6/24, The Choral Project’s EARTHSONGS Concert Will Feature World Premiere (Aptos)

The centerpiece of The Choral Project’s concert, EARTHSONGS: SOMETHING TO SAY, is Joshua Shank’s “there is something i have to say.”

Shank has been a longtime collaborator with The Choral Project, having previously written a commissioned work for the choir titled “rules to live by,” featuring their chorus members’ responses to the prompt, “I believe…” The aforementioned piece is now a movement in the humanist mass entitled “there is something i have to say” premiering in EARTHSONGS: SOMETHING TO SAY. The Choral Project will also revisit two previously performed movements from this unique work with the debut of the remaining three movements. Artistic Director and Conductor Daniel Hughes interviewed Joshua on episode three of The Choral Project’s podcast, No “Baton Needed;” episodes can be listened to and found on tinyurl.com/nobatonneeded.

Works by Boston-based composer Joshua Shank (b. 1980) have been widely performed by educational and professional ensembles alike. In 2002, he became the youngest recipient ever of the Raymond W. Brock Composition Award by the American Choral Directors Association, and, from 2004 to 2014, he served as Composer-In-Residence for the Minneapolis-based professional choir, The Singers. He earned master’s and doctoral degrees in musicology and composition, respectively, from the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied with Yevgeniy Sharlat, Charles Carson, Russell Pinkston, Donald Grantham, and the late opera composer Daniel Catan. A native of Minnesota, Joshua has taught at Gonzaga University, Valley City State University, and Eastern Washington University.

The concert will also feature favorites from The Choral Project’s singing history such as Morten Lauridsen’s “Dirait-on,” John Rutter’s “Open Thou Mine Eyes,” and Charles Villiers Stanford’s “Beati Quorum Via.” Works by Billy Joel, Knut Nystedt, and Emma Lou Diemer will round out the program.

$10-30.

Presented by The Choral Project

https://www.choralproject.org/earthsongs 408-357-4140