Thank you for supporting Ensemble Companio’s annual Drive 2 Sing. As a thank you for your generous contribution, we are thrilled to share with you a preview of our latest album Journeys featuring music from our 2019-2020 season that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our album will be released on all streaming platforms on November 22nd and we cannot wait to share this meaningful project publicly very soon. We ask that you do not share our preview, but we would love your help in sharing our album far and wide after its official release.
With love and gratitude,
Ensemble Companio
Journeys meditates on the creation of meaning—individually and collectively—throughout the uncertainties of human existence. Combining repertoire from Ensemble Companio’s cancelled 2020 concerts with works learned virtually during lockdown, the album reflects a zeitgeist of loss, hope, connection, and catharsis through familiar and lesser-known works by Reena Esmail, Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn), Carlos Cordero, and Moses Hogan, among others.
Program Notes
Program notes presented below are adapted from 2019-2020 and 2021-2022 season concert programs.
Composers are presented in their own words wherever possible.
Even after all this time… – Reena Esmail
Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. Esmail’s work has been commissioned by numerous ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Kronos Quartet, Seattle Symphony, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Conspirare, among others. Esmail was named a 2019 United States Artist Fellow in Music, and the 2019 Grand Prize Winner of the S & R Foundation’s Washington Award. Previously, Esmail was a 2017-18 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow. Esmail is currently an Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting music traditions of India and the West. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
“Even After All This Time…” takes its text from a beautiful quote by 14th century Persian poet, Hafiz, in a translation by Daniel Ladinsky. The text is set in English, with translated words from the incredibly expressive Persian language woven into the texture.
This piece was written for the wedding of Lindsay Pope. Lindsay is an incredible choral conductor, and has been a long-time collaborator and champion of my work. […] This is the beauty of being alive. To grow with a collaborator who can perform, conduct and contextualize my music, who can show me my own practice through such a multitude of new lenses over years — it redefines who I am, and it reshapes what I write. Lindsay’s depth and passion truly does light the whole sky.” —RE
Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth
“You owe me.”
Look what happens with a love like that:
It lights the whole sky.
– Hafiz, trans. Daniel Landinsky
Schöne Fremde (from Gartenlieder, Op. 3) and Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen – Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847, known as Fanny Hensel after her marriage) was an extremely prolific composer of art song, piano music, and choral partsongs as well as an accomplished pianist. Though her musical talent was recognized and nurtured from a young age, societal and familial expectations restricted Fanny from entering music as a profession. Nevertheless, she composed over four hundred works throughout her lifetime, publishing some under her brother Felix’s name and, later, some under her own. Felix was privately very supportive of Fanny’s composition, if concerned about the implications of her publishing; the two frequently collaborated on concerts and other musical projects until her death in 1847. These two partsongs epitomize Fanny’s expressive and masterful artistic voice.
Schöne Fremde (from Gartenlieder, Op. 3)
| Es rauschen die Wipfel und schauern, Als machten zu dieser Stund Um die halbversunkenen Mauern Die alten Götter die Rund. Hier hinter den Myrtenbäumen In heimlich dämmernder Pracht, Was sprichst du wirr wie in Träumen Zu mir, phantastische Nacht? Es funkeln auf mich alle Sterne Mit glühendem Liebesblick, Es redet trunken die Ferne Wie vom künftigem, großem Glück. |
The treetops rustle and shiver, As if at this hour Around the half-sunken walls The old gods are making their rounds. Here behind the myrtle trees In secret, darkening grandeur, What do you say, crazed, as if in dreams To me, fantastic night? All the stars glisten down at me With glowing, loving gazes; the distance speaks drunkenly Of great happiness to come. |
– Josef Karl Benedikt von Eichendorff, trans. Peregrine
Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen
| Nacht liegt auf den fremden Wegen, Krankes Herz und müde Glieder; – Ach, da fließt, wie stiller Segen, Süßer Mond, dein Licht hernieder; Süßer Mond, mit deinen Strahlen Scheuchest du das nächt’ge Grauen; Es zerrinnen meine Qualen, Und die Augen übertauen. |
Night lies on the strange roads, Heart-sick and weary limbs; Ah, there flows down, like a silent blessing, Sweet moon, your light. Sweet moon, with your beams You banish the horrors of night; You break my torments And my eyes overflow. |
– Heinrich Heine, trans. Peregrine
Incertidumbre – Carlos Cordero
Carlos Cordero is an award-winning composer and recent University of Houston Affiliated Fellow at the American Academy of Rome. His most recent achievements include winning the: International Choral Composition Competition Japan 2018, Inversion Ensemble’s Emerging Composer Competition, Vox Populi Winner in I International Choral Composition Competition Alberto Grau, The Uncommon Music Festival Choral Composition Competition, and the 2017 Chorus Austin Young Composer’s Competition; as well as the world premiere of This Sky in the 28th Béla Bartok Choral Competition. His pieces have been performed internationally, including, Europe, North and South America. Originally from Maracaibo, Venezuela, Carlos is currently residing in Austin, Texas after finishing his Master of Music in Composition at University of Houston, Moores School of Music.
Ensemble Companio was delighted to commission a work, Garden, from Carlos in celebration of our 10th Anniversary Season which the ensemble premiered in the Spring of 2022.
Learn more about Carlos and his work at www.thehappychoir.com
| Estoy presa contanta libertad. Aunque es el sueño de muchos, yo no quiero estar aquí. Si, ya sé cómo todo está allá. Quizá Dios le dio pan al que no tiene dientes… pero quiero estar con mi esposito, con mi hijo, con mis gatos, con mi música, con mis amigos con mi canto, con mis fotos… Y trato de no llorar, no me da miedo trabajar, lo hago de Lunes a Domingo. Lloro portanta incertidumbre. |
I’m stuck with so much freedom; although it is the dream of many, I do not want to be here. Yes, I know how everything is there —maybe God gave bread to the one who has no teeth—; but I want to be with my husband, with my son, with my cats, with my music, with my friends, with my singing, with my photos. And I try not to cry… I’m not afraid to work, I do it from Monday to Sunday. I cry because of such uncertainty. |
– Mirem de Ondiz, trans. Cordero
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child – arr. Rosephanye Powell
Dr. Rosephanye Dunn Powell has been hailed as one of America’s premier women composers of choral music. She has an impressive catalogue of works published by leading national and international publishers, including the Hal Leonard Corporation, the Fred Bock Music Company/Gentry Publications, Oxford University Press, Alliance Music Publications, and Shawnee. Praised for their rhythmic energy, colorful harmonies, and well-crafted vocal lines, Dr. Powell’s compositions include sacred and secular works for all voicings.
“In this arrangement, I sought to express the final moments of a slave who has been whipped and beaten at the hands of the slave owner or overseer, as [their] life ebbs away. The African words are translated ‘something terrible has happened, something has happened to mothers.’ As the slave drifts away to freedom (death), in the midst of [their] pain, memories of the motherland and of the mother who was sold away engulf the slave. The African words ‘Bokayan nu wo vinowo’ represent these painful memories. They also depict the African priests’ drawing the slave’s soul/spirit back to Africa through death.” —RDP
Ensemble Companio acknowledges 2019 as the 400th anniversary of the first forced arrival of enslaved Africans to Virginia and the beginning of American slavery.
Learn more about Rosephanye and her music at www.rosephanyepowell.com
Sometimes I feel like a motherless child,
A long way from home.
Bokaya kaya kaya.
Nu wo vinowo.
[Something terrible has happened.
Something has happened to mothers.]
Sometimes I feel like I’m almost gone,
Way off in the heavenly land,
A long ways from home.
[Something terrible has happened…]
– Traditional Spiritual, ed. Powell
Why the Caged Bird Sings – Jake Runestad
Jake Runestad is an award-winning and frequently-performed composer of “highly imaginative” (Baltimore Sun) and “stirring and uplifting” (Miami Herald) musical works. Having collaborated with leading ensembles and organizations around the world, Jake has a versatile and prolific career creating works for orchestra, wind band, chorus, chamber ensembles, and opera. His visceral music and charismatic personality have fostered a busy schedule of commissions, residencies, workshops, and speaking engagements, enabling him to be one of the youngest full-time composers in the world.
Learn more about Jake and his music at www.jakerunestad.com
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows like a stream of glass;
When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
And the faint perfume from its chalice steals—
I know what the caged bird feels!
I know why the caged bird beats his wing
Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
For he must fly back to his perch and cling
When he fain would be on the bough a-swing;
And a pain still throbs in the old, old scars
And they pulse again with a keener sting—
I know why he beats his wing!
I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,—
When he beats his bars and he would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer…
I know why the caged bird sings!
– Paul Lawrence Dunbar (from Sympathy)
Abide with Me – arr. Moses Hogan
Internationally celebrated as a pianist, conductor, and arranger, Moses Hogan (1957-2003) is most remembered today for his settings of African-American spirituals. A graduate of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) and Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, he also studied at New York’s Juilliard School of Music and Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. With over 70 published works, Hogan’s arrangements have become staples in the repertoires of high school, college, church, community and professional choirs worldwide.
“Abide with Me” originated as a hymn by nineteenth-century Anglican minister Henry F. Lyte, which he initially wrote after the passing of a friend and then revisited mere weeks before his own death. The melody it is most commonly sung to—the one Hogan set in this arrangement—was composed a few decades afterwards by William Henry Monk, an English organist and choirmaster. Hogan’s rich yet simple setting conveys a timeless sense of faith, resolution, and peaceful repose.
Learn more about Moses and his music at www.moseshogan.com
Abide with me,
Fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens,
Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail
And comforts flee,
Help of the helpless,
O abide with me.
I need thy presence
Ev’ry passing hour.
What but Thy grace
Can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
Who, like Thyself,
My guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine,
O abide with me.
O Thou who changest not,
Abide with me.
In life, in death, O Lord,
Abide with me.
– Henry F. Lyte
Heavenly Home – arr. Shawn Kirchner
Shawn Kirchner is a composer/arranger/songwriter, singer, and pianist based in Los Angeles whose choral works are performed throughout the world. A member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale since 2001, Kirchner has enjoyed an enduring creative relationship with music director Grant Gershon, culminating in his tenure as the LAMC’s Swan Family Composer-in-Residence from 2012-2015. Kirchner has also collaborated with Conspirare, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Lorelei Ensemble, Atlanta Master Chorale, and Tonality, among others. Kirchner’s creativity is driven by his passion for songwriting, folk/carol traditions, and poetry – but fused with the improvisatory virtuosity of Baroque and bluegrass instrumental traditions.
Learn more about Shawn’s work at www.shawnkirchner.com.
Hallelujah (William Walker, 1835)
And let this feeble body fail, and let it faint or die;
My soul shall quit this mournful vale, and soar to worlds on high;
And I’ll sing hallelujah, and you’ll sing hallelujah,
And we’ll all sing hallelujah, when we arrive at home.
O what are all my suff’rings here, if Lord, Thou count me meet,
With that enraptured host to appear, and worship at thy feet!
And I’ll sing hallelujah, and you’ll sing hallelujah,
And we’ll all sing hallelujah, when we arrive at home.
Give joy or grief, give ease or pain, take life or friends away,
But let me find them all again in that eternal day.
And I’ll sing hallelujah, and you’ll sing hallelujah,
And we’ll all sing hallelujah, when we arrive at home.
– Charles Wesley (1759), adapted Kirchner
Angel Band (William Bradbury, 1862)
The latest sun is sinking fast, my race is almost run,
My strongest trials now are past, my triumph is begun.
O come angel band, come and around me stand,
O bear me away on your snow white wings to my immortal home.
I know I’m near the holy ranks of friends and kindred dear,
I’ve brushed the dew on Jordan’s banks, the crossing must be near.
O come angel band, come and around me stand,
O bear me away on your snow white wings to my immortal home.
I’ve almost gained my heav’nly home, my spirit loudly sings,
The Holy Ones, behold they come, I hear the noise of wings.
O come angel band, come and around me stand,
O bear me away on your snow white wings to my immortal home.
– Jefferson Hascall (1860)
Unclouded Day (Rev. J.K. Alwood)
O they tell me of a home far beyond the skies,
They tell me of a home far away,
And they tell me of a home where no stormclouds rise:
O they tell me of an unclouded day.
O the land of cloudless days,
O the land of an unclouded sky,
O they tell me of a home where no stormclouds rise:
O they tell me of an unclouded day.
O they tell me of a home where my friends have gone,
They tell me of a land far away,
Where the tree of life in eternal bloom
Sheds its fragrance through the unclouded day.
O the land of cloudless days…
O they tell me of a King in His beauty there,
They tell me that mine eyes shall behold,
Where he sits on a throne that is bright as the sun,
In a city that is made of gold.
O the land of cloudless days…
– Rev. J.K. Alwood
Now Our Meeting’s Over – arr. Jocelyn Hagen
Jocelyn Hagen composes music that has been described as “simply magical” (Fanfare Magazine) and “dramatic and deeply moving” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul). She is a pioneer in the field of composition, pushing the expectations of musicians and audiences with large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, opera, and publishing. Her first forays into composition were via songwriting, still very evident in her work. The majority of her compositions are for the voice: solo, chamber and choral. Her melodic music is rhythmically driven and texturally complex, rich in color and deeply heartfelt.
Typically attributed as a Shaker hymn or American folk tune, the specific origin of “Now Our Meeting’s Over” is unknown—perhaps fitting for a song which speaks to a love that transcends the limitations of time, space, and mortality. Its open harmonies and simple melody evoke a sense of expansive universality, inviting singer and listener alike into communion with each other and all those who have come before.
Learn more about Jocelyn and her music at www.jocelynhagen.com
Now fathers, now our meeting’s over,
Fathers, we must part,
And if on earth we meet no more,
I love you in my heart.
Then we’ll land on that shore,
And we’ll shout forevermore!
Now sisters, now our meeting’s over,
Sisters, we must part,
And if on earth we meet no more,
I love you in my heart.
Then we’ll land on that shore…
Now mothers, now our meeting’s over,
Mothers, we must part,
And if on earth we meet no more,
I love you in my heart.
Then we’ll land on that shore…
Now, brothers, now our meeting’s over,
Brothers, we must part,
And if on earth we meet no more,
I love you in my heart.
Then we’ll land on that shore,
And we’ll shout forevermore!
– Traditional American