Lawrence University Hybrid Ensemble
November 11, 2011
Phillip A. Swan, director

Singin' in the Rain - arr. April Arabian

Lawrence University Hybrid Ensemble
Phillip A. Swan, director
November 11, 2011

Lush Life - arr. Rare Silk/Todd Buffa

A setting of poem XXXV from James Joyce's "Chamber Music" for 6-part chorus (soprano, mezzo-soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass) a cappella. Joyce's text portrays a bleak, vast ocean scene. The speaker is traveling through this world for an unknown period of time toward an unknown (or at least undisclosed) destination, all the while subjected to the monotonous and repetitive sounds of the surrounding water and wind.

Performed by In Medio Chamber Choir (John Eisemann, director).

Recorded live on June 9, 2023.

The Sea-Bird

CANTALA (LU Women's Choir)
Phillip A. Swan, conductor

Soloists:Stephanie Popik, Nathasha Foley, and Maire Clement
Piano:Allison M. Shinnick
String Quartet:Lauren Pulcipher, violin 1; Marisa Sheppard, violin 2; Dana DeBofsky, viola; Claire Bachman, cello
from the concert:Loss, Reflection, and Hope (10-15-11)



Tundra, by - Ola Gjeilo

Lawrence University Concert Choir
Stephen M. Sieck, conductor

from the concert:  Loss, Reflection, and Hope (10-15-11)

Introit (from Officium Defunctorum), by - Tomás Luis De Victoria

Pieter Bruegel’s 1562 painting The Fall of the Rebel Angels depicts the conflict between the archangel Michael and the forces of heaven – rendered with white robes, elegant wings, and flowing hair – and Satan’s rebel angels – which have taken all manner of grotesque forms, chimeras of human, animal, and artificial elements – each totally different.

Aside from these strange entities, two things stood out to me. A pillar of angel bodies – innumerable powerful beings locked in a battle beyond understanding – stretching into the distance represents the unfathomable scale of the conflict, of which Bruegel depicts a minuscule slice, in space and time. But, stripped from its narrative context, the painting would become even more bizarre: an expanse of writhing, seething, weird matter. This piece pans between these different layers and characters, bound together by the narrative of the rebel angels’ fall.

The opening quotes Nicolas Gombert’s motet Media Vita – ‘In the midst of life, we are in death’ – written at a similar time and place to Bruegel’s painting.

Fall of The Rebel Angels

Benjamin Britten, Hymn to St. Cecilia (Op. 27)
Lawrence University Concert Choir
Katy Harth, Alex Johnson, Julia Steiner, Ian Koziara, Tory Wood, soloists
Stephen Sieck, conductor
Feb. 24, 2012 concert

Hymn to St. Cecilia - by Benjamin Britten

Eric Whitacre, Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine
Clare Bohrer, Graycie Gardner, Katy Harth, Katrina Zosseder, Tory Wood, and Alex York, soloists; Justin Gingrich and Luke MacMillan, percussion
Phillip A. Swan, conductor
Lawrence University Concert Choir
Feb. 24, 2012

The Sea-Bird

Alexander Johnson

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