YCCM Release: STARS [featuring four world premieres]

The Youth Chorale of Central Minnesota is pleased to announce the release of their second recording: “Stars.” For the first time YCCM has released a recording straight to digital. The entire recording (as well as most individual tracks) are immediately available for download through YCCM’s Recordings page, through the official YCCM facebook page, and through CDBaby.com. The CD will be available January 17, 2011 at Hams Music in St. Cloud, and through the YCCM office. 

This groundbreaking project includes four world premiere recordings of pieces commissioned by the Youth Chorale. These works, composed by Abbie Betinis, Eric Barnum, René Clausen, and Dale Warland, have been met by the singers with great enthusiasm and are now presented to the public with precision and artistry.

As a part of its mission to add new music to the choral repertoire, all four debuts present literature that can be peformed by high school, community, and professional choirs. Two pieces in particular have already begun a life of their own with other ensembles. “The Spell Of The Elements,” by Abbie Betinis, has been selected as an honors choir piece, received a European debut in the Netherlands, and has been performed many other times. Eric Barnum’s “The Stars Stand Up In The Air” has appeared on Minnesota and National High School choral reading lists, and thus has been performed numerous times by other choirs.

The title and theme of the recording grew out of the repertoire the Youth Chorale has performed over the past few years. The title comes from Dale Warland’s commission “Stars!” Many other selections have stars, moon, night, or light as their theme or title, while some, such as René Clausen’s “The Peace Of Wild Things,” center on the theme of nature. Well-known selections on the recording include “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana, Whitacre’s “A Boy And A Girl” and “Lux Aurumque,” and Lauridsen’s “Dirait-on” and “Sure On This Shining Night.”