I Am An Island That Dreams
Words: Elaine Harrison    Music: David Buley
Natalie Williams Calhoun, cello

I Am An Island That Dreams was commissioned by Summerside Community Choir in 2014.

David Buley is Associate Professor of Music Education in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland, as well as a member of the Faculty at Thorneloe University. David enjoys his lengthy career of teaching classroom and private lessons in music, conducting choirs, accompanying for ballet companies and playing various instruments. He is the founding director of Octatonic Decadence, an a cappella group that was awarded first place in the 2010 Canadian National Music Festival. A practitioner of Jaques-Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Dr. Buley offers workshops in music education, choral music and vocal technique, as well the worship arts, and enjoys numerous adjudicating experiences. He loves making music and spends quite a bit of time singing outdoors with the largest choir on earth. https://www.dbuley.com/http___www.dbuley.com/Welcome.html

Ms. Williams Calhoun completed her Master of Music degree in Violoncello performance at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and her Bachelor’s degree in Cello at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Her professional career has led her from performing in a UK based piano trio during her time in Manchester to positions as a cellist in professional orchestras in the Maritimes and in Ontario (the National Ballet of Canada orchestra, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and Orchestra London Canada). She is also a founding member of Atlantic String Machine, a genre jumping string quintet based in Charlottetown, PEI. Natalie also enjoys collaborating with singer/songwriters, both live and in recording sessions.  https://nwcalhounmusic.com/home
 

On The Day Of First Things
Words: Dave Hickey   Music: Adam Hill

On the Day of First Things was commissioned for Luminos Ensemble in 2022. It takes its text from a combination of two poems by Dave Hickey, originally published by Baseline Press in Safe Vehicles For a Dying Planet, ©2021 Dave Hickey, used by permission. https://davehickey.ca/home

Adam Hill performs both acoustic and electric bass in a variety of genres. He has been a member of Atlantic String Machine, Taarka, Rogue Motel, Great Lonely Wild, Marmota, and The Sham; and, he has played in the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra, the Central Oregon Symphony, the Walla Walla Symphony, and the Obsidian Opera Chamber Orchestra.

Adam Hill’s music has been presented by many notable performers and ensembles, including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Central Oregon Symphony, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Men’s Ensemble, the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, Nick Photinos, Marina Hasselberg, Mark Tashiki McGregor, Michael Murray, Wallace Halladay, and Esther Lamneck, among others. His compositions have also been programmed at festivals across the world, including the Manchester New Music Festival, the New Horizons Music Festival, the Electroacoustic Barn Dance, the Murau International Music Festival, the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, and the Sound of Dragon Music Festival.

Adam has received commissions from CBC Radio, the Whatcom Symphony Orchestra, the Luminos Ensemble, the Erato Ensemble, the Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble, the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, and the Singers’ Club of Cleveland. He has also been the recipient of awards and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Foundation for Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings, SCI/ASCAP, the Blue Mountain Center, the Sitka Center for Arts and Ecology, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts,

He holds degrees from the University of British Columbia, Western Washington University, and Whitman College; and, he has taught at Holland College, Mount Allison University, Western Washington University, and Quest University.
https://adamhillmusic.com
 

Grow Old Along With Me
Words: Robert Browning   Music: Emily Doolittle

Grow Old Along With Me was commissioned for Luminos Ensemble in 2021, with the generous help of an anonymous donor. Composed at the height of Covid lockdowns in Scotland, it was conceived to be performed by a spatially-distanced ensemble, following the PEI Public Health directives from early 2021: that the singers must be 6 meters apart.

Canada-born, Glasgow-based composer Emily Doolittle’s music has been described as “eloquent and effective” (The WholeNote), “masterful” (Musical Toronto), and “the piece…that grabbed me by the heart” (The WholeNote). Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Emily was educated at Dalhousie University, the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Hague, Indiana University and Princeton University. From 2008-2015 she was  Assistant/Associate Professor of Composition and Theory at Cornish College of the Arts. She has been at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she is an Athenaeum Research Fellow and Lecturer in Composition. https://emilydoolittle.com
 

Four Secular Songs on Themes of Advent
Music: Terry Pratt (PEI)

i. Hope Is The Thing (Emily Dickinson)
ii. How Do I Love Thee? (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
(Jillian Clow, mezzo-soprano)
iii. A Birthday (Christina Rossetti)
iv. Crossing The Bar (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

 

Terry Pratt (Ph.D.) was, for most of his career, an English professor at the University of Prince Edward Island.  He took up composing in retirement, under the tutelage of former music professor, Carl Mathis.  Having sung in excellent choirs since the age of nine, Terry has found choral music a particularly congenial form, especially when the text is a poem he knows well, as is the case with each of his "Four Secular Songs on the Themes of Advent."  The songs may be performed individually, in any order, or at any time of year, but the idea behind associating them with Advent is that choral directors preparing a concert for Christmas might welcome the option of songs related to, but not directly about, that familiar season.

Originally from Prince Edward Island, mezzo soprano Jillian Clow received her Bachelor of Music studying with Sung Ha Shin-Bouey at UPEI and graduated from UBC with a Master of Music in Opera under the guidance of Rhoslyn Jones. During her time at UBC she appeared as Vera Boronel in Menotti’s The Consul, Dryade in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, Tisbe in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and as Zweite Dame in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. Additionally, she performed the role of Ramiro in excerpts from Mozart’s Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe and was a mezzo soloist in the VSO Traditional Christmas concert series.

In The Crystalline Vault of Heaven
Words: Anaximenes of Miletus  Music: Derek Charke (NS)
Derek Charke is a JUNO and four-time ECMA award-winning composer, flutist and educator. His music is eclectic, often defying categorization due to wide-ranging influences. Derek is a professor of music at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, where he teaches composition and music theory. He also heads AEMS, the Acadia Electroacoustic Music Studio. https://www.charke.com

“In the Crystalline Vault of Heaven is the third movement of Earth Airs (Symphony No. 2). This movement stands alone as a composition for SATB chorus, a cappella. Earth Airs is my second symphony, a choral symphony. The text is adapted from the ancient Greek philosopher, Anaximenes of Miletus. Anaximenes was one of several Presocratic philosophers who questioned standard mythological creation theories and opted, instead, for observable explanations to better understand our world. Anaximenes suggests that air is the underlying substance from which everything is created. In his text, Anaximenes muses on the infinite nature of air, on the soul of the world, on the crystalline vault of the heavens, and on the moon being fire. I was intrigued by this notion of an underlying substance of air, and the musical ideas that his text evoked. Earth Airs was written in a spirit of celebration and mindfulness for the fragility of the atmosphere that supports life on earth.”
 

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Trust

Words: Robert Browning   Music: E.K.R. Hammell (PEI)
E.K.R. Hammell (Evan, he/him/his) is a Toronto-based composer, arranger, & music engraver originally from Prince Edward Island. https://www.ekrhammell.com

“Trust is a piece about courage.

Setting an excerpt of Robert Browning’s (1812-1889) poem “Rabbi ben Ezra”, the piece explores the internal conflict that arises from trying to give meaning to suffering, an idea Browning was inspired to write about by the teachings of Jewish medieval scholar Abraham ibn Ezra (ca. 1092- ca. 1164).

The central question at stake in the poem is this: Why must we endure toil and strain? While the significance of the struggles we undertake is so often lost on us,

Browning argues for resilience, patience, and trust. Trust God. Trust the universe. Trust destiny. Whatever your beliefs, trust that your experiences will help illuminate the path forward.

This setting aims to elucidate Browning’s words in a way that provides encouragement — to literally bestow courage upon the listener, take their hand, and give them a gentle push into a reinvigorating, hopeful new chapter.”
 

Da Pacem Domine
Words: Roman Catholic Liturgy    Music: Peter-Anthony Togni (NB)

Peter-Anthony Togni is a freelance composer, broadcaster and educator based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. http://www.petertogni.com

“Da Pacem Domine is part of a work I wrote in 2014 called Warrior Songs, a work about the concept of non-aggression, of a true Warrior, one who never actually goes into battle. I drew inspiration from Tibetan Buddhist texts, from Malcolm X, and from my own Roman Catholic tradition. My motet Da Pacem Domine is based on one of the most beautiful Gregorian Chant melodies. Even though the text is peaceful and hopeful, it still calls for surrender to God’s will. The chant sounds rather serious, even somber, but again points to the fact that peace does not mean tranquility, it is often a steady walk in the face of adversity."
 

Al Pittman Suite
Words: Al Pittman   Music: Kathleen Allan (NL)
i. Searston Beach
ii. Angels
iii. Dance of the Mayflies

Kathleen Allan is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto and the Artistic Director of Canzona, Winnipeg’s professional Baroque choir.  Originally from St. John’s, NL, Ms. Allan is in high demand as a conductor, composer and clinician and is equally comfortable working in early, contemporary, and symphonic repertoire. Recent guest conducting engagements include the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Early Music Vancouver. In 2015, Ms. Allan made her Asian debut conducting Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Japan, and in 2016, she was the recipient of the Sir Ernest MacMillan Prize in Choral Conducting. She is a founding co-Artistic Director of Arkora, an electric vocal chamber consort dedicated to blurring lines between the music of our time and masterworks from the ancient repertoire.
 
Her compositions have been commissioned, performed and recorded by ensembles throughout the Americas and Europe and have been featured at two World Symposiums on Choral Music. Her collaboration with Labrador youth choir Ullugiagâtsuk was featured at the National Arts Centre celebrations for Canada 150 on July 1, 2017. Her music is published by Boosey and Hawkes, Cypress Choral Music, and is a MusicSpoke composer. Also an accomplished soprano, she has appeared as a soloist with the National Broadcast Orchestra, Berkshire Choral Festival, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. In addition to freelancing regularly in Canada and the US, she has performed with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor (Vienna), Skylark Vocal Ensemble (Atlanta), and the Yale Schola Cantorum. She holds a degree in composition from the University of British Columbia and a master’s degree in conducting from Yale University. https://www.kathleenallan.com