True Concord’s newest album, "A Dream So Bright" features two world premiere recordings of works by Jake Runestad. His EMMY®­-winning choral/orchestral work, "Earth Symphony," with poetry of Todd Boss, was commissioned and premiered by True Concord in 2022. "Dreams of the Fallen," Runestad’s prize­-winning work for solo piano, chorus & orchestra, features pianist Jeffrey Biegel and is based on texts of the poet Brian Turner, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

The album has been submitted for consideration in the following categories:
Best Choral Performance
Best Contemporary Classical Composition (Jake Runestad: "Earth Symphony")
Best Instrumental Solo (Jeffrey Biegel)
Best Engineered Album (Steve Kaplan)
Producer of the Year (Peter Rutenberg)

Streaming & Purchase: https://listn.fm/adreamsobright/
More Info/Order CDs: https://trueconcord.org/watch-listen/a-dream-so-bright/
More about True Concord: https://trueconcord.org/

A Dream So Bright - Sampler Track

Stephen Paulus wrote Little Elegy on a text by Elinor Wylie for the conference choir of the 2010 Unitarian Universalists Musicians Network Summer meeting.

True Concord and conductor Eric Holtan recorded the piece in 2013 for its album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus on the Reference Recordings label for release September 11, 2015. 

www.TrueConcord.org


Little Elegy by Stephen Paulus

Scored for chorus with oboe and harp accompaniment, The Incomprehensible (2009) provides our album’s title “Far in the Heavens” in its opening line, and is an allegory of departed souls now soaring as angels in heaven, about to know the “infinite Unknown.” 

Those familiar with the HBO series Six Feet Under may notice a nod to the solo oboe of its main title theme. Stephen Paulus was a fan of both the show and Thomas Newman’s score. 

Sara Fraker is oboist and Christine Vivona harpist.

The Incomprehensible was commissioned and premiered by True Concord. (from album notes by producer Peter Rutenberg)

The Incomprehensible by Stephen Paulus

The third movement of Prayers and Remembrances commissioned of Stephen Paulus for the 10th anniversary of 9/11, featuring Kathryn Mueller, soprano.

True Concord premiered the work on September 11, 2011 in Tucson, AZ with Paulus in attendance. The piece was recorded in 2013, supervised by the composer, for the album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus, released on September 11, 2015. The international release on the Reference Recordings was September 11, 2015 in conjunction with True Concord's NYC debut in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, performing Prayers and Remembrances and Mozart's Requiem.

Music When Soft Voices Die from Prayers and Remembrances by Stephen Paulus

Nunc Dimittis was written in 2008 for organ and choir. For Far in the Heavens, Stephen Paulus adapted it for unaccompanied choir during the recording session week in May 2013,  just six weeks before his tragic stroke.

Nunc Dimittis by Stephen Paulus

The second movement of Prayers and Remembrances commissioned of Stephen Paulus for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

True Concord premiered the work on September 11, 2011 in Tucson, AZ with Paulus in attendance. The piece was recorded in 2013, supervised by the composer, for the album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus, released on September 11, 2015. The international release on the Reference Recordings was September 11, 2015 in conjunction with True Concord's NYC debut in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, performing Prayers and Remembrances and Mozart's Requiem.

Lord, Make Me an Instrument from Prayers and Remembrances by Stephen Paulus

The fourth movement of Prayers and Remembrances commissioned of Stephen Paulus for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

True Concord premiered the work on September 11, 2011 in Tucson, AZ with Paulus in attendance. The piece was recorded in 2013, supervised by the composer, for the album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus, released on September 11, 2015. The international release on the Reference Recordings was September 11, 2015 in conjunction with True Concord's NYC debut in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, performing Prayers and Remembrances and Mozart's Requiem.

Great Spirit from Prayers and Remembrances by Stephen Paulus

The fifth movement of Prayers and Remembrances commissioned of Stephen Paulus for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

True Concord premiered the work on September 11, 2011 in Tucson, AZ with Paulus in attendance. The piece was recorded in 2013, supervised by the composer, for the album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus, released on September 11, 2015. The international release on the Reference Recordings was September 11, 2015 in conjunction with True Concord's NYC debut in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, performing Prayers and Remembrances and Mozart's Requiem.

In Beauty it Walks from Prayers and Remembrances by Stephen Paulus

The sixth movement of Prayers and Remembrances commissioned of Stephen Paulus for the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

True Concord premiered the work on September 11, 2011 in Tucson, AZ with Paulus in attendance. The piece was recorded in 2013, supervised by the composer, for the album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus, released on September 11, 2015. The international release on the Reference Recordings was September 11, 2015 in conjunction with True Concord's NYC debut in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, performing Prayers and Remembrances and Mozart's Requiem.

Eternity from Prayers and Remembrances by Stephen Paulus

I Have Called You By Name, written in 2010, is a setting of Isaiah 43: 1-4a from the Bible. The piece was commissioned for the Chancel Choir of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in St. Paul, MN.

I Have Called You By Name by Stephen Paulus

Wexford Carol - Traditional Irish, arr. Mack Wilberg

Wexford Carol

A Somerset Carol - Trad. English, arr. Dale Warland

A Somerset Carol (Excerpt)

O Come, Divine Messiah! - Trad. French, arr. Howard Helvey

O Come, Divine Messiah! (Excerpt)

One Gift (Excerpt)

Midnight Clear reimagines the well-known 19th-century text by Edmund Sears, with a new melody by Russell Schulz-Widmar. Based in Austin, Texas for most of his career, Schulz-Widmar is a composer, organist, and former Professor of Liturgical Music at Seminary of the Southwest. With several hymn tunes to his credit, he chaired the hymn music committee for the Episcopal Church’s then-new Hymnal 1982.

Midnight Clear

True Concord Voices & Orchestra, founded by music director Eric Holtan in 2004 as Tucson Chamber Artists, draws on the first rank of choral and instrumental musicians from Arizona and the United States. True Concord’s artistic mission is to enrich lives through the transformational power of classical music. It accomplishes this primarily through the performance of masterworks and the diverse music of the United States, making its New York City debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with Mozart's Requiem and Stephen Paulus’s Prayers and Remembrances in September 2015, and its international debut with Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus on the Reference Recordings label. 

True Concord’s expanding repertoire includes Bach’s St. John Passion and Mass in B-Minor, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C-Minor, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, and Haydn’s The Creation. It has commissioned new works from Stephen Paulus, Gerald Near, Ola Gjeilo, Paul Crabtree, and others. 

On the adoption of their new name, Eric Holtan explains, “The original, early 14th century meaning of concord was ‘hearts together.’ Shakespeare later described the emotional impact of music as ‘true concord’ — something we strive to achieve in our music making between composer, performer and listener.” With their new album, True Concord seeks to bring together hearts from Tucson with those from around the world, through the power of music by one of America’s greatest and most beloved composers, Stephen Paulus.

More information about True Concord can be found at our website:
www.TrueConcord.org

True Concord

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