Interlochen Choirs

05/28/2022

Tradition!

05/27/2022

Link to watch Festival Choral Concert-
Friday, 5/27 @ 4pm(EDT)

Tune in for a wide selection of live performances from Corson Auditorium.

05/26/2022

Friends of Interlochen Choirs:

It has been an immense honor to teach at Interlochen - starting as a camp faculty member in 2005, and then joining the faculty of the academy in 2008. The students here have been, are, and will continue to be some of the most inspiring young people a teacher could be fortunate enough to work with.

I wanted to share that I have recently been offered and accepted a position at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, a non-profit arts organization in Southeast Wisconsin. In my new role, I will be developing curriculum and leading a team of music educators who provide instruction to more than 12,000 students in underserved communities- students who would otherwise have no access to music education.

I'm appreciative to you all for your support of the choral ensembles here at Interlochen- and hope you will watch Friday's wonderful Festival performance by the choral ensembles, and join me in celebrating those seniors and post-graduate students who have worked with incredible diligence towards their commencement.

To those who sang in Academy Choir, Academy Chorale, Chamber Singers, Junior Choir, Intermediate Choir, Interlochen Singers, the World Youth Honors Choir, and Festival Choir- my most heartfelt thanks.

-jb

05/17/2022

… and with that, our wonderful time with Katerina Gimon comes to an end. We’ve enjoyed an inspiring 4 days of creativity and terrific music! Thanks so much for joining us on campus and working with these fabulous singers!

05/14/2022

Two amazing days of singing, creating, and inspiring with Katerina Gimon in the books- excited to continue our work on Monday on her fantastic pieces “Elements” and ”Frost Myth”(newly commissioned arrangement for SSAA voices)!

03/07/2022

Today, we sang the Ukrainian State Anthem, Shche ne vmerla Ukrainy i slava, i volia (Glory and Freedom of Ukraine has not yet Perished) in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and with deepest hopes for safety for all, especially its students and children.

This article includes a list of resources to help those most in need:
https://www.npr.org/2022/02/25/1082992947/ukraine-support-help

02/28/2022

As today is the last day of February and Black History Month, it seems like a wonderful opportunity to share our most recent performance of Florence Price's wonderful piece, "Wander-Thirst." This piece features text by the poet Gerald Gould:

"Beyond the East the sunrise, beyond the West the sea,
And East and West the wander-thirst that will not let me be;
It works in me like madness, dear, to bid me say good-bye;
For the seas call and the stars call, and oh! the call of the sky!

I know not where the white road runs, nor what the blue hills are,
But a man can have the Sun for friend, and for his guide a star;
And there’s no end of voyaging when once the voice is heard,
For the river calls and the road calls, and oh! the call of a bird.

Yonder the long horizon lies, and there by night and day
The old ships draw to home again, the young ships sail away;
And come I may, but go I must, and if men ask you why,
You may put the blame on the stars and the Sun and the white road and the sky?"

While we may all not have the opportunity to explore our world in the geographic sense that Gould may have been suggesting, I hope that these recordings have provided an encouraging opportunity to explore music by composers whose music may have been underrepresented in your own listening or education or marginalized throughout an unequally shared history.

This article (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/the-rediscovery-of-florence-price) explains how Price's music was lost... and found. Let's spend the next 11 months searching for the music and musicians that lie beyond the horizon of our experience.

02/24/2022

We’re live tonight at 7:30pm (EST)
Music by Craig Hella Johnson, Libby Larsen, Florence Price, and more!

See below for the date and time of our next featured webcast. Interlochen's featured webcasts offer a high-quality, multi-camera experience with premiere audio production. Enjoy! Due to licensing agreements and copyright restrictions, not all webcasts are available for public viewing.

02/23/2022

As we enter the last week of Black History Month, it's an honor to share this performance of Dr. Zanaida Robles' piece "She Lingers On."

From her website (https://zanaidarobles.com/), "Dr. Zanaida Stewart Robles is an award-winning American composer, vocalist, and teacher. She is a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in music education and performance. Authentic interpersonal connection and relationship-building are core principles of her teaching and performance methods. Born, raised, and educated in Southern California, she is in demand as a composer, vocalist, clinician and adjudicator for competitions, festivals, and conferences related to choral and solo vocal music."

The text, written by Dr. Robles, is intended to address feelings of depression and anxiety so common among young people:

"She walks in pools of sadness.
Her face is cool in moonlight.
No one can cover it.
She walks in pools and moonlight.
She lingers on..."

02/15/2022

As we enter the third week of Black History Month, I'm delighted to share the 2020 Interlochen Arts Academy Vocal Ensemble performance of "Nearly Insane" by Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell.
From the publisher (https://graphitepublishing.com/product/nearly-insane-quilt-songs/):
“Nearly Insane” is part of Quilt Songs: Women Weaving the Fabric of Life, commissioned in 2015 to highlight the quilts of Kay McCarthy. Ysäye Barnwell chose the quilt "Nearly insane" and uses a series of highly rhythmic and melodically adventurous ostinati to create the texture that brings Mary Easter’s poetry to life.

From her website (https://www.ymbarnwell.com/):
Ysaye M. Barnwell, Ph.D. MSPH, is a commissioned composer, arranger, author, actress and former member of the African American female a ca****la ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock. She is a vocalist with a range of over three octaves and appears on more than twenty-five recordings with Sweet Honey as well as other artists. Trained as a violinist for 15 years beginning at the age of 2 1/2, she holds degrees in speech pathology (BS, MSEd), cranio-facial studies (Ph.D.) and public health (MSPH). She was a professor at Howard University College of Dentistry for over a decade, and over the following 8 years developed training programs in Child Protection at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center, and administered community-based health programs at Gallaudet University, all in Washington DC. For almost thirty years, and on three continents, Barnwell has led the workshop Building a Vocal Community - Singing In the African American Tradition, which utilizes oral tradition, an African world view and African American history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to build communities of song among singers and non-singers alike. Her pedagogy is highly respected among musicians, educators, health workers, activists, organizers, and members of the corporate and non-profit sectors.

02/08/2022

As we move into the second week of Black History Month, enjoy a performance of Florence Price's "Song for Snow."

Price was born in Arkansas in 1887, attended the New England Conservatory. She was the first Black woman to have her work performed by a major American symphony orchestra, and arranged music that Marian Anderson performed in her famous recital on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Still, her music has only recently become truly appreciated, and much of it was very nearly lost.

Florence Price's life and music tell an incredible story; you can learn more about this incredible composer at:
https://florenceprice.com/
or read an article with links to even more performances at:
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/florence-price/