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For Mixed Large Ensemble in Six Antiphonal Choirs and Organ
Duration: 4'
For the past five years, I have presented an annual summer chamber music recital with local high schoolers. At first, it was kind of a "what is chamber music experience", featuring primarily clarinet repertoire and many of my own compositions. People who came that first year wanted to participate, and it's grown every year since. Since we will be performing in a church this year and have such a delightfully large and varied group of performers, it seemed only natural to bring everyone together at the end for a magnificent Gabrieli-esque finale. Since the premiere is taking place on August 15, 2015, the Feast of the Assumption, the text is drawn from the Marian antiphon "Salve Regina".
I wrote the piece for a church with organ in a rear choir loft. I envision the choirs spaced out as follows: Brass in the choir loft with organ, clarinets in the front by the altar. Looking out from the choir loft, saxes on the near left and voices on the far left (closer to the clarinets); woodwinds on the near right and strings on the far right.
Obviously, getting a group together of this precise instrumentation is impractical. Please feel free to freely arrange it for whatever diverse forces you have at your disposal! It could be done with as few as two separate choirs, but the more the merrier!