Welcome to Graphite:

Isaac Lovdahl and Reginal Wright!

Contributing Editor: Jonathan Campbell 

We are welcoming two new composers to the Graphite catalog, Isaac Lovdahl and Reginal Wright! Both composers contribute craftsmanship and music filled with passion. As conductors and composers, they bring an intimate knowledge of choral music to their compositions.

Reginal Wright came to choral music as a young adult, after first immersing himself in the vocabulary of jazz. His music is a rich hybrid of styles as he flows from one to the next. Wright’s accompaniments are conceived as an additional voice to the choir; he expertly integrates piano and other instruments into the choral textures, like a twenty-first-century Schubert. Wright also applies his study of form and analysis in the development of thematic material. His choral works are intentionally lyrical and melodic, but underlying his eloquence is a rhythmic vitality and energy.

His compositional chops grew organically out of his experience as a choral conductor: “I started composing to fill a need with my students. I’m writing as a conductor who understands the singer’s needs.”

Isaac Lovdahl has similar ideas about the importance of melody and rhythm. He recounts a story when he studied with Libby Larsen who told him to “write out the text [you are setting to music] the way you speak it.” He learned to let the natural speech patterns dictate the musical rhythms. Lovdahl’s scores are melodious, but also well-crafted. For example, he is intentional about sharing the melody with all the voice parts. Consequently, his music is contrapuntal in a way that many other lush, chordal pieces are not. Lastly, Lovdahl writes choral music that is colored with chromaticism and altered chords, but he makes certain that singability is never missing.

Both of these composers demonstrate their mastery by writing pieces for vastly different forces:

Wright’s “Life’s Mirror“
SATB, piano

“Life’s Mirror” combines a moving text with expressive lyrical writing, mixed duples and triplets, and gently changing keys to create a colorful, beautiful piece. Singers will love learning the shared melodies and the lovely sonorities.

Lovdahl’s “Behind the Mountain“
3 part round for equal voices

“Behind the Mountain” is an imaginative “round” for three-part equal voices, suitable for virtual or in-person choirs. The text reminds us that the sun is always present, even when it’s hidden from view. And, like a musical round, hope always comes around, too. “Behind the Mountain” is also a great tool for rote teaching and informal choral settings.

Wright’s “Forged”
TTBB, piano, brake drum, and bass drum

“Forged” uses percussion, piano, and low voices to create a powerful, driving work of prophetic power. The text exhorts the listener to be a participant in forging rhetorical weapons for change and justice. Elements of jazz and Western art music are fused by the composer to create a work of unique relevance.

Lovdahl’s “Everyone Sang“
3-part mixed choir, piano

“Everyone Sang” is a gorgeous partsong accessible to middle school choirs up through adults. Three-part mixed voicing allows for the piece to be sung by developing or smaller choirs. The sophisticated and hopeful text speaks to our times and the joy of singing, even in difficult times.

Wright’s “The Gift to Sing“
SATB (div.), piano

“The Gift to Sing” tells a story anyone can relate to: from the mists of sadness and difficulty, singing helps us find joy and sunlight again. Wright’s piece is divided into two sections. The first section sets the emotional stage of tension and difficulty. In the second section the tension is relieved with cascading voices calling all people to share the gift of song.

Lovdahl’s “They Brought a Joyful Song”
SATB (div.) a cappella

A beautiful and substantial contribution to the Christmas repertoire, “They Brought a Joyful Song” tells the story of the wonderful gifts brought to the newborn Christ. The most amazing gift is the divine and mysterious song of the angels, imagined gloriously in Lovdahl’s score. Sustained passages of wordless chorus and divided voices add to the richness of the piece.

Wright’s “Tides“
SATB choir, violin, viola, and piano

“Tides” is like the opening chorus of a late Bach cantata or a Haydn mass. The instrumentation, voicing, and substantial musical development all contribute to a piece of ambitious proportions and weight. Add a culturally relevant text, and you have a handsome opening piece to a serious concert program.

About the composers

Reginal Wright is a clinician, composer, conductor, and educator from Arlington, Texas. He currently teaches at Mansfield High School in Mansfield Texas. As a 20-year educator, Reginal’s choirs frequently earn Sweepstakes and Best of Class Awards at Local, State and National Festivals. His choirs have also been featured at the Texas Music Educators and Southwest ACDA Conventions. As a conductor, Reginal enjoys conducting choirs and ensembles across the United States. Reginal is also a highly sought after adjudicator / clinician on the Middle and High School levels. Reginal has published compositions with Graphite Publishing, Hal Leonard, Carl Fischer, BriLee, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing Companies.
 

Isaac Lovdahl is a composer, conductor, educator, and vocalist currently based in Fargo, ND. He directed high school, church, and community choirs in Minnesota after graduating from Concordia College in 2015, and is now pursuing a DMA in Choral Conducting at North Dakota State University where he was named the first ever Challey School of Music Choral Conducting Fellow. Along with his doctoral studies, Lovdahl also directs the campus tenor-bass ensemble (The Statesmen of NDSU) and teaches music theory. Additionally, he serves as the director of music at the Lutheran Church of Christ the King in Moorhead, MN. His choral compositions and art songs have been performed in the United States, Germany, South Africa, and Great Britain by educational, community, and professional ensembles and soloists. His distinct harmonic language, detailed attention to natural speech rhythms, and highly expressive text setting have begun to solidify a niche for him in the world of vocal music. He was named a winner of the 2017 VocalEssence ReMix composition program, and has received notable recognition in similar competitions. His original music can be found online through Graphite Publishing, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, NewMusicShelf, VocalEssence Music Press, MusicSpoke, and his own website.

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.