The Esoterics is a vocal ensemble based in Seattle, Washington that performs contemporary a cappella choral settings of poetry, philosophy, and spiritual writings. [1] [2] [3]
The Esoterics was founded in the early 1990s by director Eric Banks for his Master's and Doctoral recitals in Choral Studies at the University of Washington. They performed for the first time in June 1993 at the newly established Seattle Art Museum. [1] The group has performed over 300 pieces during its first 30 years of existence. [1]
In 2005, The Esoterics announced the inauguration of its annual choral composition competition, Polyphonos, which awards three premiere commissions each year to a national composer, an international composer, and a young composer under 30 years of age. [4]
In the 2000s, The Esoterics won an ASCAP award and Chorus America's award under the Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music category. [4]
Arvo Pärt is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in part inspired by Gregorian chant. His most performed works include Fratres (1977), Spiegel im Spiegel (1978), and Für Alina (1976). From 2011 to 2018, and again in 2022, Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world, and the second most performed in 2019, after John Williams. The Arvo Pärt Centre, in Laulasmaa, was opened to the public in 2018.
The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera.
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical music. More than 1,000 works have been written for it.
William Elden Bolcom is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He taught composition at the University of Michigan from 1973 until 2008. He is married to mezzo-soprano Joan Morris.
Morten Johannes Lauridsen is an American composer and teacher. A National Medal of Arts recipient (2007), he was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale from 1994 to 2001, and is professor emeritus of composition at the USC Thornton School of Music, where he taught for fifty-two years until his retirement in 2019.
Julian Anderson is a British composer and teacher of composition.
Colin Matthews, OBE is an English composer of contemporary classical music. Noted for his large-scale orchestral compositions, Matthews is also a prolific arranger of other composer's music, including works by Berlioz, Britten, Dowland, Mahler, Purcell and Schubert. Other arrangements include orchestrations of all Debussy's 24 Préludes, both books of Debussy's Images, and two movements—Oiseaux tristes and La vallée des cloches—from Ravel's Miroirs. Having received a doctorate from University of Sussex on the works of Mahler, from 1964–1975 Matthews worked with his brother David Matthews and musicologist Deryck Cooke on completing a performance version of Mahler's Tenth Symphony.
George Tsontakis is an American composer and conductor.
Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer and University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music at the University of Chicago, where she is also director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition.
Robert Spano is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently music director of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Aspen Music Festival and School, principal conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, and music director laureate of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO).
Seattle Pro Musica is an American choir, based in Seattle, Washington, performing under the direction of conductor and artistic director Karen P. Thomas. Seattle Pro Musica is widely considered to be one of the finest ensembles in the Pacific Northwest, and has received international recognition and acclaim for its CD recordings and live performances. Seattle Pro Musica has appeared as a featured ensemble on the NPR radio show Saint Paul Sunday, has performed by invitation for the World Festival of Women's Singing 2004, Festival Vancouver 2003 in Canada, the American Guild of Organists National Convention 2000 and the American Choral Directors Association Northwest Division Conventions 2000 and 2006, as well as numerous Northwest festivals. Seattle Pro Musica produced and hosted the American Masterpieces Choral Festival in 2007, under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Arts' American Masterpieces Choral Initiative.
The University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers (UPMS), also known as the Philippine Madrigal Singers or simply Madz, is one of the major choral groups based in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Its current conductor, musical director, and choirmaster is Mark Anthony A. Carpio. The Madz is the first choir to win the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (EGP) twice.
Ecce Cor Meum is the fourth classical album by Paul McCartney. The album was released on 25 September 2006 by EMI Classics. An oratorio in four movements, it is produced by John Fraser, written in Latin and English, and scored for orchestra and boys and adult choir. The oratorio was partly inspired by McCartney's wife Linda. It is also the only classical album by McCartney that was not released on vinyl.
George Frederick McKay was a prolific modern American composer.
Nilo Alcala is a Filipino-American composer and 2019 The American Prize Winner in Composition. He is the first Philippine-born composer to be commissioned by Grammy winner Los Angeles Master Chorale, and also to receive the Aaron Copland House Residency Award.
Diverse Harmony is an American youth chorus based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2002, it is the first Gay-Straight Alliance youth chorus in the United States. Today, Diverse Harmony is an LGBTQ-Ally youth chorus, and their stated mission is "to create a safe, affirming environment where everyone is accepted for who they are." In addition to singing members, the chorus has an extensive support network of volunteers, subscribers, and donors; they are also a non-profit organization. Diverse Harmony is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, and was the first youth chorus to participate in a GALA Choruses Festival. The chorus appeared in the independent film Why We Sing, which has been screened at LGBT film festivals and on PBS stations across the United States.
Eric Banks is a Seattle-based composer, choral conductor, and ethnomusicologist.
Bern Herbolsheimer was an American composer.
Jonathan David Little FCLM, FISM, FRSA is an Australian contemporary classical composer, arts educator and author on cultural history based in the UK and Australia. In 2008, his first CD was voted one of the top recordings of the year by US Fanfare magazine. He was subsequently featured in a news article in Musical Opinion in early 2009. As a composer, he first came to prominence in America in 2006 when The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) ran an article on him having five of his works accepted for recording (2004–07) by the US-headquartered French contemporary music label ERM, aimed at showcasing international contemporary composers. He was awarded the Collard Fellowship of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 2011, and in 2012 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He was appointed inaugural Professor of Composition and Music History at the University of Chichester in 2017, and Emeritus Professor from 2019.
J. Kevin Waters S.J. is a Jesuit priest, composer, educator, and retired Academic Dean (Emeritus) of the College of Arts and Sciences of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.