{"id":215080,"date":"2024-05-15T12:38:04","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T16:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/?p=215080"},"modified":"2024-07-31T09:48:23","modified_gmt":"2024-07-31T13:48:23","slug":"cali-immersive-residency-resonates-with-composer-eric-whitacre-at-montclair-state-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/john-j-cali-school-of-music\/2024\/05\/15\/cali-immersive-residency-resonates-with-composer-eric-whitacre-at-montclair-state-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Cali Immersive Residency Resonates with Composer Eric Whitacre at Montclair State University"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cali Immersive Residency Program at Montclair State University rose to a crescendo with Grammy-winning composer, conductor and speaker Eric Whitacre leading a deeply embedded program of lectures, interviews on his music, master classes with students, workshops and performances of his music with John J. Cali School of Music ensembles and 500 high school choristers.<\/p>\n

Whitacre is widely known for his exceptional choral works and innovative use of technology. His lush and emotional music was the centerpiece of the three-day residency, including master classes and workshops, interviews for a School of Communication and Media mini-documentary, rehearsals with choral and instrumental ensembles, and a high school choral workshop and concert. \u201cThis residency had so many tentacles \u2013 it was a bold program with myriad moving parts \u2013 and it totally worked,\u201d says Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities Heather J. Buchanan. \u201cIt was a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n

The spring residency was organized to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement, Buchanan says. It actively involved various departments across the University, such as Communications, Business, English and the Honors Program. As a highlight of the program, a public event titled \u201cCali Conversations\u201d was jointly hosted by Buchanan and Anthony Mazzocchi, director of the Cali School.<\/p>\n

\"Eric
Eric Whitacre, composer, conductor and speaker with Professor Heather J. Buchanan, faculty coordinator and host of his Cali Immersive Residency (Photo by John J. LaRosa for Montclair State University)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWorking with Eric Whitacre was nothing short of extraordinary. He carries himself with such kindness, curiosity and humility,\u201d says Christine Tanko \u201924, a Music Education major. \u201cI believe that he brought new life into the Cali community that will last a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitacre\u2019s 30-year career includes 70 works: 58 for choirs, 17 for orchestra, 13 for band, three for solo voice and one musical theater work. In addition to original compositions, he has produced 16 recordings beginning with his 2010 debut CD\u00a0Light and Gold<\/em>\u00a0that won the 2012 Grammy for Best Choral Performance. Several movements from his recent long-form work\u00a0The Sacred Veil\u00a0<\/em>were a focus of this residency, as well as exploration of repertoire spanning his career.<\/p>\n

A choral workshop brought 500 high school choristers from 18 New Jersey and New York schools to campus for a workshop and choral concert featuring Montclair\u2019s Vocal Accord, Chorale and University Singers. Proceeds from the sold-out concert went toward\u00a0Pathways to Music\u00a0<\/a>scholarships for deserving students through the Invest in Cali Fund. Four seats in Leshowitz Recital Hall were dedicated to Whitacre during the residency.<\/p>\n

\u201cEric is humble and brilliant. He was generous with his time and absolutely magnificent in the way he engaged with our students,\u201d Buchanan says. \u201cTo summarize this residency in a word: it was transformational.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
Eric Whitacre conducts students from the Paterson Music Project and New Jersey Symphony Youth Orchestra performing\u00a0October<\/em>\u00a0in collaboration with the University Symphony Orchestra. (Photo by John J. LaRosa for Montclair State University)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whitacre worked on repertoire from his extensive catalog with all the Cali School choirs \u2013 Vocal Accord (chamber choir), Chorale (140-voice symphonic choir) and University Singers (elective choir), plus the Rose Quartet, Symphony Orchestra and Wind Symphony, as well student composers and Music Education majors. Two student composers, Ian Kearney, a junior majoring in Music Composition, and Dayla Spencer, a freshman Music major, were featured in the composer\u2019s forum \u201cFinding Your Voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with Eric Whitacre was such a valuable experience,\u201d Kearney said. \u201cIt was amazing to be able to hear his insight as to what it means to be a professional composer. As someone who writes choral music myself, getting to work with him personally in the composition master class and in the choirs was so inspiring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitacre is among today\u2019s most popular musicians. His works are programmed worldwide and his ground-breaking Virtual Choirs have united 100,000 singers from all over the world through the use of technology. At a Cali Midweek program on \u201cCreativity, Connection and the Virtual Choir,\u201d Whitacre described the continuing evolution of this art form that assembles into one performance the thousands of videos he receives of singers filming themselves performing his various compositions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started hearing from people, their stories about how they come to choir and how much it meant to them, how they genuinely felt part of something larger than themselves by being a part of this, which we found extraordinary because very few of these people had ever met in person and will never meet in person,\u201d Whitacre said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost overnight, our little experiment had become this global choir, this Earth choir and still singers were saying, when is the next one?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adds Kearney, the student composer, \u201cWhitacre\u2019s music reaches so many people, and working with him made me feel like music can make anything possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo Gallery<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A
500 high school choristers rehearsed and performed\u00a0Sing Gently, The Seal Lullaby<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Lux Aurumque<\/em>\u00a0under the composer\u2019s direction. Senior TV Production students recorded the concert under the direction of Professor Stuart MacLelland. (Photo by Rob Davidson Media for the Cali School of Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Eric
The first residency event was an interdisciplinary Creativity Master Class: The Golden Brick, where Whitacre described his process for finding the creative focus for a composition. (Photo by Rob Davidson Media for the Cali School of Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Singers
Student composer Ian Kearney receives feedback from Whitacre on his original composition\u00a0Les Colombe<\/em>s. Members of Vocal Accord performed live during the workshop.\u00a0 (Photo by Heather J. Buchanan for the Cali School of Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
University Singers Alto I, Alexa Tabbacchino \u201924, who received a degree in Recording Arts and Production, captivated by Whitacre\u2019s new work,\u00a0The Sacred Veil.<\/em>\u00a0(Photo by Dennis Dalelio, Paramus High School, for the Cali School of Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Singers
Members of the University Singers perform\u00a0BACH (Again) \u2013 Come Sweet Death<\/em>, a contemporary interpretation of a Bach chorale, the only non-Whitacre music on the concert program and a piece Whitacre enjoys for its uniqueness. \u201cIt\u2019s the piece I wish I had written,\u201d he said. (Photo by Dennis Dalelio, Paramus High School, for the Cali School of Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
Whitacre conducts the Chorale\u2019s performance of\u00a0Cloudburst<\/em>, a choral tone-poem featuring piano, percussion, hand bells and body percussion with student soloists Omar Abdallah, baritone, Abigail Montesino, speaker, and Olivia Meyer, soprano. (Photo by Rob Davidson Media for the Cali School of Music)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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