The Sacred Veil

Last updated

The Sacred Veil is a composition for a cappella choir, piano and cello by Eric Whitacre, with lyrics by Charles Anthony Silvestri. He composed it in 2018, also including lyrics of Silvestri's wife Julie who died of cancer and whom the composition is dedicated. [1] [2]

Contents

Performances

The work was first performed in February 2019 at the Walt Disney Concert Hall conducted by Whitacre. [1] Other performances in the US include the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, performing the piece in October 2023. [3]

The European and British premiere took place in July 2019 in London. [4]

The first performances in Australia and New Zealand were in September 2022 at the Sydney Opera House, after a two-year postponement due to the COVID pandemic, [5] and at the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland. [6]

More European performances feature the Austrian premiere in January 2022 in Vienna [7] and the Dutch premiere, which, after being postponed from March 2020, took place in February 2023 at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, conducted by Whitacre. [8] The German premiere took place at the Stadtkirche Darmstadt in December 2023. [9] The Swiss premiere is planned to take place in September 2025, featuring Whitacre as conductor. [10]

The Latin American premiere took place in May 2023 in Antigua Guatemala, with Silvestri being present as a special guest. [11] The first performance in Spain took place in September 2023 at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. [12]

A 2022 performance by Voces8 is featured on the 2023 album Home .

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Bernstein</span> American conductor and composer (1918–1990)

Leonard Bernstein was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first American-born conductor to receive international acclaim. Bernstein was "one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history" according to music critic Donal Henahan. Bernstein's honors and accolades include seven Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and 16 Grammy Awards as well as an Academy Award nomination. He received the Kennedy Center Honor in 1981.

Constantin-Nicolae Silvestri was a Romanian conductor and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Whitacre</span> American composer (born 1970)

Eric Edward Whitacre is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. In March 2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale's first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Shaw (conductor)</span> American conductor

Robert Lawson Shaw was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Chorale, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. He was known for drawing public attention to choral music through his wide-ranging influence and mentoring of younger conductors, the high standard of his recordings, his support for racial integration in his choruses, and his support for modern music, winning many awards throughout his career.

Hila Plitmann is an Israeli-American two-time Grammy Award-winning operatic soprano, songwriter, and actress specializing in the performance of new works.

Bernard Rands is a British-American contemporary classical composer. He studied music and English literature at the University of Wales, Bangor, and composition with Pierre Boulez and Bruno Maderna in Darmstadt, Germany, and with Luigi Dallapiccola and Luciano Berio in Milan, Italy. He held residencies at Princeton University, the University of Illinois, and the University of York before emigrating to the United States in 1975; he became a U.S. citizen in 1983. In 1984, Rands's Canti del Sole, premiered by Paul Sperry, Zubin Mehta, and the New York Philharmonic, won the Pulitzer Prize for Music. He has since taught at the University of California, San Diego, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Boston University. From 1988 to 2005 he taught at Harvard University, where he is Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music Emeritus.

Cloudburst is a composition by Eric Whitacre for eight-part choir, with piano and percussion accompaniment. Whitacre began writing the piece in 1991, at the request of conductor Dr. Jocelyn K. Jensen for her high school choir - the final version of the piece was published in 1995. The text was adapted from Octavio Paz's poem El cántaro roto, and inspired by the experience of the composer witnessing a desert cloudburst.

Ainadamaror An Opera in Three Images is the first opera by Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov. The libretto was written by American playwright David Henry Hwang and translated from English into Spanish by the composer. It premiered in Tanglewood on 10 August 2003 and, after major revisions, the new version was given its premiere at the Santa Fe Opera on 30 July 2005.

<i>Not the Messiah (Hes a Very Naughty Boy)</i> Oratorio by Eric Idle and John Du Prez

Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) is a comedic oratorio based on Monty Python's Life of Brian. It was written by former Monty Python cast member Eric Idle and collaborator John Du Prez, and commissioned by the Luminato festival.

The Kansas City Chorale is a professional 27-voice chorus conducted by Charles Bruffy. They perform a four concert series in Kansas City, tour nationwide, and perform with their sister choir, the Phoenix Chorale, also conducted by Mr. Bruffy. During his tenure as conductor, the chorus has achieved international acclaim. Mr. Bruffy, renowned for his fresh interpretations of both traditional and new music, was noted by The New York Times as a disciple of the late Robert Shaw.

Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings is a musical work of theatre, with music by composer Eric Whitacre, lyrics by Whitacre and David Noroña, and book by poet Edward Esch, set in two acts. The innovative music combines styles of opera, musical theater, cinematic music, as well as electronic music techniques of trance music, ambient music, and techno to portray the story of an abandoned tribe of angels in search of their wings. Although it has various non-classical influences, it is meant to be performed by singers with operatic or musical theater backgrounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masterworks Chorale</span> Choral ensemble based in San Mateo, California

Masterworks Chorale is a choral ensemble based in San Mateo, California.

Sleep is a composition for a cappella choir by Eric Whitacre, with lyrics by Charles Anthony Silvestri. He composed it in 2000, setting a poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. When the lyrics were found still under copyright, Whitacre enlisted Silvestri to write new lyrics to the existing music.

<i>Lux Aurumque</i> Choral composition by Eric Whitacre

Lux Aurumque is a choral composition in one movement by Eric Whitacre. It is a Christmas piece based on a Latin poem of the same name, which translates as "Light, warm and heavy as pure gold, and the angels sing softly to the new born babe". In 2000, Whitacre set a short Latin text for mixed choir a cappella. In 2005, he wrote an arrangement for wind ensemble. The choral version became known through Whitacre's project Virtual Choir in 2009. The piece is also available for men's choir. A performance takes about four minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Horne</span> South African conductor

Albert Horne is a South African-born chorus master and orchestral conductor, whose focus is opera chorus preparation and operatic performances. He worked for the Cape Town Opera and has been chorus master and conductor at the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden since 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Children's Chorus</span> American choir

The GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children's Chorus of the United States of America (NCC) is a private, non-profit organization, and one of the largest children's choruses in the world. It has 1,000 choristers and its members are between the ages of five and eighteen, and divided into Junior Division and Senior Division across its seven chapter cities – Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Austin, Dallas and Boston.

A virtual choir, online choir or home choir is a choir whose members do not meet physically but who work together online from separate places. Some choirs just sing for the joy of the shared experience, while others record their parts alone and send their digital recordings, sometimes including video, to be collated into a choral performance. There may be a series of rehearsals which singers can watch online, and their performance recordings may be made while watching a video of the conductor, and in some cases listening to a backing track, to ensure unanimity of timing. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 inspired a large growth in the number of virtual choirs, although the idea was not new.

Charles Anthony "Tony" Silvestri is an American poet and lyricist, and a lecturer in history at Washburn University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talia Or</span> Israeli-born operatic soprano based in Germany

Talia Or is an Israeli-born operatic and concert soprano based in Germany. Her repertoire ranges from concert and lied to contemporary music. She is a lecturer on singing at Musikhochschule München.

<i>Home</i> (Voces8 and Eric Whitacre album) 2023 studio album by Voces8, Eric Whitacre

Home is a 2023 studio album of choral music by American composer Eric Whitacre and British vocal group Voces8. It has received positive reviews from critics.

References

  1. 1 2 Whitacre, Eric (2018). "The Sacred Veil – Music Catalog – Eric Whitacre". ericwhitacre.com. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  2. ↑ Rick Schultz (19 February 2019). "Cancer, chemo and The Sacred Veil: Master Chorale sings a search for solace". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 5 November 2023.
  3. ↑ "Eric Whitacre Conducts the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus". ClevelandOrchestra.com. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  4. ↑ Whitacre, Eric (1 July 2019). "European Premiere of The Sacred Veil". ericwhitacre.com. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "2022 season: The Sacred Veil". sydneyphilharmonia.com.au. 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  6. ↑ "An Evening with Eric Whitacre & Voices New Zealand". voicesnz.com. 24 September 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "Musik am 12ten: The Sacred Veil (Erstaufführung in Österreich)". musikam12ten.com (in Austrian German). 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "The Sacred Veil (Dutch premiere)". grootomroepkoor.nl. 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  9. ↑ "Deutsche Erstaufführung an der Stadtkirche Darmstadt". www.stadtkirche-darmstadt.de. 2 December 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Eric Whitacre: The Sacred Veil – Schweizer Erstaufführung unter der Leitung des Komponisten". vocalino-wettingen.ch (in Swiss High German). 18 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  11. ↑ "The Sacred Veil en San José el Viejo – SIC". sicultura.gob.gt (in Spanish). 28 May 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  12. ↑ "Cor de Cambra del Palau & Whitacre". palaumusica.cat (in Spanish). 21 September 2023. Retrieved 21 September 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.