Contributing Editor: Jonathan Campbell
Children are the best communicators of hope and joy for a bright future, and this set for young voices would bring light to any room—a light we could all use these days.
A great song for younger singers, “El Barquito de Papel” (“Little Paper Boat”) by Jesús López Moreno includes a few high Gs will challenge the young voices, but also gives them a chance to shine and feel proud. The song’s simple, strophic form would make it easy to memorize. The piano accompaniment is easy to play, but still musical and expressive. A brief coda sprinkles in just the right amount of chromatic color to make a delightful ending.
Linda Tutas Haugen’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” a setting of poetry by William Wordsworth, is another lovely work for treble voices. Longer and more developed, this song provides an opportunity for young singers to grow musically. An obligato flute adds an additional color (perhaps a “cloud”?) to the voices and piano.
Jenni Brandon’s moving “Breakable” is a beautiful conclusion to this set. “Breakable” is suited for a more advanced children’s choir or treble choir. The independent piano part sets the voices free to express the sensitive, intimate text. Brief unaccompanied passages provide even more opportunities for the voices to shine. “Breakable” was commissioned by Graphite for the 2015-16 Women’s Commissioning Consortium.
About the composers
Jesús López Moreno is a Mexican composer, the principal organist of the Expiatory Temple of Christ the King (Old Basilica of Guadalupe), and is the director of the Colegio de Infantes of the Insigne y Nacional Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe. VocalEssence Music Press is a dynamic music publishing company that offers a select group of emerging composers the opportunity to make their music available to choirs everywhere. Their mission is to help choruses, conductors, and composers connect in meaningful ways by publishing exciting new music for singers at all levels. VocalEssence Music Press is a subsidiary of VocalEssence, a leading arts organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Performed on four continents, Linda Tutas Haugen’s music has been critically acclaimed as “music of character and genuine beauty.” [Minneapolis StarTribune.] Opera Today praised her opera, Pocahontas, as “superbly crafted,” “engaging,” and “beautiful and powerful.” She has written for instrumental and vocal chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, wind ensemble, solo voice, chorus, and opera.
Jenni Brandon is a composer of solo, vocal, choral, chamber, and orchestral music. Her music has been described as “some of the most imaginative, ingratiating recent chamber music for winds,” and her style is often influenced by nature and her surroundings. Ensembles and organizations that have commissioned, performed, or broadcast her work in venues across the world, including Carnegie Hall, include Voices of Ascension, The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, the Yale Glee Club, Conundrum, Sistrum, the Definiens Project, Sister Singers Network, California Association of Professional Music Teachers, and the Young New Yorkers Chorus. Uses a very lush harmonic and melodic language that will appeal immediately to singers and audiences of many ages. A simple melody, enhanced with rich harmony and changing meters that fit the text. The sand dollar is a metaphor for us and our place in the world – full of memory, journey, and a searching for home.
Our Contributing Editor
Jonathan Campbell received his B.A. from Luther College in 1998, a Master of Sacred Music degree from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota in 2002, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting in 2015 at North Dakota State University. As a composer, Jon has received numerous awards and commissions, including a Faith Partner’s Residency through the American Composer’s Forum, as well as first place in the Morningstar College Choral Composition Festival. From 2004-2012, Jon conducted the Honors Choirs of Southeast Minnesota Chorale and in the spring of 2011, served as interim director of choral activities at Winona State University. At Augsburg University, Minneapolis, MN he recently served as faculty conductor of the Cedar Singers male chorus and the Masterworks Chorale. Jon is founder and was artistic director of the Minnesota Renaissance Choir, and is currently Director of Music and Fine Arts at Claremont United Church of Christ and Lecturer in Music at Pomona College, both in Claremont, CA.
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