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Eric Whitacre

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Eric Whitacre (born 1970) is an American composer of choral and wind band music, and electronica. He has also served as a guest conductor for ensembles throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and The Americas.

Contents

[edit] Musical Background

Whitacre began his musical training while an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It was here that he wrote his Ghost Train triptych for concert band. He would go on to study at the Juilliard School under John Corigliano and David Diamond, eventually earning his Master of Music degree.

[edit] Music

In the past decade, Whitacre has become one of the most recognized composers in America.

Whitacre has also written a multitude of choral works, some of which utilize texts by E. E. Cummings and Mexican poet Octavio Paz. His "Water Night", translated from the original poem of the same name, is very popular among high school and college vocal ensembles across the country. Also popular are his settings of texts by Cummings: "i thank you God for most this amazing day", "i will wade out", and "hope, faith, life, love."

Another of his works, "Sleep", was originally a setting of Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening". After extensive legal battles, he was forced to discontinue use of Frost's text, and turned to American poet and friend Charles Anthony Silvestri to craft a new text to fit the already existing music. Silvestri's text was inspired by watching his son fall asleep. When asked about the possibility of again using Frost's poem for the piece when it entered the public domain (in 2038), Whitacre stated that "[he] will NEVER use the Frost poem again with [the music for "Sleep"]"; additionally, Eric has gone on to say that he prefers the music with Silvestri's poem instead of Frost's.[citation needed]

Written in memory of a close friend's son, When David heard is a deeply personal work, so much so that Whitacre prefers not to talk about it.[citation needed]

The text for another of his works, Five Hebrew Love Songs, was composed at Whitacre's request by his Israeli wife, Hila Plitmann, a fellow Juilliard graduate, while on tour in Germany before they were married. The pitches of the "bongs" in movement four, "Snow", are the exact pitches of the bells that woke them each morning. The music of movement four is strongly related to that of another of his pieces, "Winter."

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Whitacre premiered his first work for stage, Paradise Lost, in 2004 at Cal State Northridge, one year after premiering the work's musical suite in Berlin, Germany in the summer of 2003. The show is not directly related to Milton's Paradise Lost. Eric calls Paradise Lost an "opera electronica"[citation needed]; the music is a mixture of many different styles of music including trance, classical, electronica, and traditional opera. In February of 2006, Whitacre, his wife, Hila Plittman, and several other cast members presented a concert performance of Paradise Lost at Northwestern University. Whitacre hosted a lecture afterwards, explaining his final visions for the staged production. He also noted that each of his choral compositions are quoted somewhere in the score for Paradise Lost.

[edit] 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 Eric Whitacre Wind Symphony Festival. In July 2005 Whitacre returned to the Opera House for the first International Eric Whitacre Choral Festival. Beijing's Forbidden City hosted the second International Choral Festival in June 2006 and in late June 2007, Venice and Florence, Italy will host the third International Choral Festival.

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Outside of his freelance work, Eric 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".[citation needed] BCM International's online discussion forum, which features participation by all four BCM members and others, dissects various topics related to music.

[edit] Works

[edit] Brass Ensemble

  • Lux Aurumque

[edit] Concert Band

  • Equus (SSA and Wind Band)
  • Ghost Train Triptych
    • The Ride
    • 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)

† Note: This piece was originally titled "Gawd$illa Eats Las Vegas!" from fear of legal action. However, Whitacre always hated the name "Gawd$illa ..." as it held no significance to him.[citation needed] It's listed as "Godzilla ..." on his official website.

[edit] Choral

* collected on the album Eric Whitacre: The Complete A Cappella Works, 1991-2001 (Arsis Audio 2003), performed by the BYU Singers conducted by Ronald Staheli.

** collected on the album Cloudburst and Other Choral Works (Hyperion Records 2006), performed by Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton.

+ collected on the album Winter (Clarion 2005), performed by The Choral Project

++ collected on the album Water and Light (Clarion 2003), performed by The Choral Project e

[edit] String Ensemble

  • Lux Aurumque
  • Water Night

[edit] Theatre

  • Paradise Lost: Opera Electronica

[edit] Other Arrangements

  • Rak HaHatchala (Only the Beginning), for soprano voice, solo violin, piano and wind ensemble

[edit] Albums

  • "The Complete A Cappella Works, 1991-2001" - recorded by the BYU Singers under Ron Staheli
  • "Cloudburst and other choral works" - released February 2006 by Polyphony under Stephen Layton

[edit] External links

sv:Eric Whitacre

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