is Kazickas Family Endowed Professor of Baltic Studies in the UW Scandinavian Department, where he teaches courses about Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian culture, history and politics. His book, The Power of Song: Nonviolent National Culture in the Baltic Singing Revolution (2014) studied the songs of the successful nonviolent movement that restored independence to Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in 1991. Guntis is a long-time fan of the UW choral music program; he was honored to accompany the UW Chorale and UW Chamber Singers (as a guide!) on their concert tours to the Baltic countries in 2000, 2005, 2010, 2013 and 2019.
Geoffrey Boers is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Washington in Seattle, a program widely recognized as forward thinking, unique, and of great distinction. Under his direction, the graduate choral program has developed a singular mission: to nurture the whole student as conductor-teacher-servant-leader-scholar. This vision has led the program to become one of the most vibrant and innovative in the country, attracting students from around the world interested in exploring the future of our art. Through his teaching he is exploring the evolution of conducting gesture and rehearsal pedagogy and their connection with the emerging neuroscience of mirror neurons, empathy, perception, learning, and personal transformation. His exploration has led to new thoughts about conducting and teaching with regard to breath, movement, artistry, personal awareness, and cultural development. Recently, his work has led to the mentoring of local choral cohorts of teachers and conductors who are interested in building professional communities of ongoing mentorship and musical development. He has developed such mentorship programs across the United States and Canada. In addition to these thoughts about mentorship he is actively working with other leaders in ACDA and NAfME to develop a more unified and useful system for development of musicianship, assessment, adjudication, and repertoire grading.
Geoffrey maintains an active conducting, teaching, workshop and clinic schedule; his recent engagements have included conducting concerts in Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Meyerson Concert Hall in Dallas, New York’s Alice Tully and Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center, the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, and Benaroya Hall in Seattle. In addition he has served as artist-in-residence in Toronto, Ontario, Mainz, Germany, as well as Seoul, Korea with the world-renown choir the Incheon City Chorale.
In addition to his position at the UW, Boers sings professionally and is the conductor of the Tacoma Symphony Chorus where he conducts both the choir and symphony players in a four-concert season.
Since his tenure at the University of Washington, the choral program has become a leader in promoting the performance, study and exchange of Baltic music in the United States. The choir has toured to the Baltic countries in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2013. Geoffrey Boers was awarded a prestigious Royalty Research Grant in 2004 to create a Baltic Choral Library in collaboration with the UW Library as well as State and academic libraries in the Baltic. This collection of scores, manuscripts, vocal music, and writings is the first of its kind in the United States. This collection has promoted yearly exchanges with choirs and conductors from the Baltic area who travel each year to Seattle. Further, it has led to numerous UW choral students winning awards and scholarships to travel, study, and work in the Baltic countries.
Giselle Wyers (she/her/hers) is the Donald E. Petersen Endowed Professor of Choral Music at the University of Washington, where she conducts the award-winning University Chorale and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in choral conducting and music education. She serves as the newly appointed School of Music's designated Diversity Liaison. University Chorale’s latest CD, Chasing Daybreak, will begin streaming in January 2024 on Apple Music and Spotify. Their third CD, Resonant Streams (on the MSR Music Recordings label) was featured in a 2018 Gramophone magazine article. Wyers is the newly appointed director of Concord Chamber Choir, an adult community chorus within the Columbia Choirs community. Her professional project choir Solaris Vocal Ensemble, specializes in the performance of contemporary American choral literature. Their premiere album Floodsongs, on the Albany Music label, won the American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music in 2017-18.
As a guest conductor, Wyers has led high school honor choirs and all-state choruses in New York (Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center), Kansas, Wisconsin, Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Connecticut, Nebraska, Texas, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Nevada and Vancouver, Canada. She has conducted semi-professional ensembles across the United States and in Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Sweden.
Wyers is a leading national figure in the application of Laban movement theory for conductors. She has served as guest lecturer in conducting at Sweden’s Örebro Universitet, European Festival of Church Music (Germany), Latvian Academy of Music, Eastman School of Music, Ithaca College, Westminster Choir College, University of Iowa, Hobart and William Smith Colleges and Portland State University.
Wyers’ choral works are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing Company as part of the "Giselle Wyers Choral Series," as well as with MusicSpoke and Hildegard Publishing. Her works have been performed across the United States, South America, Canada, Australia, Cuba, and numerous European cities. She conducted her 30-minute choral cycle entitled And All Shall Be Well, in Carnegie Hall during May of 2022 with a consortium of NW-based choruses, and she will return with a newly composed choral/orchestral work in May of 2026. In 2021-22, she served as composer-in-residence for the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium's annual festivities celebrating the return of in-person singing (her appearance was sponsored by Consortio). Wyers is also committed to mentoring scholar-writers in the field, and served on the editorial board of ACDA’s Choral Journal for six years.
A noted pianist, composer and leading figure in the Northwest jazz scene, Marc Seales has shared stages with many of the great players of the last two decades. He has played with nearly every visiting jazz celebrity from Joe Henderson and Art Pepper to Benny Carter, Mark Murphy, and Bobby Hutcherson. With the late Don Lanphere he performed in such places as London, England; Kobe, Japan; The Hague in the Netherlands; and the North Sea Jazz Festival.
The musicians he admires most are Herbie Hancock, Charlie Parker, John Lewis, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Wynton Kelly, though he is quick to acknowledge that he owes the basically be-bop/post be-bop sound of his playing to his mentors, Don Lanphere and Floyd Standifer.
Critics have praised Seales variously for his "meaty piano solos," and "blues inflected, Hancock-inspired modernism." Winner of numerous Earshot awards (Instrumentalist of the Year in 1999 and Acoustic Jazz Group in 2000 and 2001; Jazz Hall of Fame, 2009), Seales is today promoting jazz awareness and molding young talents as a Professor of Music at the University of Washington, where he is a professor in the Jazz Studies Program. He teaches an array of courses, including History of Jazz, Jazz Piano, and Beginning and Advanced Improvisation, as well as leading various workshops and ensembles.
Carrie Henneman Shaw joined the Voice Program as an artist in residence in Autumn 2020. As a singer, Carrie engages in a wide variety of musical projects, but she focuses on early and contemporary music. In 2023, she was awarded a Royalty Research Fund grant to research and record experiments in vocal timbre with composer Mauricio Pauly and pianist Mabel Kwan. In 2024, she was awarded the Donald E. Petersen Endowed Faculty Fellowship for Excellence.
A sample of her work includes an upcoming solo recording on Naxos Records of early 18th-century French song; creating music for a live-music-for-dance project with James Sewell Ballet; and collaborating on a recording with the band Deerhoof. Carrie is a two-time winner of a McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, and she is a member of two groups that focus on music by living composers, Ensemble Dal Niente, a mixed chamber collective, and Quince Ensemble, a treble voice quartet.
She appears in numerous recordings ranging from medieval sacred music to a video-game soundtrack, and before coming to the UW, she has been maintaining a full university studio for the six years and participating in educational residencies for composers and performers around the country, including UC-Berkeley, Stanford, New York University, the University of Chicago, and beyond.