The NC State
Department of Performing Arts and Technology
presents
NC State Choirs
Fall Concert
Featuring The Music of Reena Esmail
Chamber Singers
University Singers
and
State Chorale
Dr. Nathan Leaf, conductor
Ariadna Nacianceno, piano
Welcome
Welcome to the first NC State choir concert of the 23-24 academic year! We are so glad you have joined us this evening.
While we are presenting a variety of musical works tonight, a primary focus of our semester and of this concert is the music of the Indian-American composer, Reena Esmail. Based in Los Angeles, Ms. Esmail is one of the leading composers in the United States today. Having studied Western music at Julliard and Yale, and Hindustani music in India, she works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. In collaboration with the North Carolina Master Chorale, the NC State choirs were privileged to host Reena in a residency on campus in October, where she worked directly with our students on the intricacies of her unique compositions.
Several of the works we are performing tonight are partially rooted on ragas, which are melodic frameworks in Indian classical music. The texts of two works we are performing tonight, TaReKiTa and Tuttarana, are not actual words, but onomatopoetic vocalizations of sound produced by Indian instruments, based on the Hindi language.
Table of Contents
Program
Chamber Singers
Fancies I
Sven-Eric Johanson (1925-2020)
- Sylvia
- Under the Greenwood Tree
- Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind
- Fancy
- O Mistress Mine
Texts and Translations
All texts by William Shakespeare
Sylvia (from The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admirèd be.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness.
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being helped, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring
Under The Greenwood Tree (from As You Like It)
Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird’s throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Who doth ambition shun
And loves to live i’ the sun,
Seeking the food he eats,
And pleased with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind (from As You Like It)
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen,
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho, the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
That dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remembered not.
Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly…
Fancy (from The Merchant of Venice)
Tell me where is Fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourishèd?
Reply, reply.
It is engender’d in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and Fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring Fancy’s knell:
I’ll begin it, – Ding, dong, bell.
O Mistress Mine (from Twelfth Night)
O mistress mine, where are you roaming?
O stay and hear; your true love’s coming,
That can sing both high and low;
Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
Journeys end in lovers’ meeting,
Every wise man’s son doth know.
What is love? ’tis not hereafter;
Present mirth hath present laughter;
What’s to come is still unsure:
In delay there lies no plenty;
Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty;
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.
A Winter Breviary
Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
- We Look For You (Evensong); Raag Hamsadhwani
- The Year’s Midnight (Matins); Raag Malkauns
- The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds); Raag Ahir Bhairav
Texts and Translations
All texts by Rebecca Gayle Howell
We Look for You (Evensong)
Eventide, our single star,
One looking star, this night.
Next to me, the sparrow hen,
Two pilgrims small and bold.
Dusking hour, that lonely hour
The sky dims blue to grey.
Our forest road will fade,
We look for You.
Pine glisten wet with sleet,
She looks with me,
We look for You.
Fog falls in
So close, my breath,
She looks with me,
We look for You:
Great Silent One Unseen.
Eventide, our single star,
One looking star, this night.
We look for You,
Forgiving light, our guide.
The Year’s Midnight (Matins)
The longest night is come,
A matins for beasts, they low, they kneel
O their sleep, their psalm is sung.
A matins for trees, they slow, they stem
O their reach, their psalm won.
Hush, Can I hear them?
Can I hear what is not said?
Hush, Can I hear You?
Ev’ry need met.
To light, the path is dark,
Our star has gone.
Beneath my feet a year of leaves
fallen, frozen, done.
I walk these woods,
The longest night is come,
Above me, the sparrow,
She brings our new seed home
O Brown true sparrow,
Take tomorrow home.
The Unexpected Early Hour (Lauds)
Praise be, praise be!
The dim, the dun, the dark withdraws
Our recluse morning’s found.
The river’s alive The clearing provides
Lie down, night sky, lie down.
I feel the cold wind leaving, gone,
I feel the frost’s relief.
My tracks in the snow can still be erased
In us, the sun believes.
Winter is, Winter ends,
So the true bird calls.
The rocks cry out, My bones cry out
All the trees applaud.
Ev’ry hard thing lauds.
Lie down night sky, lie down.
I know the seeding season comes,
I know the ground will spring.
My fate is not night, I don’t need to try
Behold! The dawn, within.
Horizon lights across my thoughts,
Horizon lines redraw.
Inside of my throat a rise of the gold
Inside my chest I thaw.
Winter is, Winter ends,
Nothing Stays the same.
The moon strikes high The sun strikes high
And now I hear your name.
Earth’s Untired Change
Praise be, praise be!
The unexpected early hour
Grows the good light long.
Our darkness ends, O mercy sun,
Trust can warm us all.
Begin again, again, again,
Begin again, again,
May our day begin again,
O may our day begin.
University Singers
Listen
Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
Text and Translations
Text by Reena Esmail, based on a quote of Brian Palmer
Listen
Listen, listen
Listen to the sound of your breathing,
Listen to the waves it makes.
Listen to your voice as you’re singing
Listen to the space it takes.
Listen to your heart as it’s beating
Listen as your soul awakes.
‘Cause one act of love, I know, for sure, is to listen.
Listen to the voices inside you
Guiding you to being whole.
Listen to the people who see you
They will help you hold your soul.
Listen to the ones that oppose you
They can even play a role.
‘Cause one act of love, I know for sure is to listen
Time is fleeting,
There’s just so long we remain
So listen deeply
For you might never have that moment
to listen
again.
Every act of love is a mirror
Showing us our purest light
Every act of love is a pathway
Into one another’s lives
Every act of love is essential
To build a world that survives.
And that first act of love, I know, for sure, is to listen.
Listen, listen
Words of Lincoln
John Purifoy (b. 1952)
Texts and Translations
Texts taken from Abraham Lincoln’s first and second inaugural addresses.
Words of Lincoln
And Abraham Lincoln said, “We are not enemies, but friends. Though passions may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Bright Morning Stars
traditional Appalachian, arr. Kirchner (b. 1970)
Jonathan Crocker, soloist
TaReKiTa
Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
State Chorale
Two Works by Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
- Tuttarana
- The Love of Thousands
Texts and Translations
Text by Linda Hogan
The Love of Thousands
Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. Suddenly, all my ancestors are behind me. Be still, they say. Watch and listen. You are the result of the love of thousands.
My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord
Spiritual, arr. Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
Two arrangements by Shawn Kirchner (b. 1970)
- Angel Band
- Unclouded Day
Performers
Chamber Singers
Soprano
Abby Dayton
Maddie Martin
Anna Muchukot
Jade Vogelsong
mezzo-soprano
Kathryn Adams
Sammie Graff
Charmaine Pereira
Tenor
Dylan Magistrado
Devon Olds
Samuel Tucker
baritone
Yi Chen
Graham Otten
Landon Perry
University Singers
Soprano
Reilly Adams
Jen Daniels
Kaylee Eckhoff
Harper Good
Kayla Gickling
Cecilia Harrison
Ariel Modeen
Molly McCleary
Lottie Parker
Mya Parker
Maansi Pasupala
Anna Rushing
Olivia Smith
Abigail Trantham
Kate Van Farowe
Emily Vera
Ash Whiteside
Alto
Sophia Ayers
Novietta De Britto
Marcy Bullock
Laura Carter
Jada Clarke
Alex Fountain
Esty Henteleff
Gracie Hudson
Maya Lennon
Kenna Matheny
Ronnie Morson
Emmy Owen
Ava Schmidt
Anisha Shashidhar
Cecilia Shaw
Sarah Shoupe
Mesha Strickland
Li Tang
Ruthie Wainwright
Carynne White
Tenor
Jonathan Crocker
Carlos Dominguez Diaz
Howard Jacobs
Adam Malik
Kyle Setzer
Amar Woodrow
Bass
Dylan Barrett
Cayden Cieutat
Matthew Clark
John Fox
Jade Jernigan
Ian O’Connor
Xander Siegel
Malachi Vazquez-Carr
Isaac Welborn
State Chorale
*denotes section leader
Soprano
Lucy Grindstaff
Sam Hayes
Sloane Hovey
Izzy Humphreys
Nina Kudlak
Sofia Leander
Ellie Link
Margaret Lucas
Maddie Martin*
Emily Morris
Anna Muchukot*
Kyra Rizk
Katherine Swindell
Chloe Tackett
Jade Vogelsong
Alto
Kathryn Adams
Jenani Bhave
Kara Cushman
Elizabeth Davis
Kayden Foyles
Sammie Graff
Kira Hageness
Katherine Hunt
Niasha Kodzai
Charmaine Pereira
Anna Powell
Maggie Quinn
Anna Russell
Ophelia Sin
Zoë Smith*
Day Steed*
Julia Thompson
Sara Trimesh
Tenor
Jonny Grigg
Jimmy Kinsella
Sooyoung Kim
Ian Livengood
Spencer Long
Dylan Magistrado*
Evan McCaskill
Landon Perry
Thomas Radford
Mason Sluder*
Ty Smoak
Amar Woodrow
Bass
Niko Ayers
Elijah Ball
Ian Borgiel
Yi Chen*
Elisha Daugird
Michael Izzo
Trevor Libner
James Marlowe
Thomas Morgan
Bennett Perry*
Benjamin Radspinner
Ben Rutledge
Sullivan Schwartz
Henry Williams
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