Morten Lauridsen
Music by the distinguished American composer, Morten Lauridsen, occupies a permanent place in the standard vocal repertoire of the Twentieth-Century.  His six major vocal cycles--Les Chansons des Roses (Rilke), Mid-Winter Songs (Graves), Cuatro Canciones (Lorca), A Winter Come (Moss), Madrigali:  Six "Firesongs" on Renaissance Italian Poems and  Lux Aeterna-- as well as his various individual songs and choral works are featured regularly by ensembles such as the Atlanta Symphony Chorus, Chanticleer, the Robert Shaw, Dale Warland and Elmer Iseler Singers, Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, I Cantori and Dessoff Choirs of New York, Chicago a cappella, the Paul Hill Chorale and both the Los Angeles and San Francisco Chamber Singers. Lauridsen's beloved O Magnum Mysterium and Dirait-on from Les Chansons des Roses have become the all-time best selling choral octavos distributed by Theodore Presser, in business since 1783.

His works have been widely recorded in America and abroad (over four dozen recordings of O Magnum Mysterium alone) and the four all-Lauridsen CDs include the Grammy-nominated and best-selling "Lux Aeterna" by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by Paul Salamunovich.

The recent book,"Choral Music in the Twentieth Century" by Nick Strimple, describes Lauridsen as "the only American composer in history who can be called a mystic (whose) probing, serene work contains an elusive and indefinable ingredient which leaves the impression that all the questions have been answered...From 1993 Lauridsen's music rapidly increased in international popularity, and by century's end he had eclipsed Randall Thompson as the most frequently performed American choral composer."

In addition to his position as Composer-in-Residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001, Mr. Lauridsen (b. 1943) has been a longtime Professor and Chair (1990-2002) of Composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music.  A native of the Pacific Northwest, he divides his time between Los Angeles and his summer home on a remote island off the northern coast of Washington State.

 

Kyle Gann

Kyle Gann, born 1955 in Dallas, Texas, is a composer and has been new music critic for the Village Voice since 1986. Since 1997 he has taught music history and theory at Bard College. He is the author of The Music of Conlon Nancarrow (Cambridge University Press, 1995) and American Music in the 20th Century (Schirmer Books, 1997). He studied composition with Ben Johnston, Morton Feldman, and Peter Gena. His music is often microtonal, using up to 37 pitches per octave. His rhythmic language, based on differing successive and simultaneous tempos, was developed from his study of Hopi, Zuni, and Pueblo Indian musics. His music has been performed on the New Music America, Bang on a Can, and Spoleto festivals, and across Europe. He received a 1994 commission from Music in Motion for his Astrological Studies, and in 1996-97 a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Artists' Fellowship. In addition to Bard, he has taught at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Bucknell University. His writings include more than 1700 articles for over 30 publications, including scholarly articles on La Monte Young (in Perspectives of New Music), Henry Cowell, Mikel Rouse, and other American composers. He writes frequently for Chamber Music magazine, Pulse magazine, and the New York Times, and in 1999 he was awarded the Stagebill Award for music criticism. Also in 1999, his compact disc Custer's Ghost was released on the Monroe Street label.  His website is

Voices of Hope

Symposium

Saturday, October 19, 2002

10 am to 12:30 pm

Christian Theological Seminary

1000 W. 42^nd St.

Indianapolis, IN

A symposium exploring the writings of Jones Very, transcendentalist, and his place in the religious world of thought; along with guided conversations with composers Kyle Gann and Morten Lauridsen. Keynote speaker Helen R. Deese will discuss transcendentalism and the link between sacred text and music.

Concert

Transcendental Sonnets

By Kyle Gann

Lux Aeterna

By Morten Lauridsen

Saturday, October 19, 2002

8 p.m.

East 91^st Street Christian Church

6049 East 91^st Street

Indianapolis, IN