Walker ArtCenter

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The DaleWarlandSingersNeo Choral II

Walker Art Center presents AltoJoanne HalvorsenKaren M. Johnson **Lynette JohnsonAnna Mooy *Rachael Dawn NelsonMary J. OldakowskiJoan QuamLisa Boers StrandjordDenise Wahlin-FiskumClaudia Zylstra

The Dale Warland SingersNeo Choral II3 pm, Sundav, 14 April

I. Ceremony After a Fire Raid, Op.63William Mathias (b. 1934)

II. The MaskWilliam Bolcom (b.1938)

1. We Wear the Mask2. Heritage3. Shadow4. Worn Faces -,5. Interlude for Natalie (piano solo)6. Portrait

Intermission

TenorPaul J. AndersonJeffrey BarnettJames FiskumPaul W. GerikeJohn William Henley *Kory KassulkeGary A. Kortemeier **Thomas LarsonDean PalermoSteve J. SandbergTimothy Sawyer

III. A Litany for Courage and the SeasonsDavid Maslanka (b. 1943)

1. The Sleep of Poets2. Servis Road: A Hymn to St. Francis3. The Soundless Sound4. On Chestnut Hill5. Little Dance for Barbara Mason6. A Litany for Courage and the Seasons

Dale WarlandSigrid Johnson

Conductor and Music DirectorAssociate Conductor andSymphonic Chorus MusicDirectorPianist and Cabaret SingerMusic Director

BassDavid BensonSteve BurgerWayne A. DaltonJerry JohnsonJin KimJerry Rubino *Arthur LaRueJulian SellersFrank SteenPaul A. Theisen

This program is made possible in part by agrant from the Music Program of the NationalEndowment for the Arts, a Federal Agency.

The Dale War'and Singers

* Section Leader** On Leave of Absence

Jerry RubinoProgram Notes

Instrumentalists:Piano: John JensenClarinet: Timothy ParadisePercussion: Jay Johnson

Ceremony After a Fire RaidWilliam Mathias

I

SopranoJanice HuntonSigrid Johnson *Kathy JosselynDeborah Loon OsgoodBarbara NelsonJulie Ann OlsonLaurie B. RejzerLea Anna Sams-McGowanLisa Burau SawatskyMarie SparLinda Steen *

MYSELVESThe grieversGrieveAmong the street burned to tireless deathA child of a few hoursWith its kneading mouthCharred on the black breast of the graveThe mother dug, and its arms full of fires.

BeginWith singingSingDarkness, kindled back into beginning

f

When the caught tongue nodded blind,A star was brokenInto the centuries of the childMyselves grieve now, and miracles cannotatone.

Of the luminous cathedrals,Into the weathercock's molten mouths

, Rippling in twelve-winded circles,Into the dead clock burning the hourOver the urn of sabbathsOver the whirling ditch of daybreakOver the sun's hovel and the slum of fireAnd the golden pavements laid in requiems,,Into the bread in a wheatfield of flames,Into the wine burning like brandy,

ForgiveUs forgive

, Us your death that myselves the believersMay hold it in a great floodTill the blood shall spurt,And the dust shall sing like a birdAs the grains blow, as your death grows,through our heart.

CryingYour dyingCry,Child beyond cockcrow, by the fire-dwarfedStreet we chant the flying seaIn the body bereft.Love is the last light spoken. OhSeed of sons in the loin of the black husk left.

The masses of the seaThe masses of the sea underThe masses of the infant-bearing seaErupt, fountain, and enter to utter foreverGlory glory gloryThe sundering ultimate kingdom of genesis'thunder.

Reprinted by permission. The Trustees for theCopyrights of the late Dylan Thomas.

The MaskWilliam Balcom

II

I know not whetherAdam or Eve, the adorned holy bullockOr the white ewe lambOr the chosen virginLaid in her snowOn the altar of London,Was the first to dieIn the cinder of the little sku II,o bride groom 'o Adam and Eve togetherLying in the lullUnder the sad breast of the head stoneWhite as the skeletonOf the garden of Eden.

IWe Wear the Mask'

We wear the mask that grins and lies,It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,This debt we pay to human guile;With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,And mouth with myriad subtleties.

I know the legendOf Adam and Eve is never for a secondSilent in my serviceOver the dead infantsOver the oneChild who was priest and servants,

Why should the world be over-wise,In counting all our tears and sighs?Nay, let them only see us, whileWe wear the mask.We smile, but, 0 great Christ, our criesTo thee from tortured souls arise.We sing, but oh the clay is vileBeneath our feet, and long the mile;But let the world dream otherwise,We wear the mask.

-Paul Laurence Dunbar

IIHeritage

Word, singers, and tongueIn the cinder of the little skull,Who was the serpent'sNight fall and the fruit like a sun,Man and woman undone,Beginning crumbled back to darknessBare as the nurseries

. Of the garden of wilderness.

I want to see the slim palm-trees,Pulling at the cloudsWith little pointed fingers ...

I want to see lithe Negro girls,Etched dark against the skyWhile sunset lingers.

III I want to hear the silent sands,Singing to the moonBefore the Sphinx-still face. ..Into the organ pipes and steeples

I want to hear the chantingAround a heathen fireOf a strange black race.

VI.Portrait

I want to breathe the Lotus flow'r,Sighing to the starsWith tendrils drinking at the Nile ...

When woman picked up first stone,made the rhythmic thud called fire,Sun shone sheen on mountain.The eland rubbed its twisted hornsagajnst the black scab of a tree.

I want to feel the surgingOf my sad people's soulHidden by a minstrel-smile.

-Gwendolyn B. Bennett

Fingers dip in an ivory thicket of keys.The last ticket holder staggers in.Black print programs fade to music.Pastel crescent shadow ripplingon curtain waves of savanna grass.III

Shadow

Silhouetteon the face of the moonam I.A dark shadow in the light.A silhouette am Ion the face of the moonlacking colouror vivid brightnessbut defined all the clearerbecauseI am dark,black on the face of the moon.A shadow am Igrowing in the light,not understood as in the day,but more easily seenbecauseI am a shadow in the light.

-Richard Bruce

Sing a song to the rain's cool baptismseeping through the flesh of ceremonial masks.The percussive hammer strikes wire-an arpeggio cradled in the arms of silence.

- T.J. Anerson III

A Litany for Courage and the SeasonsDavid Maslanka

IThe Sleep of Poets

The sleep of poets is but a travellogue ofdream,Mars tonight and the crab nebulae tomorrow.Hea r dit-dit-.dit--The voice of God.The colorless silences are his paragraphs,Dark holes the dimples of his mind.

Hills about the country side,Cold and bare, dissatisfied.From the years of deep regret,Laboring, paying on her debt,On through life.

o come, morning, with your vivid dawnAnd your rain and windsTo see if you can rivalThe augury and majesty of dream!

IVWorn Faces

IIServis Road: A Hymn to St. Francis

-Charles Cyrus Thomas

After a hard winter of work spring comesat last,With warming winds which find even thedeepest culverts.In my heart St. Francis is stirring. His blindnessAnd the remedy of hot irons disrupts me as Iwalk along this country road.I wonder what God could have done to preparea man for that,Both the pain and the disfiguration.I ask St. Francis to pray for meBecause I need the recommendation of a goodman.

Deep the gullies scar her faceWhere the waters run their race;Once a smooth and sun-lit hill -Now she's ragged, worn and still -Dead from strife.

Aged and worn a human's faceWhere the tears in steady paceCut the youth to ragged forms,As it faces roughest storms,Seeking life.

v.Interlude for Natalie (Piano Solo)

The sky is blue with no clouds.The freshets gurgle pleasantly beneath the

sounds of c6untless peepers and new birds.I walk along briskly, remembering my body,Trying to awaken it from a long chill,As though it had been asleep under the snow.

e sun surrounds me with a flowing light.•id shows me the configurations and colors

Of things I have come to know and love.

Stretching for freedom,Time and Space were the fringesOf my limitation.

With only my skinFor a costume, and no scriptAt all, I offer a careful bowTo the beings beyond the dark.

I wonder why my own blindness was nothealed by this transfiguration.Blessed Francis, guide me through myawakeningWhile my spirit is still heavy with sleepAnd while I have trouble focusing my eyes.

Perhaps this little danceWill please the dead and the unseen,And then the boundaries will cave in,And then my spirit will fly.

Speaking is a way of knowingPsalms from a lover's soul,On the heart's hearth newly glowingLike ignited coal.

In this moment and no other,In this way and no other,Iam.

VIA Litany for Courage and the Seasons

The fire's brand along the temples.And the .smell of burning hair-The love of God impeached the troublesBrother Ass imprisoned there.

The Soundless Sound

May the apple blossoms flower on my birthday .May my heart be calmed if it snows on thejonquils.May the hot days of summer be made tolerableby a little rain.May I get wisdom if the flowers die.May the maples splash enough color to seemwarm, not cold.May I be thankful on Thanksgiving, eventhough I might not remember what for,And joyful at Christmas, for the same reason.

Scarred and blistered and blinded still.with ulcers on both feet and hands -Blessed Francis, share your lovingWith another blinded man.

The soft crackling of the rainOn dry leavesAnd the echo of the birdsongAgainst the woods -Are these all one hearsBetween breathing inAnd breathing out?

I am not sure that by myself I would pray for allthese things.But if I did not pray, not even knowing what Ipray to, I would lose my reason.

IVOn Chestnut Hill

May God come and stay in my heart throughthe round of seasons.May God make me love each season more,though none are new.And if I should die before the birds come backfrom the SouthMay my spirit be waiting for them in the trees.

-Richard Beale

One hears nothing if notThe soundless sound.

On Chestnut Hill I lean against the wind.I walk among the grass and the Solomon's SealAnd watch the yellow moon begin its rise.I lie where the deer have lain, and ask the skiesImpossible questions: is this phantom realWho made both night and day? .

Biographical Notes

"

William Mathias was born in 1934 atWhitland in Dyfed and studied at theUniversity College of Wales, Aberystwyth, andlater at the Royal Academy of Music, where histeachers included Lennox Berkeley and PeterKatin. One of the most versatile musical mindsof his generation and one of the best-equippedcomposers Wales has ever produced, he isArtistic Director of the North Wales MusicFestival and from 1970-1989 was Professor and

Is it wise to wish the night away?

Little Dance: For Barbara Mason

Pushing back the walls,

-Head of the Music Department of theUniversity College of North Wales, Bangor.Mathias' musical language embraces bothinstrumental and vocal forms with equalsuccess, and he addresses a large and variedaudience both in Britain and abroad. He is afrequent visitor to the USA where his music iswidely performed; in 1987 he was awarded anHonorary Doctor of Music by WestminsterChoir College, Princeton.

Press, USA, and is helping to expand theOxford American Choral list which will includea Dale Warland Choral Series. In August of1990, Warland prepared the chorus forperformances of the Penderecki Polish Requiemas part of the World Symposium on ChoralMusic in Sweden and Finland. His frequent .'appearances as guest conductor, composer andlecturer include work with the Swedish RadioChoir, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir andIsrael's Cameran Singers.

William Bolcom was born in Seattle in 1938.He entered the University of Washington atage 11 as a private student in composition withJohn Verrall and in piano with Bethe PoncyJacobson, and took his B.A. there in 1958.Bolcom received his Masters degree from MillsCollege and a Doctor of Musical Arts degreefrom Stanford University. A recipient of manyhonors, he won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize incomposition for his Twelve New Etudes forpiano in addition to Guggenheim fellowshipsand commissions and grants from theKoussevitzky and Rockefeller Foundations.Recognized today as a major voice in Americanmusic, he has performed world-wide and manyof his works have been recorded. Currently,Bolcom is a professor of composition at theUniversity of Michigan, where in 1977 he waspresented the Henry Russel Award.

The Dale Warland Singers, now in its 19thseason, has become a Twin Cities culturaltreasure and one of the world's premier

. professional choral ensembles. As a nationallyand internationally renowned ensemble, TheSingers has toured internationally, performingwith the Stuttgart and Frankfurt RadioSymphony Orchestras, and most recently at theSecond World Symposium on Choral Music inScandinavia. Locally, the ensemble hasperformed with organizations including the St.Paul Chamber Orchestra and the MinnesotaOrchestra. The Dale Warland Singers hasmade significant contributions to fostering thecreation of new choral works through itsnumerous comrnlsslons and performances of20th century choral repertoire.

David Maslanka was born in Massachusettsin 1943. He studied at the New EnglandConservatory, the Oberlin Conservatory, theMozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and receivedhis PhD in music theory and composition fromMichigan State University. His principalcomposition teachers were Joseph Wood andH. Owen Reed. He has served on the facultiesof State University College at Geneseo, NewYork; Sarah Lawrence College; New YorkUniversity; and Kinsborough CommunityCollege of the City University of New York.Mr. Maslanka has received grants andfellowships from ASCAP, the MacDowellColony, the New York State Arts Council, andthe National Endowment for the Arts amongmany others. His music has been widelyperformed in the United States, Canada, .Europe, Australia and Japan.

This concert is made possible in part by a granprovided by the Minnesota State Arts Boardthrouqi: ~~neppropriation by the MinnesotaState Leulstature. The Minnesota State ArtsBoard received additional funds to support thisactivity from the National Endowment for theArts.

Dale Warland has devoted his professionallife to attaining the highest musical level inchoral singing. He has received awards fromthe Ford Foundation, the Minnesota State ArtsBoard, and the Bush Foundation. He has alsoserved as professor of music at MacalesterCollege and as a member of the NEA Recordingand Choral Panels. In June 1988, he wasnamed Choral Advisor to Oxford University

Programming of A Litany for Courage and theSeasons was made possible in part by grantsprovided by the American Choral WorksPerformance Program of Chorus America andMeet the Composer/Midwest, a program ofArts Midwest in partnership with Meet theComposer, Inc. Meet the Composer fundingwas provided through the Composer ExchangeProgram with support from the WeyerhaeuserFamily Foundation. The Dale Warland Singersis a member of Chorus America. The Singer'schoral risers and acoustical shell aremar:ufactured by Wenger Corporation,Owatonna, MN 55060. For additionalinformation regarding The Dale WarlandSingers, call 339-9707.

Upcoming Performance:A Grand Night for SingingA Gala Benefit and Performance6:30 pm Saturday, 27 ·AprilEarle Brown Heritage Center, Brooklyn Center