Eric Whitacre

An accomplished composer, conductor and lecturer, Eric Whitacre has quickly become one of the most popular and performed composers of his generation. Many of Whitacre's works have entered the standard choral and symphonic repertories and have become the subject of several recent scholarly works and doctoral dissertations. As a conductor, Whitacre has appeared with hundreds of professional and educational ensembles throughout the world. In the last ten years, he has conducted concerts of his choral and symphonic music in Japan, Australia, China, Singapore and much of Europe, as well as dozens of American universities and colleges where he regularly conducts seminars and lectures with young musicians. Most recently, Whitacre has received acclaim for "Paradise Lost", a cutting edge musical combining trance, ambient and techno electronica with choral, cinematic,and operatic traditions. Winner of the ASCAP Harold Arlen award, this musical also gained Whitacre the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award for most promising musical theater composer. Whitacre earned a Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School, studying with Pulitzer Prize-and Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano. He has received composition awards from the Barlow International Composition Competition, the American Choral Directors Association and the American Composers Forum. The first recording of his music was hailed by The American Record Guide as one of the top ten classical albums of 1997. In 2001,he became the youngest recipient ever awarded the coveted Raymond C. Brock commission by the American Choral Directors Association.

Choral Discography

Old Miss Choirs: Whitacre Conducts Whitacre

The University of Mississippi Department of Music offers a unique opportunity to experience Eric Whitacre's music as he conducts the University of Mississippi Concert Singers, Men's Glee, Women's Glee, University Chorus, and Symphonic Band in cooperation with rehearsal conductors Bill DeJournett, Debra Spurgeon, and Donald Trott. This project was the result of a campus visit in April 2007 with Eric Whitacre including rehearsal time, a recording session, Q&A with students, and culminating in a concert for the public. This recording is a mixture of live and recording session performances.

BYU Singers: Eric Whitacre 2

In 1999 the BYU Singers, conducted by Ronald Staheli, performed two Whitacre pieces - “When David Heard” and “Water Night” - as part of their solo premier at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The success of the BYU Singers: Live at Carnegie Hall recording, demand for more Whitacre music, and the fruitful partnership between the composer and BYU Singers led to Whitacre’s request for the group to record his complete a cappella works in 2001. As a result of the enormous response to that album, the Singers are pleased to release a companion volume, Eric Whitacre 2. This CD was recorded in the spring of 2008, is essentially volume two of Eric Whitacre: The Complete A Cappella Works. That recording, released by the BYU Singers, continues to be one of the best-selling choral CDs worldwide. This recording includes some of Whitacre’s compositions for accompanied choir, but is mostly his a cappella pieces written since 2001. The varied nature of these pieces in this second compilation led to the Singers’ collaboration with the BYU Concert Choir, conducted by Rosalind Hall, and the BYU Women’s Chorus, conducted at the time by David Thomas. A very highly recommended release!

Polyphony: Cloudburst

At the age of only 35, Eric Whitacre has already gained a reputation in the United States that many composers strive for a lifetime to achieve. The American Record Guide named his first recording one of the top ten classical albums in 1997, and the Los Angeles Times described his music as having ‘electric, chilling harmonies; works of unearthly beauty and imagination’. His Water Night (included on this new recording) has become one of the most popular choral works of the last decade, and is one of the top-selling choral publications of all time. Whitacre’s published works have sold well over 350,000 copies worldwide. And who better to represent an innovative young choral composer than Stephen Layton and Polyphony, award-winning exponents of twentieth-century choral music? Under Layton’s directorship, Polyphony handles Whitacre’s evocative and soulful music with consummate artistry; from the quiet intensity of Sleep to the breathtaking exuberance of With a lily in your hand, by way of the tender innocence of This Marriage (one of three premiere recordings on the disc), this new recording is a stunning showcase both for an up-and-coming young composer and also for the awesome talents of one of the UK’s leading choirs.

BYU Singers: Eric Whitacre - Complete A Cappella Works

A big seller at the recent ACDA Convention in New York City, "Eric Whitacre" is a stunning collection of songs composed in the classical style of Monteverdi, Debussy and Prokofiev, but with inspiration from such groups as the Beatles, Sting, Queen, Madonna and Peter Gabriel. His choice of texts also reflects a broad range of poets - Octavio Paz, Ogden Nash, James Joyce, e.e. cummings and Emily Dickenson, religious poets being conspicuous in their absence, although "three songs of faith" are included here. The mixed-voice Brigham Young U. Singers do justice to Whitacre's difficult, eclectic, wonderful, soaring compositions. 12 songs, "Water Night," the three songs of faith: "I Will Wade Out," "Hope, Faith, Life, Love," "I Thank You God for most this Amazing Day," "Cloudburst", "Sleep," "I Hide Myself," "With a Lily in Your Hand," "Go Lovely Rose," "When David Heard," "Lux aurumque" and "Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine." "Beautiful" is an inadequate word to describe Whitacre's work and the BYU Singers' interpretation of it. "Amazing" works much better! Recommended.

Elora Festival Singers: Eric Whitacre Choral Music

BYU Singers/ University of Miami Chorale - Music of Eric Whitacre

This CD begins with a 3-part, eclectic, dramatic, rich-in-special-effects all-instrumental piece by Eric Whitacre, the "Ghost Train Trilogy," about a supernatural machine that roars through the western US, played by the Rutgers Wind Ensemble. Following that is "GAWD$ILLA EATS LAS VEGAS," a piece Whitacre wanted to write that was "really out there," that includes amazing, all-instrumental dramatic West Side Story and Gershwin samples. A sweet piece by the Rutgers Wind Ensemble follows, "Rak Hahatchala," featuring soprano Hila Plitmann. Then we have the University of Miami Chorale perform Whitacre's beautiful "little tree," (accompanied) with text by e.e. cummings, and two lovely Whitacre pieces by the BYU Singers, "Water Night" and "Cloudburst," both with text by Octavio Paz. These last two a cappella pieces are difficult, eclectic, soaring and lovely. Eric Whitacre is a surprising composer who takes many chances in his work, which is why listening to "The Music of Eric Whitacre" never fails to delight and challenge us.

The Choral Project: Water and Light

Founded in 1996, the 40-strong, mixed-voice Choral Project, ably led by Artistic Director and Conductor Daniel Hughes, has performed throughout California in concerts, interfaith services and choral festivals, as well as nationally and internationally in Costa Rica and Mexico. Included here are seven selections by master composer Eric Whitacre, "Five Hebrew Love Songs," "Cloudburst," "I thank you God for most this amazing day," "She Weeps Over Rahoon," "Little Birds," "Water Night" and "Sleep." Then we have "Agnus Dei" by Edward Elgar/David Giardiniere, Tavener's "Hymn to the Mother of God," Ticheli's "There will be rest," "Ave Maria" by Giancarlo Aquilanti, Rene Clausen's "Tonight Eternity Alone" and Lauridsen's "O magnum mysterium." Some light accompaniment with strings, piano and percussion. Difficult, intricate harmonies, effortlessly performed by this talented ensemble.

Collection

This a cappella collection of pieces for mixed choir by Eric Whitacre is the first available printed music compilation of its kind for the composer. The book includes pieces of varying difficulty, wide-raning in theme, from the iconic Sleep and Water Night to the quietly angelic Lux Aurumque (Light and Gold) and the recent Nox Aurumque (Night and Gold). A Boy and a Girl and This Marriage are both wonderfully tener pieces and the inclusion of the early Go, Lovely Rose marks the beginning of a journey thorugh Whitacre's choral output from this first success to the present day.

A Cappella Arrangements 1

The powerful fusion of Octavio Paz's Spanish text and Eric Whitacre's musical imagery has made 'Cloudburst a favorite with good high school choirs and beyond in the U.S. and abroad. Of timeless beauty, 'Waternight' speaks to singers and audiences of all generations, offering a high point in any concert program. A Boy and a Girl is a tender, delicate poem put to music by Eric Whitacre. It was commissioned by the 2002 California All-State Chorus. 'When David Heard' uses the text of David, lamenting the slaying of his son Absalom (II Samuel 18:33). It is a major work, with great dramatic moments describing the feeling of a father's loss.

A Cappella Arrangements 2 - ee cummings

'i will wade out' the first piece in the set, cries out with lush, neo-romantic harmonies. In 'hope, faith, love, life' each word is repeated as a musical meditation, quoting different works from Whitacre's choral library.' I 'i thank you God, for this most amazing day,' the shimmering quality of the chords help to convey the Whitacre's feeling of the text used in the poem. All three pieces are based on the poems by e.e. cummings, and are part of Eric Whitacre's series, titled 'Three Songs of Faith.'

A Cappella Arrangements 3

'Sleep' is the collaboration between Eric Whitacre and poet Charles Anthony Silvestri, drawing on the mystical moment between awareness and sleep. For the setting of Lux Aurumque, Whitacre chose the Latin translation of an Edward Esch poem, enhancing the elegant simplicity of this new work. The text explores Leonardo da Vinci's dreams of flying. The blend of Italian madrigal and contemporary style supports the text, once again, by Charles Anthony Silvestri.

A Cappella Arrangements 4

in 'Five Hebrew Love Songs – inspired by Whitacre's trip to Switzerland – each song is a “postcard,” capturing lush, romantic moments in full. The songs are dedicated to Jerusalem born Hila Plitmann – poet of the beautiful text, and the Whitacre's wife. A simple and delicate setting of the timeless love poem by the Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi, 'This Marriage' marks the first time that Whitacre has written for four-part a cappella chorus without divisi. Composed in the spirit of the Renaissance works written to Elizabeth I – “fair Oriana” – 'Her sacred Spirit Soars,' written for double choir, is in the signature Whitacre style with brilliant choral textures unfolding into a majestic final salute, “Long live, Oriana!” 'Little Birds' is the third setting of words by Octavio Paz (Water Night; Cloudburst) from Eric Whitacre. 'Little Birds' pays homage to Gabriel Fauré with its running piano part and fluid sensual melodies. According to the Whitacre “it holds mysterious and magical effects”, imitating delicate birds. Suitable for festival or competition use.

Three Flower Songs

Go, Lovely Rose is structured around the cyclical life of a rose, and is connected throughout by the opening 'rose motif,' a seed that begins on the tonic and grows in all directions before it blossoms, dies and grows again. Each season is represented. With A Lily In Your Hand is from a prodigious series of poems arranged in thematic "suites," later collected and in 1983 published as Suites. The original poem is titled: Curva. I Hide Myself is a simple little song. All of the musical suggestions come from a careful study of the poem, a quiet, passionate soul occasionally speaking a little bolder than the age will allow. She loves almost to the point of distraction, and this mood must prevail in the performance: shy and sullen, her passion surging to the surface only to sink back into the silence that is herself.

The Children

Set to a text by William Butler Yeats, "The Stolen Child" was commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain and The King's Singers to celebrate their 25th and 40th anniversaries, respectively. The chorus represents the voice of “the human child, innocent and naïve” while the six solo voices represent the “water and the wild,” seducing the children away from the world with the promise of endless revelry and eternal youth. Excerpted from Whitacre's music theater work Paradise Lost "The Stolen Child" for SATB and soloists is marked by delicate, ethereal sounds and purity of tone.

Nox Aurumque

Animal Crackers

Here are six whimsical settings of Ogden Nash poems that are perfect for a lighter portion of your program or as an encore. They are easily-learned and fun to perform!

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Choral Discography

Old Miss Choirs: Whitacre Conducts Whitacre

BYU Singers: Eric Whitacre 2

Polyphony: Cloudburst

BYU Singers: Eric Whitacre - Complete A Cappella Works

Elora Festival Singers: Eric Whitacre Choral Music

BYU Singers/ University of Miami Chorale - Music of Eric Whitacre

The Choral Project: Water and Light

Collection

A Cappella Arrangements 1

A Cappella Arrangements 2 - ee cummings

A Cappella Arrangements 3

A Cappella Arrangements 4

Three Flower Songs

The Children

Nox Aurumque

Animal Crackers

For More of The Primarily A Cappella On-Line Catalog

RSS - New Releases