Program Dec 04

8/6/2019 Program Dec 04

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Our election is over. As the country reels from a divisive campaign, and as we ruminate on the fact that weare going to have to bear another four years of the present administration, we can at least hold onto theknowledge that our democratic process gives us the right to overthrow the government after only fouryears. In the 16

thcentury, you were stuck for life.

The kings and emperors of the 16th

century had indefinite terms of office but they also had to deal withthe Reformation, battles over land and lineage, and the interference of the Church in the person ofvarious meddling pontiffs, not to mention their own internal intrigues and sexual misbehavior that wouldmake Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky seem like a spring stroll along the Seine (or Rhein or Arno). Theresolution of each political conflict was celebrated with great pomp and ceremony requiring theparticipation of large groups of musicians. Court composers were commissioned to compose glorious, ifundeserved, tributes to Europe’s Renaissance monarchs on the occasions of treaties and coronations,as well as on other festive occasions.

Sixteenth-century Europe had no separation of Church and State, so there were no lines to blur. Ourcurrent president’s crusade against a biblically proportioned plague of “Evildoers” would have beenperfectly appropriate. Every Renaissance prince claimed God on his or her side, and their publicizedexcuses for military action generally concerned the various roles of God and Church in 16th-centurylife—although the majority of conflicts also involved sex, land, and/or money. In fact, it is a defensiblepoint of view that the Church of that time was entirely about politics; that institution felt itself wholly

justified in acting in its own interest in the face of that pesky Martin Luther and his ever-growing group ofpowerful supporters. Then there was Henry VIII and his English reformation, which was altogether aboutpolitical expediency, not to mention some new excitement in the royal bedchamber. All the monarchs, as

well as the Church, resorted to more or less ruthless, bloody lengths to preserve the status quo.All of the pieces on tonight’s program were commissioned for such political purposes: in generalpraise of a monarch or two, to commemorate a specific occasion, or—in the case of Vigilate— to senda less-than-subtle message to recusant English Roman Catholics.

The political players of the 16th

century used music and musicians to punctuate state occasions. Mostmonarchs and popes traveled to treaty signings accompanied by a large retinue including a good portionof their household. Charles V, for example, traveled with cook, servants, familiar furniture and a largecontingent of musicians—both instrumentalists and the polyphonic singers of the chapel the C apilla Flamenca . Much as American presidents would expect to enter a room to the stirring strains of Hail to the Chief , princes would have music played to glorify their arrivals and exits. Rather than recycle a single“theme song,” however, they would commission a new large-scale work for each occasion. The Viceroyof Mexico, for example, entered the city of Puebla accompanied by Elegit eum Dominus .

The texts of political motets allude to specific treaties or events or, in some cases, simply praise thepeople involved. In a rather surprising display of sucking up, for example, Isaac mentions the name ofGeorgius, the Kapellmeister of Maximilian I, in the middle of Virgo prudentissima. The variety of textsof pieces is extremely wide; that isn’t surprising, since they were derived from a combination ofsources ranging from religious to classical to entirely original. Occasionally a motet might consist of asingle poem newly composed for a specific occasion. Often, however, motet texts were assembledfrom any combination of the three. Vaet’s Aurea nunc tandem contains many references to classicalliterature, and quotes an ode of Ovid virtually word for word.



Elegit eum Dominus

Gaspar Fernandez (b. Portugal, c.1570; d Peubla, Mexico 1629)!/!!<

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thViceroy of Mexico, Diego

Fernandez de Cordoba, Marques de Guadalcazar. It was the first Latin-texted state motet writtenin the New World. The text is paraphrased from the Pontificale Romanum, the respond for theentrance of a visiting head of state. According to tradition, a ceremonial arch was erected and themusic was played and sung by musicians seated within the arch as the Viceroy and hisprocession proceeded beneath it.

Missa Philipppus Rex Hispaniae

Bartolomé de Escobedo (b. Zamora c 1510- d. Segovia(?) 1563)Kyrie & Gloria

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Bartolomé de Escobedo was born near Zamora. He studied at Salamanca and remained a singerat the cathedral there until his appointment to the Cappella Sistina on August 23, 1536. Althoughhis colleagues in the choir universally admired his compositional skills, he had a reputation forshort-temperedness and poor control of his tongue. After a vesper service, he referred to fellowsinger Antonio Capello as an “ass,” and on another occasion called his colleague Leonardo Barréa “fat pig.” His fines and punishments for these and other deeds are colorfully recorded in theDiarii Sistini: He was also cited for wearing a short cassock, and was even excommunicated forone day. He retired from the Papal chapel in 1554. On his return to Spain, he was granted abenefice at Segovia. His relationship to the royal court is unclear, but he remained in close contact



with Rome, for whom he auditioned singers, and also communicated with fellow SpaniardCristóbal de Morales. It is likely that the aforementioned connections, along with his benefice,would have positioned him to compose for Philip II.

The Missa Philippus Rex Hispaniae was long thought to be lost to performance; it survives in asingle, badly deteriorated source in the Vatican Library. It has, however, recently been restoredusing new technologies that allow faded and worn pages to be read. Although it would be adelightful to believe that this was Phillip’s coronation mass, we have no report of an actualceremony in which Philip II was crowned. Philip already had control over a large amount ofterritory when Charles V abdicated in 1555. In addition, he was in the Low Countries when thecrown of Spain passed to him, and he didn’t visit his Iberian acquisition for another two years. Themass was most likely written for a later unknown occasion.

The mass employs a technique called cavato sogetto, in which the solmisation syllables thatcorrespond to the vowel sounds of the phrase Philippus Rex Hispaniae are sung as a cantus firmus .One of Josquin’s well known masses, Missa Hercule Dux Ferrariae, used the technique and it is likelythat Escobedo was familiar with both Josquin and the mass. It is an effective device: the tune is sung inslow-moving, sustained notes, and it is frequently in a meter different from the polyphony that windsaround it like tendrils of wisteria. It is an adventurous work for its time. Escobedo employs a few avant-gardes harmonic devices, some of which would have made Palestrina cringe.

Qui colis Ausoniam

Nicolas Gombert (b. Flanders c.1495; d. Tournai (?) c.1565)

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Nicolas Gombert was born in southern Flanders in the last years of the 15th

century. A number ofsources relate that he was a pupil of Josquin at Condé, and that he composed a déploration uponhis master’s death. Imperial records show that Gombert worked as a singer in the Imperial Chapel

beginning in 1526 and was the chapel’s maître des enfants, the teacher of singing to thechoirboys, beginning in 1529. Gombert uniquely exploits the sonorities of low voices in the choir,generally employing an exclusively downward expansion when the texture expands beyond fourvoices, increasing only the number of lower tenor and bass parts. The effects are astounding. Hiswriting is dense but never muddy. He is unconcerned by the inevitable dissonances that resultfrom the collision of so many florid polyphonic lines, and in fact puts dissonance to dramatic use.Gombert was held in high regard by his contemporaries, and his works were included inanthologies produced by all of the major European printing houses.



Qui colis Ausoniam commemorates another signing by Charles V, this time the earlier Treaty ofBologna, at which Clement VII was also a signer. The purpose of the treaty was to make peaceamong a number of Italian nobles. This accord set the stage for Charles’ coronation as HolyRoman Emperor at Bologna two years later, for which the Pope officiated.

Jubilate Deo omnes terra

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Cristóbal de Morales’ first assignment was as Choirmaster of Avila cathedral from 1526. A yearlater, he was assigned to the same position at Plasencia, where he remained until 1531. He was amember of the Cappella Sistina from 1535-45. Returning to Spain in 1547, he worked first atSeville and later, in 1551, at Malaga. He was the greatest Spanish composer until Victoria, ageneration later. de Morales composed a vast body of masses motets and magnificats, much ofwhich survives. He was fond of motets composed around a cantus firmus or, in the case ofJubilate , around an ostinato, in which the opening phrase of the introit, Gaudeamus omnes in Domino, soars repeatedly from within the polyphonic framework.

Jubilate Deo omnes terra was commissioned by Pope Paul III celebrate the signing of a treaty

between Charles V and Francis I. To say that Charles and Francis loathed each other would be anunderstatement. These two Renaissance princes both felt they had legitimate rights to dynasticpossessions that had belonged to their mutual Burgundian ancestors, and neither was particularlyeager to make peace. The Pope, with self-interest at heart, orchestrated the signing in Nice in1538. Paul III was primarily interested in protecting the church’s holdings from a damagingoccupation by either Charles’ and Frances’ rather unsavory forces. When Charles and Franciswent to war over an issue of succession in Milan, Paul decided to intervene and force areconciliation. Morales, a member of the Cappella Sistina, was charged with the composition of amotet commemorating the treaty signing. The papal retinue arrived not only with the CappellaSistina but also a large group of instrumentalists, and we can presume that music punctuated theceremony at several points. The motet has survived much longer than the peace; within two years,Charles and Francis were at it again. Interestingly, 1538 was also the year that Paul IIIexcommunicated Henry VIII, for the second and last time.



Aurea nunc tandem

Jacob Vaet ( b Kortrijk c.1529;d Vienna 1567)!/

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Jacob Vaet was born in Flanders and spent his youth as a choirboy in the Church of our Lady inKortrijk. When his voice changed, he was given a scholarship and entered the University in

Leuven. He is first mentioned on the payrolls of Charles V’s Capilla Flamenca in 1540, alongwith another young student named Lassus. Vaet’s compositional style falls within the transitionbetween Gombert and Clemens non Papa, the latter of whom may have been his teacher, andLassus and Palestrina. Although Palestrina was roughly the same age as Vaet, he outlived himby 30 years. By January of 1544, Vaet had been appointed chapel master to Charles’ nephewthe future Maximilan II, in who service he remained until his death in 1567.

Vaet enjoyed a close relationship with Maximilian and composed a large number of state motetsin honor of his patron. Aurea nunc tandem is perhaps one of the finest of these. It wascomposed for Maximilian II’s coronation, in November of 1564. Vaet was interested in theoriesof music, often employing them in new and unusual ways. A fine example of this is the a sectionat the end of the prima pars, where Vaet wields an impressive cascade of seemingly random,cascading cadential figures, each one flowing seamlessly into the next, that resolves only twopages later finally at the end of the first section. He is equally adventurous with subdivisions,scattering flurries of ornamental fast notes into the texture at several points. During his lifetime,his reputation equaled that of Lassus, and records indicate a close relationship and musicalexchange between Vaet in Vienna and Lassus in Munich.

Sanctus/Benedictus Missa Philippus Rex Hispaniae

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Vigilate

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O Lord, Make thy servant Elizabeth

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William Byrd remains one of the most famous composers of the late English Renaissance. Hisworks brought the modernity the Italian Style to English Church music, and they are usedfrequently to this day. It would be safe to say that an anthem by Byrd is likely sung every Sundaysomewhere in the world. Byrd was born in London and spent his early years as a Chorister in theChapel Royal, where he became a student of the great Thomas Tallis. In 1563, he was appointedorganist at Lincoln cathedral. Byrd returned to the Chapel Royal in 1572 and remained there untilhis retirement. Byrd and Tallis together were granted a monopoly on the printing of church musicin England by Elizabeth in 1575. The first of their editions, the Cantiones of 1576, contained worksby both composers. It was not entirely successful, and Byrd would not publish a complete body ofwork until the Cantiones Sacra of 1588. Byrd remained a faithful Catholic all his life, putting him in

jeopardy in a Protestant nation. His contributions were valued enough that the crown looked theother way, allowing him full freedom to work as a musician. He retired to Essex, joining an enclaveof quietly practicing Roman Catholics, where he spent his last years. It was there that hecomposed his three masses and the exquisite Gradualia, a collection of mass propers for theentire church year. His faith never wavered, and his last will and testament bore the wish "that he may live and dye a true and perfect member of the Holy Catholike Churche withoute which I beleeve there is noe salvacon for me ". Vigilate comes from the volume of Cantiones Sacrae published in 1589. Byrd’s contribution in this yearis somber, and not a little bit disturbing. Byrd set texts of his own choosing, and seemingly selectedthose that were thinly veiled commentaries on the life of recusant Catholics. The speculation that thesetexts carried politically charged messages is not new. Nearly 100 years ago the musicologist H. B.Collins surmised that “In fact several of the Cantiones Sacrae [of 1589] appear to contain allusion to events of which Byrd had been a witness.” Although Byrd was treated with tolerance, many otherswere not. The laws against recusancy began to be enforced in the late 1570’s, and those who hadsupported, housed or smuggled Jesuits into England were forced into deep hiding, imprisoned, or even

executed. The words of Mark’s Gospel sent the message, “Be on your guard.”

A perfect example of Byrd’s balancing act is the lovely and very Protestant English-languageprayer to Elizabeth I. Byrd obviously enjoyed an affectionate relationship with her, as her favors tohim indicate. He was comfortable in composing in styles suitable for either denomination, althoughhe was dismissed from his job at Lincoln, presumably because his organ playing was extravagantenough to lead to accusations of Popery. O Lord, make they servant Elizabeth is an early work,possibly dating from the early years of Elizabeth’s reign, the period that produced some of Byrd’sgreatest English anthems.



Virgo prudentissima

Heinrich Isaac (b. Flanders c1450; d. Florence 1520).!C!"

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We know little of Isaac’s early history. The first record is a 1484 account of his passage throughInnsbruck on his way to Florence to work for Lorenzo the Magnificent. While under Lorenzo’s employ,

he became a member of the Cantori di San Giovanni, the group supplying polyphony for cathedraland other local churches in Florence. Even the Cantori , not surprisingly, was an institution funded andcontrolled by the Medici. Lorenzo died in 1492, and the Medici lost power in 1497. In that year, Isaacdeparted Florence to become court composer to Maximilian I. He remained with the Emperor as afunctionary at the cathedral in Vienna until he retired in 1514 and moved back to Florence, where hedied in 1517. He left an enormous wealth of surviving works outnumbering those of many of hiscontemporaries. Isaac was equally comfortable composing sacred and secular works, and he had anastounding ability to adapt to the musical requirements of the cultural or spiritual environment in whichhe found himself. Isaac’s most important body of work is the Choralis Constantinus. It contains over300 settings of the Mass proper—the music specific to individual feasts and ferias. It is the largestsingle body of religious music since the 12

thCentury Magnus Liber of Léonin and Pérotin. It was not

to be matched until William Byrd published his Gradualia in 1605.



Virgo Prudentissima was composed for the meeting of the Reichstag in 1508, where the electors ofthe Holy Roman Empire gathered to acknowledge Maximilian I as Emperor. It was not a coronationper se, but it was nonetheless a magnificent ceremony. The motet is composed on a grand scale, withduets and trios contrasted with a spacious 6-voice texture, and continuity is provided by a cantus firmus containing the melody and text of the Magnificat antiphon for the First Vespers of the Feast ofthe Assumption. That Chant is first quoted in the opening lines in the Soprano duet, both directly andin variation and then reappears within the choral texture in the tutti sections. The text of the motet, bythe humanist Vadian, invokes the Virgin for divine intercession for the wellbeing of the Emperor. Withportentous symbolism, the words of the motet joins the text of the antiphon towards the end of thepiece at the words electa est . The last part of the motet employs one of the most skillful musical punsin renaissance literature: the words ut sol, literally translated “as the sun,” are sung at intervals of afifth—a homonymic construal of the solfege tones “ut” and “sol.”

John Bradley

John Bradley, Tenor & Artistic Director, was born and educated in the Midwest, holding degreesfrom Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University and Case Western Reserve University. Healso spent one postgraduate year at Mannes College of Music. He has played many roles in the worldof historically informed performance, ranging from directing and costuming to dance and of course

singing. He has been involved with fully staged productions of Carl Heinrich Graun's Montezuma withthe Arcadia Players, Purcell's King Arthur with the Boston Early Music Festival, G.F. Handel's Alcinawith Ex-Machina in Minneapolis and Handel's Dueling Sopranos with Julianne Baird and BeverlyHoch with the Philadelphia Classical Orchestra. As a singer, his credits have included Monteverdi's1610 Vespers with Artek, Bach's Saint John Passion with Artek as well as with the New Jersey BachFestival and frequent performances at the Amherst Early Music Festival. One of John's favorite gigswas as a baroque "chorus boy" in a tour of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with AEM, in which he was asinger as well as a featured dancer. John has enjoyed learning from some of the greatest artists inthe field of early music and is currently a student of Drew Minter. His first and last love is smallensemble singing combined with research into the synthesis of music and liturgy. He has recreatedseveral liturgical reconstructions, including masses and vespers from Pre-Reformation England, 16thCentury Spain and Imperial Germany. He has been the director of Polyhymnia since 1994. John andhis partner Charles live in a 19th Century building "with a lot of potential" in Jersey City with their two

over-fed cats, Moses and Abraham.

Timothy J. Beck, Tenor, is a well-traveled chorister from Oriskany, NY who received his Music andEnglish Literature degrees from Vassar College. He has worked in groups all over the country,including the San Francisco Chamber singers, and San Francisco Symphony Chorus, PhilharmoniaBaroque, The Esoterics in Seattle, the New York Chamber Singers, I Cantori, and CappellaOratoriana. He was a teaching assistant and conductor while working toward his Masters under BruceBrown and James DePriest in Portland , Oregon. He has also done research and musical analysis forHelmuth Rilling, Vance George, William Appling and Denis Keene. As executive director of Voices ofAscension in 2001, he guided the group to its highest-selling concert in the group's history and astanding-room only performance at the Caramoor Music festival. When not singing with Polyhymnia,Timothy leads a vocal chamber octet focusing primarily on lesser-known scared works throughout thevast scope of choral repertoire. This is Timothy's first season with Polyhymnia.

Johanna Cabili, Soprano was born in the Philippines and completed her basic training at theUniversity of the Philippines. A Fulbright Fellowship brought her to the Manhattan School of Music forgraduate studies, while subsequent grants form the Italian and Spanish governments assured furtherstudies with Enza Ferrari and Miguel Zanetti. She is an alumna of the Tanglewood Music Center, withthe Reina Elena cursos de Verano in Santander, Spain (under Teresa Breganza), the Aspen MusicFestival and da Capo Opera's summer program. Johanna made her concert debut with the PhilippinePhilharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Piero Gamba in Hayden's The Creation. As a concertsoloist, Johanna has performed in key cities throughout the US, China, Korea and Italy, appearing inrepertoire ranging from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater (conducted by Rugiero Barberi) to premieres with theAsian Composer's League and the Absolute Ensemble and Kristjan Jarvi in New York. Johanna hasappeared in recital at the Granada International Music festival, and the Ateneo de Madrid in Spain, at



the 1998 Lisbon World Expo, in numerous outreach concerts all over her native Philippines, at theTrinity concert series in New York and the series in Papua New Guinea, Washington DC and CorpusChristi, Texas.

Louis Calvano, Countertenor, has sung with some of New York's leading choirs, including St.Thomas Church Choir of Men and Boys, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and St. Ignatius ofAntioch. He was invited to sing with the choristers of St. Paul's Cathedral of London during their NewYork City stop on their tour of North America. He has also produced several concerts to benefit thesoup kitchen at St Ignatius of Antioch in New York City, most notably singing the alto solo inPergolesi's Stabat Mater. He is a student of Jeffrey Dooley. When not singing, he is a doctor ofchiropractic medicine in practice in Manhattan. Lou has been a member of the ensemble since 2002.

Sarah Jamison Gallogly, Soprano, joined Polyhymnia in 2004. She originally trained as a dancerand performed as a teenager with the Chautauqua Ballet Company, the Chautauqua Festival Balletand the Maryland Ballet, as well as in several children's concerts with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Shestudied voice, piano and 'cello at Indiana University Bloomington, where she earned a degree inEnglish and Religious Studies. She has sung with the Philadelphia Choral Arts Society, recorded withthe Saint Louis Chamber Chorus and sung and danced in La Purpura de la Rosa directed by AndrewLawrence King at the Amherst Early Music Festival, where she studied baroque dance with DorothyOlsson and Kaspar Mainz. She is currently a member of the New York Continuo Collective and the

Columbia Collegium Musicum, and she is a student of Beverly Myers. She is also the managing editorof Lantern Books, where her musical propensities are shamelessly encouraged. This is Sarah’s firstconcert with Polyhymnia.

Virginia Kaycoff, Alto, an East Village denizen and native Manhattanite, became a singing member ofPolyhymnia following her initiation as an instrumentalist in Francisco Guerrero's Visperes de Reyes. A playerof viols and other early bowed instruments, she has studied in programs and/or master classes with WeilandKuijken, Sarah Cunningham, Martha McGaughey, Paolo Pandolfo and other amazing player-teachers. As amember of the early music trio Choraulos, she sings and plays Medieval and Renaissance bowed and blowninstruments, and she has also participated in Music Under New York and performed with such ensembles asI Giulari di Piazza and the Ivory Consort. In addition, she is a founding member of the New York ContinuoCollective. Virginia has sung as an alto with various groups in the New York area, including (currently) theRenaissance Street Singers and the choir of Central Presbyterian Church. She has learned much by singing

with Polyhymnia and treasures her time as a participant. When not playing music she is a medical writer andeditor. Virginia has been a member of the ensemble since 2001.

Kimberly Labor, Soprano, discovered her love for early music at the University of California, SantaBarbara, singing with Cappella Cordina under Alejandro Planchart. She sang also with the USCBChamber Choir and the Santa Barbara Choral Society, as well as with several church choirs, duringher 10 years in the sunny state. She can be heard on a CD, The Latin Mass, by the Santa BarbaraQuire of Voices, a 20-voice a cappella ensemble under Nathan Kreitezer that still performs regularlyin that city. Moving eastward, Kimberly sang for 5 years with the Alice Millar Chapel Choir atNorthwestern University in Evanston under Stephen Alltop. She also sang in Evanston with the SaintLuke's Singers and the Bach Week Festival Chorus under Richard Webster. In the summer of 2001,she spent five weeks singing daily evensong with the Christ Church Cathedral choir in Oxford,England. Continuing her trajectory back east, during the 2003-2004 church year, she sang with the

parish choir of Saint Michael's Episcopal Church in New York under Barbara Bruns and NicholasWhite. She is a fluent French speaker and coached the Apollo Chorus of Chicago in diction for theWeber/Berlioz Le Freyschutz for their Ravinia performance in 2003 under Christoph Eschenbach.Kimberly has a BA in history from UCLA and an MA in English from Teacher's College, ColumbiaUniversity. This is Kim's first concert with Polyhymnia.

Erik-Peter Mortensen, Baritone. First of his family to be born in the United States, Erik-Peter hailsfrom New York and is a fourth-generation professional musician. At the age of nine, he began hisprofessional singing career with the Men and Boys Choir of the Church of the Transfiguration and theChildren's Choruses of both the Metropolitan and the City Opera. Driven by his exposure and passionfor early music, Erik-Peter went on to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree at Columbia University.While still a sophomore there, he founded and directed the New York Madrigal Singers, who later



went on to produce two CD's, appear on local radio and television shows and receive two positivereviews in the New York Times. Erik-Peter has amassed considerable experience both in directingand in singing in vocal chamber ensembles throughout the Tri-State area. He is currently a member ofthe choir of Saint Ignatius of Antioch. As an emerging recording engineer, he hopes to establish arecord label to expressively capture and promote a cappella repertoire as a living legacy of westernculture. Erik-Peter has been a member of Polyhymnia since 1998.

Jay Rozendaal, Countertenor, has sung regularly with the choirs of St. Thomas, Fifth Avenue, andChurch of the Holy Apostles. Before coming to New York to attend General Theological Seminary hesang with the choirs of St. Paul's, Seattle and St Thomas Medina (Washington), and was pianist andassistant conductor at the Seattle Opera. In the Seattle area he performed regularly as pianist inchamber, recital and concert engagements including the San Juan Chamber Music Festival, theCascade Symphony and the Bellevue Philharmonic. He has also served on the music staff at SanFrancisco Opera, Dallas Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Houston Grand Opera, and in the operadepartments of the Cleveland Institute of Music and University of Akron. He holds a B.Mus. fromWestminster Choir College, and a M.M. from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied withVitya Vronsky Babin. He participated in the school's inaugural Art Song Festivals, studying with artistssuch as Elly Ameling, Hakan Hagegard, Dalton Baldwin, and Warren Jones. Ordained a priestin January of 2003, he is currently Assistant Director of the Center for Christian Spirituality at GeneralTheological Seminary, and a Priest Associate at Polyhymnia's home, St. Ignatius of Antioch Church.

Jay has been a member of the ensemble since 2003.

Stephen Shaver, Tenor, came to New York in fall 2004 after spending the previous five years inAtlanta, where he received a BA in Chemistry from Emory University. During college he was part ofthe Emory Concert Choir, and Master Singers, and performed with the former at the American ChoralDirectors' Association national convention in New York in 2003. He also sang with the Atlanta ChoralArtists, the Dekalb Choral Guild and the choir of Saint Bartholomew's Episcopal Church. As a tenorsoloist he has enjoyed performing in works ranging form Schumann's Dichterliebe to Stainer'sCrucifixion to Monteverdi's Magnificat a6. When he isn't singing he likes reading about liturgics,rooting for the Texas Rangers, and wandering around Manhattan. Steven is a first year Master ofDivinity student at the General Theological Seminary. This is his first concert with Polyhymnia.

Philip Tambakis, Tenor, This is Philip’s first season with Polyhymnia. After his graduation from the

SUNY Purchase music program, Philip found himself singing in other local vocal groups, namely, TheSt. Cecilia Chorus under David Randolph, The Oratorio Society under Lyndon Woodside, and TheGrace Congregational Church Choir, directed by Dr. John L. Motley. Presently, most of his time isspent commuting between his teaching position in the Mamaroneck school system and continuing hisown education with various private instructors of vocal technique, martial arts, and MandarinChinese.

Edward H. Willis, Bass, was born in 1960 in Saint Charles, Illinois. He spent his childhood and wasschooled in Portage, Indiana. His first experience in vocal performance was gained at Portage HighSchool as a member of the swing choir and a cast member in musicals. At Indiana University, inBloomington, he earned a degree in Germanic Literature, spending his senior year at the University ofHamburg in Germany. Both in Bloomington and in Hamburg, Edward pursued his interest in choralmusic, and had the opportunity to work with Margaret Hillis and Jürgen Jürgens. In 1984, Edward

enrolled at New York University, where he later earned a Master's degree in Comparative Literature.Before joining Polyhymnia, he spent many years in the bass sections of the Oratorio Society of NewYork and the Stonewall Chorale. Today, Edward edits the Germanic Literatures sections of theInternational Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures, which ispublished by the Modern Language Association of America. In addition to occasional freelancetranslation work, he enjoys singing each Sunday morning in the choir at the Church of the HolyApostles in Chelsea. Edward has been a member of Polyhymnia since September 2000.





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Documents

Program Dec 04