The Renaissance Singer

The A Cappella Singer

Sonata da Chiesa

Sonata da Chiesa : Organ Sonata VI

Everyone Sang Four Songs for Bass and Piano

The songs Homecoming and Quilt were commissioned by the West Chester University Poetry Conference, West Chester, Pennsylvania, and were premiered by baritone Robert Barefield and pianist Carl Cranmer on June 7, 2003. Entrance was written in July, 2003 for inclusion in this set of songs. The song Everyone Sang was premiered by Maris Vipulis and pianist Marc Shapiro on April 16, 1998. The four songs are each dedicated to four singer-friends of the composer. The edition for low voice was prepared especially for bass Matt Boehler. Duration: 13:00

Three Impudent Arias

The texts for these songs are adapted from Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914), one of America’s most fearless and biting satirists. It is safe to say that these songs are probably not for every performer. They require a good dose of theatrical dash and a bit of raw nerve, not exactly your formal recital staples. While they do have a suggestively masculine tone, a female singer with the right irreverence and attitude could certainly bring them off. (The composer suggests that these three songs be performed as a set as opposed to individually. They were constructed to achieve a certain balance as a set.)

Fourteen Angels

The intertwining of friendship and the guitar engendered this composition. Christine and Jerry da Silva are close friends of Kurt Wolf, with whom Jerry studies guitar, Kurt is my close friend, who studied with me for his MM in classical guitar at the University of Minnesota. Following the tragic loss of their infant daughter, Elena, at the age of one month, Kurt commissioned this work for chorus and guitar to offer his friends the gift of something lasting in the face of impermanence. As requested, I incorporated the Catalan carol, El Noi de la Mare, which is also famous as a guitar solo. It was always the father's intention that this gift would eventually be placed inservice as a soothing lullaby, one which he had planned to play frequently for his infant child.