Rachel Cox, conductor
BJ Cox, assistant conductor
Aubrey Richardson, accompanist
Silent Night (2002) – Mark Peterson
(Samantha France, soloist)
One Little Candle (1987) – Aubrey Snyder
(Mary Peterson, soloist)
Bright, Bright the Holly Berries (1982) – Alfred Burt
Personent hodie (4th century German) – Jerome Epstein
Rise Up, Shepherd and Follow (2015) – Mark Hahn
(Saige Richardson and Brinlee Tate, soloist)
For the Beauty of the Earth (2015) – John Rutter
Away in a Manger (2023, premier performance) – Tami Creamer
(Commissioned by the St. George Chamber Singers and Children’s Choir)
Mass for Double Choir a cappella (1922-28) – Frank Martin
Gloria
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will
We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God almighty Father.
Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
For You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.
Amen.
(tap Frank Martin’s photo for more info about the composer)
Salvatore mundi: Greater Love (2012) – Paul Mealor
(sung in Latin, English & Welsh)
Soli quartet: Rachel Cox, Mindi Barker, Chris Leonard, Roger Hale
Savior of the world, save us, who through thy cross and blood didst redeem us; help us, we
beseech thee, our God.
–liturgical
Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
–John 15:13
This is my commandment; that ye love one another, as I have loved you. (Welsh)
–John 15:12
(tap Paul Mealor’s photo for more information about the composer)
Magnificat (1918) – C.V. Stanford (1852-1924)
(sung in Latin, duration 12′)
Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum.
(My soul doth magnify the Lord.)
Et exultávit spíritus meus: in Deo salutári meo.
(And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.)
Quia respéxit humilitátem ancíllae suae:
(Because He hath regarded the humility of His slave:)
Ecce enim ex hoc beátam me dicent omnes generatiónes.
(For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed)
Quia fécit mihi mágna qui pótens est: et sánctum nómen eius.
(Because He that is mighty hath done great things to me; and holy is His name.)
Et misericórdia eius in progénies et progénies timéntibus eum.
(And His mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear Him.)
Fécit poténtiam in bráchio suo: dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui.
He hath shewed might in His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the conceit of their heart.
Depósuit poténtes de sede: et exaltávit húmiles.
(He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble.)
Esuriéntes implévit bonis: et dívites dimísit inánes.
(He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away.)
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum: recordátus misericórdiae suae.
(He hath received Israel His servant, being mindful of His mercy:)
Sicut locútus est ad patres nostros: Ábraham, et sémini eius in saecula.
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.
Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto,
Glory be the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculórum.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forever and ever,
Amen.
–Luke 1: 46-55
(tap C.V. Stanford’s photo for more information about the composer)
Program Notes
Frank Martin – Gloria
Written in 1922, the Mass for double choir was to remain Martin’s only unaccompanied choral work. In the intimacy of its musical language and the deep emotion inherent in every bar, it stands today as one of Martin’s finest creations and one of the greatest a cappella works written in the 20th century. It is a sincerely felt and intensely personal work which Martin secreted in a drawer for forty years, releasing it only after much persuasion. As he explained at the time of the Mass’s premiere in 1963: ‘I did not want it to be performed … I considered it … as being a matter between God and myself. I felt then that an expression of religious feelings should remain secret and removed from public opinion.’
Often referred to as “the angelic hymn,” the Gloria was first intoned by the angels from heaven for the birth of Christ on earth. Its opening bursts of praise overflow into a series of joyful cries addressed to the Father, and then goes on to implore the mercy of the Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In singing the Gloria, the church relives the experience of Saint Stephen who, “full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55). Gazing on Christ, the Church praises him: “You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, You alone are the Most High.”
The final lines of the Martin’s setting soar into the blinding mystery of the Trinity before ending with a peaceful, “Amen.”
Paul Mealor: Salvator mundi: Greater Love
Described in the New York Times as, “one of the most important composers to have emerged in Welsh choral music… A real and original talent,” Paul Mealor’s music has rapidly entered the repertoire of choirs and singers around the world. His music has been described as having “serene beauty, fastidious craftsmanship and architectural assuredness… Music of deep spiritual searching that always asks questions, offers answers and fills the listener with hope…”
Salvatore mundi features soloists performing the liturgical Latin text and the chorus singing from the Gospel of John. The harmony is complex because the quartet sings in G Minor while the chorus sings in G Major, and the texture becomes byzantine when florid, indecipherable rhythms are pitted against block chords. Flickering voices set the stage for the soprano solo: “love one another, as I have loved you” followed by a reprise of “Salvatore mundi” by the tenor over the choral “Amen.”
C.V. Stanford: Magnificat
C.V. Stanford was an outstanding teacher and virtual father to a whole generation of English composers, including Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Herbert Howells. Stanford and composer Hubert Parry had enjoyed a close friendship for years, but early in 1917 a serious rift occurred which Stanford bitterly regretted, and while their friendship had revived, scars remained. As a symbol of his affection and remorse, Stanford composed his Latin Magnificat for eight-part chorus in B flat, Op 164, which was completed in September
1918. Unfortunately, Parry died before the work was published the following year. As an indication of the composer’s regret, the piece bore the following Latin inscription, here translated into English: ‘This work, which death prevented me from giving Charles Hubert Hastings Parry in life, I dedicate to his name in grief. C.V.S.’
In his Magnificat, Stanford adopted traditional elements of sixteenth-century motet style, but also paid tribute to the florid intricacy and counterpoint of Bach whose works he knew intimately. One thinks particularly of Bach’s effusive eight-part Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied and Bach’s Magnificat whose vigorous opening and closing music seems to resonate in the corresponding pages of Stanford’s work.
Stanford’s remarkable setting is symphonic in scope as demonstrated in the substantial opening section in B Flat, and in the four contrasting sections that follow 1) in Eb (Quia fecit mihi magna), 2) in C minor (Fecit potentiam), 3) and in Db (Esurientes implevit bonis). In the fourth segment, 4) in Bb (Suscepit Israel), he restores the key of Bb in a splendid gathering of momentum from an initial pastoral mood to a buoyant, climactic alla breve (Sicut locutus est).
To reinforce this return to the tonic, Stanford recalls the opening using the text of the doxology (Gloria patri). The concluding Amen, furthermore, is one of the composer’s most thrilling in its sudden epigrammatic divergence to G flat directly before the spacious final cadence.
This is the work of a master, in the quality of its musical thinking as much in the tuneful freshness and vigor of its invention (this, we must recall, springing from a physically tired and ailing 66-year-old). Its craftsmanship is first-rate; and its invariably fluent, grateful voice-writing makes it a true delight to sing.
St. George Chamber Singers Bios
St. George Children’s Choir 2023-2024 Season Roster
Prima Voce
Annie Brailsford
Liam Carlo
Zoey Darger
Indy Fackrell
William France
Kora Gubler
Parker Johnson
Thomas Petersen
Brielle Raybould
Madison Raybould
Reed Robison
Isaac Stewart
Peter Stewart
Kezia Todd
Nathaniel Wilde
Cantare
Soprano
Kylie Baird
Lilah Baird
Maisie Baird
Sarah Brooks
Korban Chadburn
Kate Cox
Lily Cox
Olivia Esplin
Eve Jackson
Talea Jones
Allyn Lucia
Lydia Langford
Rebecca McGary
Ashlynn Moss
Jenna Nielson
Kassie Nielson
Taya Nielson
Mary Petersen
Olivia Raybould
Adelyn Reid
Kate Richardson
Saige Richardson
Olivia Schmitt
Brynlee Tate
Mia Weston
Maylee Wilson
Ezra Wilde
Alto
Josie Bigwood
Vera Bigwood
Clara Brailsford
Aaron Brown
Luke Bailey
Asa Fackrell
Maggie Fackrell
Ove Fackrell
Henry France
Samantha France
Abbie Kesterson
Claire Laudie
Amber Lefler
Baden Lind
Rachel Markham
Azure Murdock
Deklyn Murphy
Abe Van Oostendorp
Isaac Petersen
Tallis Pellegrino
Milly Rimmasch
Calvin Robison
Ezra Robison
Samuel Stewart
Tucker Swift
Malia Wilkinson
Ashlynn Wright
Paul Wiens, conductor, Wheaton College Professor Emeritus, conducted choirs at the college/university level for forty-four years. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Iowa where he studied with Don V. Moses. Wiens sang in the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Choir under the legendary Robert Shaw, and later taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Robert Fountain. During a 31-year tenure at Wheaton Conservatory of Music, his Concert Choir appeared in numerous ACDA conventions: National, Central Division, State of Illinois. The pinnacle of his choral career was conducting Bach’s B-minor Mass with the Wheaton College Concert Choir and the Metropolis Chamber Orchestra in 2012. As Artistic Director and Conductor of the West Suburban Choral Union from 1983-2006, Wiens conducted most of the large works from the choral/orchestral repertoire. In 2005, he published Expressive Conducting: the first multi-media resource for conducting.
Regina Roper, pianist, built her career in the Silicon Valley of Northern California before semi-retiring to Southwest Utah. Prior to moving to Ivins in 2015, she had spent the previous 36 years teaching, evaluating,
accompanying, performing, and presenting pedagogy workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance and Music Theory, with graduate studies under the tutelage of harpsichord virtuoso, the late Fernando Valenti. As a graduate assistant accompanist at San Jose State University in the 1970’s, she was engaged to play for the University Choir, the SJSU Choraliers, SJ Opera rehearsals, various studio vocal and instrumental lessons on campus, as well as the city of San Jose’s Children’s Musical Theater productions.
Rachel Cox holds a master’s degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from BYU with a minor in Choral Conducting and completed post-graduate opera studies at the AIMS Institute in Austria. Rachel is co-founder of both the St George Children’s Choir and the St George Chamber Singers. She has toured and performed throughout the U.S. and abroad, including performances in Canada, South Africa, and throughout Western Europe. Locally, she enjoys performing as a classical soloist, appearing in theater productions throughout Southern Utah and maintaining a private vocal studio.
BJ Cox is a dentist practicing in St. George. He has sung and soloed with fine chamber choirs including BYU Singers, Deseret Chamber Singers, Lexington Chamber Chorale, and the St George Chamber Singers. Versatile in many styles, BJ has competed in the International Barbershop Competition and with Kentucky Vocal Union. Favorite roles include Peter in Southwest Symphony’s production of Lamb of God, Baker in Into the Woods and Archibald in Secret Garden.
