school of music

Nearly $100,000 was granted by the endowment to more than a dozen composers

A member of BYU’s Men's Chorus shares his experiences preparing for a dynamic performance This year’s BYU Spectacular! lived up to its name with energetic performances by campus ensembles and guest artists Ben Rector and Hilary Weeks — the product of hard work behind the scenes during an expedited rehearsal process. Brian Merrill — a member of BYU’s Men's Chorus — shared his experiences preparing for the event. “Something a lot of people don’t know about Spectacular! is how last-minute a lot of the preparations are,” Merrill said. “We started learning our songs a week before the performance and sang with Ben Rector a day or so before we performed together. It’s amazing that all of the coordination for Spectacular! can come together so fast.” Due to the collaborative efforts and diligence from each BYU performing group — Men’s Chorus, Young Ambassadors, Ballroom Dance Company, International Folk Dance Ensemble, Vocal Point, BYU Cougarettes and the Dunk Team — BYU Spectacular! showcased a refined performance that could have easily been rehearsed for months. “I love all of the collaboration between the performing groups,” said Merrill. “It’s really cool that we have this community of performers and we can come together at events like this. It makes it better than just one or the other performing.” This year’s Spectacular! performance was also an emotional time for BYU’s Men Chorus as conductor Rosalind Hall announced her final year as director of the choir. “I wasn’t going to do Men’s Chorus until I found out that it was going to be her last year, so I rearranged my whole class schedule,” Merrill said. “It was really special that we sang a Welsh folk song medley because she’s from Wales. The fact that we got to do something native to her is pretty meaningful for most of us.”

The School of Music will present BYU’s first ever movie in concert with “King Kong” (1933). The BYU Philharmonic — under the direction of Kory Katseanes — will perform Max Steiner’s landmark score as the film plays on the big screen in the de Jong Concert Hall Nov. 2. The concert also marks the first time the score has been performed live since its reconstruction from Steiner’s original sketches by film composer John Morgan. Music theory professor Brent Yorgason worked behind the scenes with BYU students, faculty and staff as well as industry professionals to transcribe and polish the reconstructed score, coordinate media elements and create click tracks to keep the live music in sync with the images on the screen. Yorgason discusses the importance of Steiner’s legacy — and BYU’s unique connection to it — in a Q&A on the School of Music website.

Hit-making Nashville-based singer-songwriter Ben Rector will be the featured talent for BYU Spectacular! 2019, along with prolific LDS-Christian crossover artist Hilary Weeks. The headliners will also be joined by Vocal Point, Men’s Chorus, Young Ambassadors, Ballroom Dance Company, Cougarettes, International Folk Dance Ensemble and the BYU Dunk Team as part of BYU Homecoming 2019. BYU Spectacular! offers two performances: Thursday, October 17, and Friday, October 18, 2019 at 7:30 pm. Tickets for the general public go on sale July 15th at BYUtickets.com, with advance ticket sales for BYU alumni and students and BYU ArtsPass holders the week prior. Read more at news.byu.edu

BYU student jazz group Synthesis traveled to the Caribbean to learn from native-Caribbean jazz legends and bless others through musical performances and service in the local communities The BYU jazz band Synthesis is known throughout the world for their performances that combine the best of swing, blues, jazz, Latin and fusion to create something truly spectacular. This summer, the group left Provo and headed to the Caribbean for the unique musical and service opportunities that awaited them in Florida, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. “This tour in the Caribbean helped me to see that people are people, and they love their culture and music,” said Beth Campbell, a vocalist in Synthesis. “It was amazing to see the kind of music and dancing that they enjoyed. I wish we experienced more of that in the United States!” In addition to sharing their musical talent with audience members, they were able to give service and interact with locals. During their time in the Dominican Republic, Synthesis members stopped at La Victoria National Penitentiary in Santo Domingo to render service. Six students from the group were chosen to perform various songs from their tour program to 300 inmates. After their performance, members of Synthesis passed out hygiene kits to the inmates who were touched by this gesture of goodwill and generosity. Read the full story at music.byu.edu.

BYU music student Christian Orme submitted an original composition to the 2019 Brock Competition for Student Composers and won second runner-up For BYU School of Music student Christian Orme, what began as a challenge from a friend to write an a cappella piece for BYU Singers has turned into an incredible opportunity to explore his identity as a musician and composer. After three days of composing in late April 2019, Orme finished “Hymn to the Night” at about 3:30 a.m. The composition was inspired by the text of the famous poem written by the nineteenth-century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. “The melody and subsequent harmonies that serve as the foundational underpinnings of the composition came rather quickly,” said Orme. “I wanted to evoke the beauty of Longellow's words which personify the godly, peaceful and restorative presence that the night brings. As with all the music I compose and arrange, I seek to draw others closer to the divine by merging the various components of composition that I find most compelling and soul-expanding.” After the initial draft of the composition was done, Orme turned to BYU professor Andrew Crane for guidance and feedback because of Crane’s expertise in composing for choral groups. Read the full story at music.byu.edu.

Forty years ago, a group of Brigham Young University student performers traveled to China and put on a show that made history. This summer, the University is celebrating that anniversary with a return tour that highlights the relationship BYU and China have shared since 1979. Following the aftermath of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, BYU’s initial tour made the Young Ambassadors and Living Legends among the first Western performing arts groups to enter the country. The tour was the idea of then-BYU President Dallin H. Oaks, who had met with President Spencer W. Kimball of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1978. President Kimball spoke highly of China’s high standards and family values and upon returning from the meeting, President Oaks asked BYU officials to begin making plans for a performing arts group to go to China, despite no established U.S.-Chinese diplomatic relations at that time. But the diplomatic relations did happen in early 1979 and the show fell into place. Newly-launched China Central Television asked to broadcast BYU’s live performance and, even after the group had left the country, the channel continued to rebroadcast the performance. In the past 39 years, BYU performing groups have returned to China 28 more times. Read the full story at news.byu.edu.

Sampson rehearsed and played with Canadian Brass in a recent BRAVO! masterclass Students in the School of Music recently met and performed with renowned quintet Canadian Brass. While the masterclass was one of many presented by guest artists through BYU’s BRAVO! Performing Arts Series, it proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity for music education major and tuba player Jared Sampson. As a performer himself, Sampson hopes to combat stigmas directed at tuba players. He was grateful for the example of Chuck Daellenbach’s musicality and showmanship on an instrument that is sometimes misunderstood and devalued in the music world.

Boyack will perform at the Department of Dance, School of Music and Department of Theatre and Media Arts Convocation at 3 p.m. on April 26

Madsen will perform at the Department of Art and Department of Design Convocation at 12 p.m. on April 26

Hales will perform at the School of Communications Convocation at 9 a.m. on April 26

The album features impactful pieces from Salonga’s career alongside some of her personal favorites

Each year, BYU’s Barlow Endowment for Music Composition hosts three competitions for composers around the world. One of their 2015 Latter-day Saint commission recipients, Lansing McLoskey, wrote the concert-length choral oratorio “Zealot Canticles,” which was performed by The Crossing and won a 2019 Grammy for Best Choral Performance. “My immediate reaction while sitting there at the Grammys was almost numbness,” said McLoskey. “I saw it with my eyes and heard the announcement with my ears, but my mind couldn't process that it was real. Then I was flooded with feelings of joy, pride, gratitude; I felt honored and humbled. I do not write music for awards or recognition, yet it's a humbling and rewarding experience when a work like this is recognized by my peers.” Ethan Wickman, the executive director of the Barlow Endowment, said the Grammy reflects well on the endowment and its mission, which is to encourage the creation of great music. “While there are many marvelous works that have been supported by Barlow over the years that won’t win awards in such a public venue, it is a reminder that without the Endowment’s support, this work—and so many others—probably wouldn’t have come to be,” said Wickman. “All of the new music that the endowment supports plays some small part in making the world a better, richer, more fulfilling place.” McLoskey was one of about 500 composers that judges reviewed during the selection process for the the Barlow Endowment. The judges then selected 13 composers and performers — one Barlow Prize winner and 12 LDS and General commision winners — to receive a commission. Wickman said, “Commissions are the lifeblood of new music; they provide the financial means for a composer to dedicate the time needed to create.” The endowment is one of only a handful of major commissioning competitions in the world, which means the aid it provides is vital to composers, performers and other music aficionados around the world. “I would argue that there is scarcely a corner of the globe with a community of composers of concert music who have not heard of the Barlow Endowment,” said Wickman. McLoskey echoed Wickman’s sentiment, stating that he applied because “the Barlow Endowment is one of the most important and significant organizations that funds commissions of new music by composers in the country — the world, really.” Wickman said that one of the things that sets the Barlow Endowment apart from similar competitions is that fact that a portion of the money is specifically dedicated to Latter-day Saint composers, something the endowment’s co-founder Milton Barlow was passionate about. “These LDS compositions are pieces of artistically valuable music that often do not enjoy the same mass-market, economic benefits as pieces of popular or commercial music,” said Wickman. “That’s why the work we do is so important to developing a high culture within music by LDS composers.” For McLoskey and other LDS composers, the LDS portion of the endowment opens doors that may otherwise remain closed. McLoskey says his great experiences with “Zealot Canticles” — including collaborating with the performers and their conductor, Donald Nally; releasing a CD with Innova Records; and, of course their Grammy for Best Choral Performance — all began with the Barlow Endowment making it possible for him to write the piece in the first place. McLoskey pointed out that historically there hasn’t been a lot of support for LDS art and music that wasn’t strictly conservative or traditional. “The importance of having an LDS (though technically not Church-owned) foundation that specifically promotes, advocates for and supports the creation of music by LDS composers, regardless of how 'traditional' it is and irrespective of whether it's ever heard within the walls of an LDS building or promoted by the Church, cannot be overstated, said McLoskey. “What an invaluable resource for composers — LDS and otherwise.”

School of Music Professor Michelle Kesler explores if one can find meaning independent of the outcome throughout the creative process.

Jason Bergman reflects on his experience playing trumpet on “John Williams at the Movies”

“Forever, women have been expected to be a certain way, look a certain way. I know for me … I was never the girly-girl. When I first started touring, I didn’t even wear makeup — I wore jeans. … And then I started being told I needed to look different because I was going to be on TV. … All of that starts getting put in your head and if you don’t have a strong enough sense of what you believe or who you are, you can easily get worried by it — I was for a certain amount of time.” That was just one of many topics Caillat addressed during the hourlong conversation at BYU's Harris Fine Arts Center. The singer touched on a variety of subjects ranging from working with Jason Mraz to overcoming stage fright to her surprising — and initially unwanted — rise to fame. As Caillat puts it, finding success was “accidental.” For starters, not many people can write a hit song in 20 minutes. But the words came out fast, and when her friend posted a demo recording of 'Bubbly' and a few other songs to MySpace — a platform Caillat had never even heard of — popularity came almost as fast. Caillat was offered a record deal, and those demos became her debut album in 2007. Read more at Deseret News’ website. Photo Credit: Alyssa Lyman.

The BYU Barlow Endowment for Music Composition has announced the winner of the Barlow Prize as well as grant recipients for the endowment’s General and LDS Commissioning Programs. Out of 356 submissions from 36 countries, Canadian citizen Tawnie Olson was awarded the $12,000 Barlow Prize to compose a major new work for an unaccompanied SATB Choir. The work will be premiered by the BYU Singers, Seraphic Fire and The Crossing in 2020. Taiwan native Shih-Wei Lo was granted the distinction on Honorable Mention. The judges also granted $80,000 to 13 composers from over 200 applicants to the General and LDS Commissioning Programs. Ethan Wickman, the executive director of the Barlow Endowment, expressed his gratitude for all the composers and ensembles that applied to the competition. “Because of limited resources and keen competition among hundreds of applicants, the Endowment regrets they were unable to fund all worthy projects,” said Wickman. The endowment encourages individuals and ensembles to continue to apply for commissions. Details for the 2019 Barlow competitions will be available on their website and Facebook page in the coming months.

Convocation for the College of Fine Arts and Communications will take place at 11 a.m. on August 17