Eric Whitacre (born 2 January 1970^[1]) is an American composer of choral and wind band music and electronic music. He has also served as a guest conductor for ensembles throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... UNLV redirects here. ... The Juilliard School is one of the worlds premier performing arts conservatories, in New York City. ... This article is about the state. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... Eric Whitacre (born 1970) is an American composer of choral and symphonic music and electronica. ... is the 2nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A concert band, also called wind band, symphonic band, symphonic winds, wind orchestra, wind symphony, or wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of several members of the woodwind instrument family, brass instrument family and percussion instrument family. ... For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ... A conductor conducting at a ceremony A conductors score and batons Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... World map showing the Americas CIA political map of the Americas in an equal-area projection The Americas are the lands of the Western hemisphere or New World, consisting of the continents of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions. ...

Musical background

Whitacre began his musical training while an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he studied composition with avant garde Ukrainian composer Virko Baley and choral conducting with David Weiller. It was here that he wrote his Ghost Train triptych for concert band. Whitacre received a Master's degree at the Juilliard School with composition studies under both John Corigliano and David Diamond.^[2] UNLV redirects here. ... Virko Baley (1938-) is a renowned Ukrainian-American composer, conductor, and pianist. ... A masters degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded after the completion of an academic program of one to six years in duration. ... The Juilliard School is one of the worlds premier performing arts conservatories, in New York City. ... John Corigliano (b. ... David Leo Diamond (July 9, 1915 – June 13, 2005) was an American composer of classical music. ...

Music

In the past decade, Whitacre has become a prominent composer for educational concert band and choral music. Some of his choral works are especially popular among high school and college vocal ensembles across the United States.

Whitacre premiered his first work for stage, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, in 2004 at California State University, Northridge, one year after premiering the work's musical suite in Berlin, Germany in the summer of 2003. The show is only distantly related to Milton's Paradise Lost. The music of this opera is a mixture of many different styles of music including trance, classical, electronica, and traditional opera. Paradise Lost premiered at the Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena in July and August 2007 with full cast, taiko drums, DJ, anime, and flying rigs. California State University, Northridge (also known as CSUN, Cal State Northridge, or C-Sun) is a public university in the San Fernando Valley, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California, USA. Part of the California State University system, CSUN was founded in 1958 as San Fernando Valley State College... In music, a suite is an organized set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed at a single sitting, as a separate musical performance, not accompanying an opera, ballet, or theater-piece. ... Trance is a style of electronic music that developed in the 1990s. ... This article is about Western art music from 1000 AD to the present. ... For other uses, see Opera (disambiguation). ... It has been suggested that Japanese_Taiko_Drumming be merged into this article or section. ... DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ... Animé redirects here. ...

Musical Style

Whitacre is probably best known for his choral works, however both his choral and instrumental styles are immediately recognizable, namely by his signature "Whitacre chords." These are often seventh or ninth chords, with or without suspended seconds and fourths. Perhaps his most famous chord is a root-position major triad with a suspended major second and/or perfect fourth. Whitacre makes frequent use of quartal, quintal and secundal harmonies, and is also known for his use of unconventional chord progressions. Rhythm is also an important aspect in many of his pieces, especially his pieces for wind band, utilizing mixed, complex, and/or compound meters. His pieces are also known to include frequent meter changes and unusual rhythmic patterns. Another trademark of Whitacre's pieces is the use of aleatoric and indeterminate sections, as well as unusual score instructions involving, in some cases, hand actions and/or props. His style is often compared to that of Morten Lauridsen, albeit a bit more modern. Look up aleatory in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Indeterminate music was a form of music pioneered by the late John Cage. ... Morten Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943 in Colfax, Washington) is an American composer with Danish roots. ...

Related projects

Whitacre's music—particularly his music for choir—has inspired the creation of a number of national and international music festivals. In July 2004, the Sydney Opera House hosted the first annual Eric Whitacre Wind Symphony Festival. In June 2007, Venice and Florence, Italy hosted the first Venice Whitacre Festival. The Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ... For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ... Florence (or Firenze, Florentia and Fiorenza) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany, and of the province of Florence. ...

Whitacre is a founding member of the consortium BCM International, a quartet of composers consisting of himself, Steven Bryant, Jonathan Newman, and James Bonney, who, according to their mission statement, aspire to "enrich the wind ensemble repertoire with music unbound by traditional thought or idiomatic cliché".

Works

Brass ensemble

• Lux Aurumque

Concert band

• Equus
• Ghost Train Triptych
  • Ghost Train
  • At the Station
  • Motive Revolution
• Godzilla Eats Las Vegas!
• Noisy Wheels of Joy
• October
• Sleep (Choral Transcription)
• Lux Aurumque (Choral Transcription, transposed a semitone lower from C-Sharp Minor to C Minor)
• Cloudburst (Choral Transcription)

Choral

• Animal Crackers (3 poems by Ogden Nash)
• A Boy and A Girl (poem by Octavio Paz)
• Cloudburst (poem by Octavio Paz)
• Five Hebrew Love Songs (poem by Hila Plitmann)
• Her Sacred Spirit Soars (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine (libretto by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• Little Birds (poem by Octavio Paz)
• little tree (poem by e. e. cummings)
• Lux Aurumque (poem by Edward Esch; translated into Latin by Charles Anthony Silvestri) (also set for male chorus)
• She Weeps Over Rahoon (poem by James Joyce)
• Sleep (originally a setting of Robert Frost's poem, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening"; for copyright reasons^[3] the published version uses a specially-written text by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
• The Seal Lullaby (poem by Rudyard Kipling)
• The Stolen Child (poem by William Butler Yeats)
• This Marriage (poem by Jalal al-Din Rumi)
• Three Flower Songs
  • I Hide Myself (poem by Emily Dickinson)
  • With a Lily in Your Hand (poem by Federico García Lorca)
  • Go, Lovely Rose (poem by Edmund Waller)
• Three Songs of Faith (poems by e. e. cummings)
  • i will wade out
  • hope, faith, life, love
  • i thank You God for most this amazing day^[4]
• When David Heard (from II Samuel 18:33)
• Water Night (poem by Octavio Paz; translated by Muriel Rukeyser)
• Winter (poem by Edward Esch)

Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet best known for writing pithy and funny light verse. ... Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomat, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Literature. ... Cloudburst is one of Eric Whitacres most famous compositions. ... Eric Whitacre (born 1970) is an American composer of choral and symphonic music and electronica. ... Edward Estlin Cummings (October 14, 1894 – September 3, 1962), popularly known as E. E. Cummings, was an American poet, painter, essayist, and playwright. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ... This article is about the writer and poet. ... This article is about the British author. ... Yeats redirects here. ... Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-DÄ«n Muhammad RÅ«mÄ«[2] (Persian: , Turkish: Mevlânâ Celâleddin Mehmed Rumi) , also known as Mawlānā Jalāl-ad-DÄ«n Muhammad BalkhÄ« (Persian: ), but known to the English-speaking world simply as Rumi, (September 30, 1207–December 17, 1273), was a... From the daguerreotype taken at Mount Holyoke, December 1846 or early 1847. ... Federico García Lorca Federico García Lorca (June 5, 1898 – August 19, 1936) was a Spanish poet and dramatist, also remembered as a painter, pianist, and composer. ... Edmund Waller (March 3, 1606 – October 21, 1687) was an English poet. ... The Books of Samuel (Hebrew: Sefer Shmuel ספר שמואל), are part of the Tanakh (part of Judaisms Hebrew Bible) and also of the Old Testament (of Christianity). ... Muriel Rukeyser Muriel Rukeyser (December 15, 1913–February 12, 1980) was an American poet and political activist, best known for her poems about equality, feminism, social justice, and Judaism. ...

String ensemble

• Lux Aurumque
• Water Night

Theatre

• Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, an opera featuring electronic, world, and orchestral instruments; classical singers; and many different styles of music.

Other arrangements

• Rak HaHatchala (Only the Beginning) [aka Five Hebrew Love Songs]; for soprano voice, solo violin, piano

References

Cloudburst is one of Eric Whitacres most famous compositions. ... Hyperion Records is an independent British classical record label, named after Hyperion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology. ...

External Links

• Official Website
• Picture of Eric Whitacre
• WikiMusicGuide
• Biography on Hyperion Records