A Crown of StArS rEquiEm

Andrew Earle Simpson
A Crown of Stars
Cover art: Le Sueur, Eustache. Bacchus and Ariadne.
Abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos, Ariadne is saved by Bacchus, who
crowns her with the crown of stars, conferring immortality. Ca. 1640.
Oil on canvas, 69x49 ½ inches, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A.
Photo Credit: Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY
Andrew Earle Simpson’s A Crown of Stars is available directly from the composer.
(www.andrewesimpson.com)
Alfred Schnittke’s Requiem is published by C.F. Peters.
Photo of Andrew Earle Simpson by John Armato
Photo of Alfred Schnittke from the Alfred Schnittke Archive, London
Photos of Gisèle Becker & Cantate Chamber Singers by Wayne Guenther
TROY1358
www.albanyrecords.com
albany records u.s.
915 broadway, albany, ny 12207
tel: 518.436.8814 fax: 518.436.0643
albany records u.k.
box 137, kendal, cumbria la8 0xd
tel: 01539 824008
© 2012 Albany Records made in the usa
warning: copyright subsists in all recordings issued under this label.
Alfred Schnittke
Requiem
Cantate
Chamber Singers
Gisèle Becker
conductor
Lisa Edwards-Burrs
soprano
Joseph Dietrich
tenor
The Maryland
State Boychoir
Stephen Holmes
music director
DDD
Andrew Earle Simpson: A Crown of Stars
Andrew Earle Simpson, composer, pianist and organist, is Ordinary Professor
and head of the Theory-Composition Division at the Benjamin T. Rome School
of Music of The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. A composer
of opera, choral, orchestral, chamber, and silent film scores, he explores
music’s interaction with other arts, in concert and on stage. His concert and
theatrical works make multifaceted connections with literature, visual art, or
film, reflecting his fundamental interest in linking music intimately with the
wider world (an approach which Simpson calls “humanistic” music). Following
four principal threads of interest — humanistic music, with particular interest
in Greco-Roman antiquity and modern Greece; silent film music; theatrical
music, including opera; and folk music, emphasizing American folk styles — Simpson has created a
prodigious array of works for the concert and operatic stage, which have been performed throughout
the U.S., in Europe, and in South America, and widely recorded. His musical output has further led him
into creative collaborations with visual artists and digital animators, dancers and choreographers,
actors and stage directors. Most recently, Simpson has been exploring deeply the rich world of silent
film, an ideal genre for his multidisciplinary approach, as a nexus of drama, visual art, and music,
and he has performed original film scores across the United States and abroad. His music for both
adult and children’s chorus has been widely performed, published and recorded. A Crown of Stars was
commissioned by Cantate Chamber Singers while Simpson was the ensemble’s Composer-in-Residence.
A Crown of Stars is a wedding oratorio celebrating the universality of human love. The title refers to
the crown of Ariadne, who in Greek mythology was married to Dionysus. After her death, the god placed
a starry crown in the sky to honor her memory. Like many oratorios, A Crown of Stars is narrative.
The story follows two characters — a soprano and a tenor — from meeting and stormy courtship to
triumphant wedding ceremony to blissful wedding night interrupted by their friends’ noisy serenade,
or “shivaree.” The diverse textual sources echo the story’s universality. Poems from ancient Greece and
Rome, medieval France, Renaissance Italy, nineteenth-century Britain, and contemporary Syria partner
with sacred texts and secular carnival songs. The music likewise draws on a wide array of styles: New
Orleans jazz, Appalachian folk song, English madrigal and Middle Eastern melody are a few of the
elements informing the score. A Crown of Stars is scored for soprano and tenor soloists, SATB chorus,
treble chorus SSA, and large chamber ensemble. Commissioned by the Cantate Chamber Singers, it
was premiered in June 2006 in Bethesda, Md., under the direction of Gisèle Becker. It is dedicated to
my wife, Sarah Ferrario, who as a classicist introduced me to many of these texts, and translated some
of them from the ancient Greek. Thus the piece springs out of one love story to tell another.
—Andrew Earle Simpson
Libretto
Andrew Earle Simpson |A Crown of Stars
Part I. Courtship
1. At the Carnival (Chorus)
If ever I cease to love,
If ever I cease to love,
May the moon be turned to green cream cheese,
If ever I cease to love.
May cows lay eggs and fish grow legs,
If ever I cease to love.
from “If Ever I Cease to Love”
(words and music by George Leybourne)
How beautiful is Youth,
How fast it flies away!
Let all who would be full of joy:
Tomorrow is not today.
Here are Bacchus, here Ariadne,
For each other they burn with desire;
Time will trick us and play us false,
So they kindle their lover’s fire.
These happy satyrs, in love with their nymphs,
Have laid out a hundred sweet traps
In the woods and the caves,
While Bacchus inflames them
To dancing and leaping.
The amorous nymphs know all,
And readily fall for the traps,
Full knowing the satyrs’ designs.
And both together do join
In playing and singing the while.
Live, Bacchus, live, Ariadne!
Let us play and dance and sing!
Let sweetness fill your hearts with fire!
Never tire and never despair!
What will be, will be, so be happy.
Of tomorrow we have no care.
from Lorenzo de’Medici, “Bacchus and
Ariadne,” (trans. Adam K. Gilbert, freely
adapted AES. Text reprinted by permission
of Piffaro, The Renaissance Band)
1a. Recitative (Tenor)
The beauty I have seen
Transcends all bounds …
And no poet ever born
Could sing that beauty full.
from Dante Alighieri, Paradiso, Canto 30
(trans. Philip H. Wicksteed, freely
adapted AES)
2. Aria and Scene (Soprano, Tenor and Chorus)
I do not resemble your other lovers, my lady
should another give you a cloud
I give you rain
Should he give you a lantern,
I will give you the moon
Should he give you a branch
I will give you the trees
And if another gives you a ship
I shall give you the journey.
Nizar Qabbani, “Love Compared”
(trans. Lena Jayyusi and Christopher
Middleton; used by permission and
reprinted courtesy of Interlink Publications)
I’m not afraid of being enslaved
By a glance or a gift or a long pursuit,
Nor of drowning in flattery’s wave,
For my heart there’s no man would suit.
from Christine de Pisan, Ballade
(trans. A.S. Kline; used by permission)
Oh Love! They wrong thee much
that say thy sweet is bitter,
When thy rich fruit is such
As nothing can be sweeter.
Anonymous
Of all the fruits and all the flowers
My garden holds a solitary rose.
Guillaume de Machaut (trans. A.S. Kline;
used by permission)
Young love lies dreaming
Till summer days are gone,
dreaming and drowsing
Away to perfect sleep:
3. The Face of All the World is Changed
(Soprano)
The face of all the world is changed
Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul
Move still, [move] still beside me.
Him perfect music
Doth hush unto his rest,
And through the pauses
The perfect silence calms.
The name of country, the name of heaven,
is changed away
For where thou art or shalt be, there or here:
And this … this lute and song …
(the singing angels know) are only dear
Because thy name moves right in what they say.
from Elizabeth Barrett Browning,
“The Face of All the World is Changed”
(adapted AES)
4. Dream-Love (Chorus and Soprano)
Young love lies sleeping
In May-time of the year,
Among the lilies,
Lapped in the tender light:
White lambs come grazing,
White doves come building there:
And round about him
The May-bushes are white.
Young Love lies dreaming;
But who shall tell the dream?
A perfect sunlight
On rustling forest tips;
Or perfect moonlight
Upon a rippling stream;
Or perfect silence,
Or song of cherished lips.
from Christina Georgina Rossetti,
“Dream-Love”
5. Love’s Secret (Quartet)
Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly.
from William Blake, “Love’s Secret”
6. O Blind God Love
O blind god Love, why tak’st thou such delight
With darts of divers force our hearts to wound?
By thy too much abusing of thy might
This discord great in human hearts is found.
When I would wade the shallow ford aright,
Thou draw’st me to the deep to have me drowned.
From those love me my love thou dost recall
And place it where I find no love at all.
from Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso,
Canto 2 (trans. Sir John Harington)
7. Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown?
(Treble Chorus)
Will there be any stars in my crown,
When at evening the sun goeth down?
When I wake with the blest in the mansions of rest,
Will there be any stars in my crown?
I am thinking today of that beautiful land
I will reach when the sun goeth down;
It would sweeten my bliss in the city of gold
Should there be any stars in my crown.
adapted from Eliza Hewitt, hymn text
Part II. Wedding-Ritual
8. Bridal Procession, Crowning of the Bride
and Groom (Soprano, Tenor and Chorus)
Evening is come, young men, arise!
The long-awaited evening at last lifts up its
lights to Olympus.
Now is the time to rise up:
The bride will come, the bridal-song be sung!
from Catullus, Carmina 62
(trans. S.B. Ferrario; used by permission)
By night on my bed I sought him whom my
soul loveth:
I sought him, but I found him not.
Song of Songs 3:1 (King James trans.)
O maidenhood, maidenhood, where do you go
now, as you abandon me?
Never may I approach you again.
Sappho fr. 114 Lobel-Page
(trans. S.B. Ferrario; used by permission)
Behold, thou art fair, my love:
Behold, thou art all fair: there is no spot in thee.
Song of Songs 4:1, 7 (KJ trans.)
But I found him whom my soul loveth:
I held him, and would not let him go.
Song of Songs 3:4 (KJ trans.)
What thou hast joined together, let no man
put asunder.
Anglican rite of marriage (adapted AES)
With these seven steps we become friends.
Let me never be parted from your friendship,
and let your friendship never be severed from me.
I am the poem, you are the melody;
You are the melody, I am the poem.
Rig Veda 10.85, traditional Hindu
wedding text
Yours I am in life;
Yours I will be in death.
from Propertius, Elegies 2.15 (trans.
Constance Carrier, The Poems of
Propertius, Indiana University Press,
1963. Freely adapted AES; used by
permission of Indiana University Press)
Unite your servants, and crown them in one flesh.
Greek Orthodox wedding liturgy
Part III. Wedding Night and Shivaree
Behold King Solomon, wearing his wedding crown.
Song of Songs 3:11
(KJ trans., freely adapted AES)
9. Raise Up the Roof (Chorus)
Raise up the roof, hymenaon!
Raise it up, builders, hymenaon!
May all the gods unite your hearts;
May the Waters unite your hearts;
May Wind unite your hearts;
May the Creator unite your hearts;
Rig Veda 10:85
The bridegroom is coming like Ares,
Far greater than other men.
O happy bridegroom, you have the bride
you sought.
Let the couple be filled with joy,
as you made your creation joyful in Eden in
time long past.
Fifth blessing, Jewish wedding ceremony
Your shape is graceful, your eyes are sweet,
And love flows over your longed-for face.
Aphrodite has blessed you fully.
Sappho fr. 111, 112 Lobel-Page
(trans. S.B. Ferrario; used by permission)
10. O My Bliss (Soprano, Tenor and Chorus)
O my bliss! O my shining night!
And you, O bed, made blest by my delights!
How many ways our arms embraced!
How long and long I kissed your lips!
So long as fate allows, we will fill our eyes with love:
For soon the night which has no sunrise overtakes us.
While there is light, do not forsake the joys of life!
Though you give me all your kisses,
There still would be too few.
from Propertius, Elegies 2.15 (trans.
Constance Carrier, The Poems of
Propertius, Indiana University Press,
1963. Freely adapted AES; used by
permission of Indiana University Press)
[Hymenaon!]
We must be like doves, you and I:
Paired in love, male and female joined entire.
Yours I am in life;
Yours I will be in death.
[Raise up the roof, hymenaon!
Raise it up, builders, hymenaon!]
If all men would pass their lives this way —
Reclining, serene, their limbs held down by wine —
There would be no need for swords, or warships:
No need for sailors’ bones to lie in oceans’ deep,
Or civil wars to sink our lands in grief.
This much, at least, posterity could praise:
Our wine-cups gave no god offense.
[Here are Bacchus, here Ariadne]
11. Finale (Chorus)
The deathless gods loved Ariadne,
and there is proof in the heart of the heavens;
a crown of stars, which they say is hers,
revolves all through the night among the
constellations.
from Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3
(trans. S.B. Ferrario; used by permission)
Place a crown of stars on my head.
AES
[Hymenaon!]
Alfred Schnittke: Requiem
If the 1975 Requiem of Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) evokes vivid
images, it is perhaps because it began as a stage work — incidental
music for Schiller’s Don Carlos for a production in Moscow. Born in the
Soviet Union to German-speaking parents, Schnittke felt caught between
the two worlds of his Russian homeland and his family heritage. This
background, as well as his studies in both Vienna and Moscow, contributed to his compositional identity as a “polystylist.” He unabashedly
plundered every possible genre of music — from Jewish cantillation to
pop music — for use in his compositions, which included more than 60 film scores for the Soviet
cinema. Using familiar sounds in unfamiliar ways, he strove for what he called a “synthesis in which
genres will become obsolete.”
The Requiem is based on music from the piano quintet that Schnittke dedicated to his mother just
after her death. The scoring includes brass, electric and bass guitars, piano, organ, and percussion.
Chimes are heard throughout as tolling funeral bells, most prominent in the “Requiem Aeternam”
movement that bookends the work and serves as both a processional and a recessional. Each of the
short movements reflects its text vividly, from the hauntingly beautiful meditations of the “Recordare”
and “Lacrimosa” to the terrified apocalyptic pleas of the “Dies Irae” and “Tuba Mirum,” the latter of
which uses Sprechstimme technique. The sound of trap drums and a driving rock beat in the “Credo”
movement (a text not normally included in Requiem settings) might raise eyebrows; however, it is part
of the composer’s vision of a transforming definition of art music at this late date in the history of
Western society, what he called a stylistic democratization. Alex Ross explains that Schnittke’s music
portrays “what is overheard by a society that no longer knows how to listen.”
—Rachel E. Barham
Libretto
Alfred Schnittke |REQUIEM
Requiem
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem;
exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Requiem
Give them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
There will be songs of praise to you in Zion,
and prayers in Jerusalem.
O hear my prayers; all flesh returns to you.
Give them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
Kyrie
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.
Kyrie
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Dies irae
Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
Dies irae
A day of wrath; that day,
it will dissolve the world into glowing ashes,
as attested by David together with the Sibyl.
What trembling there will be,
when the Judge shall come
to examine everything in strict justice.
Tuba mirum
Tuba mirum spargens sonum,
Per sepulchra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
Mors stupebit et natura,
Tuba mirum
The trumpet’s wondrous call sounding
abroad in tombs throughout the world
shall drive everybody forward to the throne.
Death and nature shall stand amazed
Cum resurget creatura,
Judicanti responsura.
Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet apparebit,
Nil inultum remanebit.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?
when creation rises again to give answer
to its Judge.
A written book will be brought forth
in which everything is contained from which
the world shall be judged.
So when the Judge is seated,
whatever is hidden will be made known:
nothing shall go unpunished.
What shall I, wretch, say at that time?
What advocate shall I entreat
(to plead for me)
when scarcely the righteous
shall be safe from damnation?
Rex tremendae
Rex tremendae majestatis,
qui salvandos salvas gratis, salva me,
fons pietatis!
Rex tremendae
King of awesome majesty, who grants salvation
to those that are to be saved, save me,
O fount of Pity.
Recordare
Recordare, Jesu pie,
quod sum causa tuae viae,
ne me perdas illa die.
Quaerens me sedisti lassus,
redemisti crucem passus;
tantus labor non sit cassus.
Recordare
Remember, dear Jesus, that I am the reason
for Thy journey (into this world):
do not cast me away on that day.
Seeking me, Thou didst sit down weary,
Thou didst redeem me, suffering the death on
the Cross:
let not such toil have been in vain.
Lacrimosa
Lacrimosa dies illa,
qua resurget ex favilla
judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus,
pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem! Amen!
Lacrimosa
That day will be one of weeping
on which shall rise again from the embers
the guilty man, to be judged.
Therefore spare him, O God.
Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest! Amen!
Domine Jesu
Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae,
libera animas omnium fidelium
defunctorum de poenis
inferni et de profundo lacu.
Libera eas de ore leonis,
ne absorbeat eas tartarus,
ne cadant in obscurum:
sed signifer sanctus Michael repraesentet
eas in lucem sanctam, quam olim
Abrahae promisisti et semini ejus.
Domine Jesu
Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
deliver the souls of the dead
from punishment in the inferno,
and from the infernal lake.
Deliver them from the mouth of the lion,
lest the abyss swallow them up,
lest they fall into the darkness;
but let Michael, the holy standard-bearer,
bring them into the holy light, as thou of old
hast promised Abraham and his seed.
Hostias
Hostias et preces tibi, Domine,
laudis offerimus.
Tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
quarum hodie memoriam facimus;
Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam.
Hostias
Sacrifices and prayers to thee, O Lord,
we offer with praise.
O receive them for the souls of those
whom today we commemorate; make them,
O Lord, to pass from death to life.
Sanctus
Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Osanna in excelsis!
Sanctus
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Benedictus
Benedictus, qui venit
in nomine Domini.
Benedictus
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem sempiternam.
Agnus Dei
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins
of the world, give them rest.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins
of the world, give them eternal rest.
Credo
Credo in unum Deum,
factorem coeli et terrae,
visibilium omnium et invisibilium.
Credo in unum Dominum, Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum,
et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula,
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero, genitum, non factum,
consubstantialem Patri, qui propter nos homines
et propter nostram salutem
descendit de coelis.
Osanna!
Credo
I believe in one God,
maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
only begotten Son of God,
begotten of his Father before all worlds.
God of God, light of light, very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father,
who for us men and for our salvation
came down from heaven.
Hosanna!
Requiem
Requiem aeternam dona eis, domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem;
exaudi orationem meam,
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine.
Requiem
Give them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
There will be songs of praise to you in Zion,
and prayers in Jerusalem.
O hear my prayers; all flesh returns to you.
Give them eternal rest, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine on them.
The Performers
Cantate Chamber Singers, acknowledged as one of the Washington, D.C. area’s finest small choral
ensembles, performs a broad range of great Western choral literature spanning six centuries. Under
the artistic direction of Gisèle Becker since 1994, Cantate is recognized especially for its skilled
interpretation of Baroque style, championing of neglected masterpieces, adventurous programming
of 20th- and 21st-century music, and commissioning and premiering of new works. Through its biennial Young Composers’ Contest, the group encourages emerging compositional talent nationwide.
Cantate’s performances, known for their virtuosity, aim at the same time to create the greatest
possible intimacy between performers and audience. Included in Cantate’s annual concert seasons
have been guest appearances with the National Philharmonic, Chacabuco at the Kennedy Center,
the Dumbarton Concert Series, the Folger Consort Series, the Mansion at Strathmore, the National
Museum of the American Indian, the American Guild of Organists’ National and Regional Conventions,
the BlackRock Center for the Arts, the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, the
21st Century Consort, Bowen McCauley Dance, and at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in
New York City. Cantate Chamber Singers has been awarded the Choralis Foundation’s 2011 “Ovation”
Award for Creative Programming, and has been showcased in the “Front Row Washington” broadcast
series on Classical WETA 90.9 FM.
Gisèle Becker, esteemed Washington, D.C. area choral conductor, has received high
accolades from critics, audiences, and professional colleagues for her vision of
musical excellence and commitment to imaginative programming. The Washington
Post wrote that Ms. Becker “has molded her group into a well-balanced and
responsive ensemble … [presenting] focused, intelligent music-making.” The Post
called her 2003 performance of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor “a version as transfixing as it was bold … riveting in its fresh, impassioned and personal vision.” Music
Director of the Cantate Chamber Singers since January 1994, she serves also as Director of Choral
Activities at The George Washington University, conducting the University Singers and Chamber Choir.
For 26 years Ms. Becker was Assistant Conductor of the Washington Bach Consort, and she also was
chorus master for the Cathedral Choral Society. Ms. Becker’s extensive experience in choral preparation
has included the Folger Consort’s performances of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Handel’s Ode to St.
Cecilia, as well as Hindemith’s When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d for guest conductor Robert
Shaw and Haydn’s The Creation for Leonard Slatkin, both with the Cathedral Choral Society. She prepared
the Washington Bach Consort for its performances of Handel’s Messiah with conductor Robert King,
for Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers with Harry Christophers, and Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 4 and Sofia
Gubaidulina’s The Canticle of the Sun, both for Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra.
Ms. Becker has served on the faculties of The Catholic University of America, Trinity College in
Washington, D.C., and Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia. She received her
bachelor of music degree from The Catholic University of America and her master of music degree from
George Mason University, and she is pursuing her doctor of musical arts degree from the University of
Maryland. In addition to her conducting activities, she is actively engaged as a recording producer, a
festival adjudicator, and a clinician.
Critically acclaimed for her solo concerts featuring works by African-American composers and world
premieres, soprano Lisa Edwards-Burrs has served as an Artistic Ambassador for the United States
in South America, and has performed at the Amalfi Music and Arts Festival in Italy and at Caux,
Switzerland. Recent performances include Alice in the world premiere of Lyrics of Sunshine and
Shadows, an opera by Steven M. Allen; guest artist in the opening gala concert for the International
Conference on Hector Villa-Lobos sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University; Miranda in the
Philadelphia premiere of the opera Blake by H. Leslie Adams; and Cleopatra in the world premiere
of Leslie Burrs’ Egypt’s Nights, both presented by Opera North Inc. Ms. Edwards-Burrs is currently
Associate Professor of Voice at Virginia State University.
Joseph Dietrich, tenor, is a graduate of New York’s Mannes College and of The George Washington
University in Washington, DC. In New York, Mr. Dietrich has appeared as Gastone in Verdi’s La Traviata
at Merkin Hall, Pedrillo in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Liederkranz Opera, and
the Mayor in Britten’s Albert Herring, and was tenor soloist in Mozart’s Requiem and Bach’s Coffee
Cantata. In Washington, he performed Purcell’s Hail! Bright Cecilia at the Kennedy Center, Britten’s
Serenade at Lisner Auditorium, and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Choralis in Alexandria, Virginia.
Mr. Dietrich previously appeared with Cantate as Petrus in Reinhard Keiser’s St. Mark Passion, as Saint
Nicolas in Britten’s Saint Nicolas, and as Abraham in Britten’s Abraham and Isaac.
Performing extensively for more than 25 years, The Maryland State Boychoir gives more than 60
concerts per year nationally and internationally. The choristers have toured in more than 30 states,
and in Great Britain, Europe, the Caribbean, and Canada. They have been heard at such distinguished
venues as the White House and the Kennedy Center, St. Patrick’s and Holy Trinity Cathedrals in New
York City, and the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, and they have appeared in concert with the
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Washington Choral Arts Society, the Cantate Chamber Singers, the
Bonifantes Boys’ Choir of the Czech Republic, and the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir of South Africa, among
other musical collaborators. The Boychoir is dedicated to providing talented boys with a holistic and
diverse musical education in the tradition of the great European choir schools, regardless of race,
religion, or socioeconomic background.
Stephen Holmes, Music Director of The Maryland State Boychoir for more than 15 years, is himself
a graduate of the Boychoir training program. In addition to his numerous conducting and program
directing activities with the Boychoir and their six performing ensembles, Dr. Holmes is Director of
Choral Activities at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, Music Director at the Aisquith Presbyterian
Church in Baltimore, and conductor of the University of Maryland Men’s Chorus. He serves on the
board of directors of the Canticle Singers of Baltimore and of The Choral Music Educators Association
of Maryland. In demand as a guest conductor, he has appeared with choral organizations throughout
the country, and his choral arrangements have been performed throughout the mid-Atlantic
region. Dr. Holmes received his bachelor of music degree from Towson University, and his masters
and doctoral degrees in choral conducting from the University of Maryland.
Cantate Chamber Singers
Gisèle Becker, music director & conductor
Sopranos
Dee Dee Brinkema
Marilynn Flood
Judy Guenther**
Sarah Kerr
Christine King†
Cynthia Nickerson†
Robin A. Pennington†
Deborah Sternberg* †† †††
Elizabeth Sullivan
Altos/Countertenor
Susan Andrea
Stephanie Cabell
Lauren Campbell
Alison Carlson
Carrie Lee Eyler†† ††††
Sarah Brown Ferrario
Janet Ishimoto**
Miriam Radakovich
John Wiecking
Tenors
Wayne Guenther**
Hank Miller
Noah Mlotek†††
Robert Thompson
Doug Throckmorton
Eric Wagner
Basses
John Brooks
Ulf Ekernas
Steven Alan Honley
Scott Humburg
Roberto Ifill
Todd Leeuwenburgh
Dennis Tosh**
Ben Wallis
* Soloist in “Dream-Love” (A Crown of Stars)
** Quartet in “Love’s Secret” (A Crown of Stars)
† Trio in “Kyrie” (Requiem)
†† Duet in “Lacrimosa” (Requiem)
††† Duet in “Sanctus” (Requiem)
†††† Soloist in “Agnus Dei” (Requiem)
Simpson Recording Instrumentalists
Anne Ament, clarinet
Lori Barnet, cello
Robert Birch, trumpet
Fatma Daglar, oboe
Eric Dircksen, bassoon/contrabassoon
Karin Firsow, piano
Michelle Humphreys, percussion
Osman Kivrak, viola
Jeffrey Koczela, bass
Pamela Lassell, contractor
Teri Lazar, violin
David Lonkevich, flute/piccolo
Kate Hazzard Rogers, harp
Schnittke Recording Instrumentalists
Robert Birch, trumpet
John Bisesi, timpani
Mark Carson, percussion
Glenn Dewey, electric bass
Ben Fritz, trombone
Jane Kaye, organ
Pamela Lassell, percussion, contractor
Philip Mathieu, electric guitar
Christopher Rose, percussion
Andrew Simpson, celesta
Michael Thompson, piano
Acknowledgments
Andrew Earle Simpson: A Crown of Stars
Recorded at John Paul Hall, The Catholic
University of America, Washington, D.C.
Recorded on March 6-8, 2011
Recording Producers:
Andrew Earle Simpson and Chris Matten
Recording and Mastering Engineer:
Alan Wonneberger
Recording Assistant: Niall Owen McCusker
Alfred Schnittke: Requiem
Recorded at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church,
Bethesda, Maryland
Recorded on March 14-16, 2011
Recording Producer: Scott Dettra
Recordist: Ed Kelly
Mastering Engineer: Alan Wonneberger