Beautiful, Jake and Todd!  What a wonderful piece.

Jake Runestad, composer

"Cello Songs." Jake Runestad, composer. Todd Boss, poet. Performed by St. Charles Singers. Jeff Hunt, conductor. Cameron Grimes, cello. Stephen Uhl, piano. More info: http://jakerunestad.com/store/cello-songs

On my living room wall, I have a letterpress broadside of the poem “Cello” by Dorianne Laux. Its central image is a dead tree, fallen into the arms of a living one. As years pass, it “…rubs its fallen body / against the living, building / its dead music / making its raw mark, / wearing the tough bough down / as it moans and bends, the deep / rosined bow sound of the living / shouldering the dead.”

Todd Boss, a frequent collaborator of mine, has created a new, four-movement text inspired by Dorianne’s poem. Intended as love songs, the texts use the seasons as a structure to examine how the cello might come to mean very different things to us as we progress through the beauty and complexity of our lives.

Cello Songs (choir, cello, piano)

"Alleluia" by Jake Runestad. Performed by the Salt Lake Vocal Artists at the 2014 Western ACDA Division Conference. Purchase scores: http://jakerunestad.com/store/alleluia

Alleluia (SATB choir)

Nyon, Nyon

"Let My Love Be Heard" by Jake Runestad. Recorded by the Bob Cole Chamber Choir at Cal State Long Beach. Jonathan Talberg, conductor. More info: jakerunestad.com/store/let-my-love-be-heard

Let My Love Be Heard (SATB choir) by Jake Runestad

Austin's Grammy-award winning choral ensemble Conspirare will be performing two world premieres this weekend: Eric Banks’ This Delicate Universe and Jake Runestad’s Come To The Woods with a performance in Houston, May 8th and performances in Austin, May 9th and 10th.

Dianne chatted with the both composers and with Conspirare’s Artistic Director, Craig Hella Johnson, about the works. Learn about the composer’s inspiration and how they approach the “blank canvas”. Craig also talks about this banner year for Conspirare.

Two World Premieres with Conspirare

Nyon Nyon - BSHS A Cappella Choir - Spring 2015

Run through recordings from class, 10/14/15. 

Nyon

University Singers - Runestad's "Nyon, Nyon"

The Northeast Festival Chorus performs at the Saturday afternoon concert on April 2, 2016.

Nyon Nyon

Let My Love Be Heard

"Come to the Woods" by Jake Runestad. Performed by the Georgia State University Singers. Deanna Joseph, conductor. Purchase scores: jakerunestad.com/store/come-to-the-woods

Famed Scottish-American naturalist and conservationist John Muir had a giddy, child-like excitement for the natural world. After a youth spent in Scotland and Wisconsin, he found himself transformed by his first visit, around age 30, to California’s Yosemite Valley. With the vast mountainous landscape and the surreal size of the sequoia and redwood trees, these woods captured him and became his playground, his classroom, and his sanctuary.

Muir was an avid “saunterer” and a profound thinker who would venture into the woods for days with a bit of food and a book of Emerson poetry in hand. Inspired by the beauty of the wilderness and a lifelong love for words, Muir penned a vast collection of eloquent and vivid writings. In one quintessentially Muirian account, he is so fascinated by a storm that he climbs up a tall Douglas Fir to experience it more intensely.

“Come to the Woods” explores Muir’s inspirations and the transporting peace found in the natural world. Using a collage of fragments from Muir’s writings, the work ventures from the boisterous joy of a “glorious day,” to the quiet whispering of wind, to the rejuvenating power of a storm, to the calming “amber light” when the clouds begin to clear. I hope it captures the self-discovery and sustenance one encounters while exploring the outdoors and its vital importance in our lives. As Muir writes, “I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in.”

Come To The Woods (SATB & piano, Georgia State)

Runestad | And So I Go On (Live)

Mariri (2016)

"Ave Verum." Music by Jake Runestad, text by Todd Boss. Performed by the Choral Arts Society of Washington D.C. Scott Tucker, conductor. More info and purchase scores: http://jakerunestad.com/store/ave-verum

TEXT:

Mozart Closes His Eyes and Begins Hearing "Ave Verum Corpus"
by Todd Boss

Fill a bath now,
lay the body in.
Gently now, softly now.
Mind him. Tend
him. Red
runs the water
around him, and yet
o warmth, o softness,
with my music let
me kiss him, bless
him, ease him away
at last, at last …
ave, ave …

ABOUT:

The exaltation of composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart often places them in the realm of gods or saints, and at times we forget their humanness. When artistic director Scott Tucker and I discussed the theme for this commissioned work, his desire was to pair the work with Mozart’s "Ave Verum Corpus." Attempting to create a work to be presented alongside one of Mozart's is an intimidating endeavor. However, I began to consider Mozart’s humanness and wonder what he might have been thinking and feeling as he wrote "Ave Verum Corpus" (as well as his "Requiem") — how did his own experiences and complexities participate in his inner monologue for this iconic music? After considering various traditional Latin texts, I asked my good friend and frequent collaborator, Todd Boss, to create a text that explores this question.

Mozart’s serene music seems a disjunct pairing with the crucifixion image of the Ave Verum text, and Todd’s poem so beautifully captures a possible reason for Mozart’s intent. To deepen the connection to Mozart, my work is built on musical fragments from two works written in the final year of his life: "Ave Verum Corpus" and "Requiem." I hope that this new work might contextualize Mozart’s humanness and illuminate the personal meaning behind one of his most beloved works.   - Jake Runestad, composer.

Ave Verum (SATB & string orchestra)

"Rivers of Air" by Jake Runestad. Performed live by the Capital University Symphonic Winds. Dr. Jeffrey Gershman, conductor. More info: jakerunestad.com/store/rivers-of-air

Capital University

Rivers of Air (wind ensemble)

Official Website:

http://jakerunestad.com


About Jake:

Award-winning composer Jake Runestad (b. 1986) is noted for his versatility and wide range of expressive capabilities with music driven by soaring melodies, driving rhythms, and lush textures. Considered “highly imaginative…with big ideas” (Baltimore Sun) and “stirring and uplifting” (Miami Herald), Jake has received commissions and performances from leading ensembles such as Seraphic Fire, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, VocalEssence, the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, Cantus (Minnesota), and the Rockford Symphony Orchestra.

Jake Runestad holds a Master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts. He has also studied extensively with acclaimed composer Libby Larsen. Mr. Runestad currently lives in Minneapolis, MN and his music is published by Boosey & Hawkes and JR Music. Find out more at jakerunestad.com

Ave Verum (SATB & string orchestra)

Jake Runestad

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