New Ešenvalds album by Portland State Chamber Choir on Naxos

Translations, the new Ešenvalds album by Portland State Chamber Choir and Ethan Sperry has been released on the Naxos label and is available for purchase, download, and streaming now. The album is the sequel to The Doors of Heaven (Naxos 2017) and features seven works, including the world premiere recording of Translation (2016) on a text by Oregon’s poet laureate Paulann Petersen.

The album explores the idea of ‘translation’ or the transformations that occur within us when we encounter the power of nature, legends, or the divine. PSCC conductor Ethan Sperry: ‘Each piece of Ešenvalds’ music addresses our essential nature — from the frustrations at our limitations to our desire to touch the divine — and translates this into musical language that moves us to our very core, deepening our understanding of what it means to be human.’

Listen to previews and order, download, or stream Translations.

Watch a release video on YouTube here.
Tracklist:

1. O salutaris hostia
2. The Heavens’ Flock
3. Translation
4. My Thoughts / Мысли мои
5. Vineta
6. The Legend of the Walled-In Woman
7. In paradisum

Translations was recorded in 2019 at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Mount Angel, Oregon, with producer Erick Lichte, and engineers John Atkinson and Doug Tourtelot.

New all-Ešenvalds album released by Choir of the West

There Will Come Soft Rains is the new all-Ešenvalds album by Pacific Lutheran University’s Choir of the West and Richard Nance, released on Signum and is available for purchase or streaming now.

See a short clip on the collaboration and recording process on PLU’s website and listen to Spring Rain, Stars as well as the title track There Will Come Soft Rains.

The tracklist represents some of Eriks best-loved works:

There Will Come Soft Rains
New Moon
Long Road
Rivers of Light
Northern Lights
Only in Sleep
O, She Doth Teach The Torches To Burn Bright
A Soldier’s Mother’s Lullaby
Spring Rain
My Little Picture Frame
Evening
My Luve Is Like A Red, Red Rose
Stars
Amazing Grace

The Choir of the West is the premier choral ensemble of the Department of Music at Pacific Lutheran University, located in Tacoma, Washington. The choir was founded in 1926, and was the third Lutheran college choir to tour extensively throughout the United States. Choir of the West has toured to Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and China, and has been selected to appear at several regional and national conferences of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association. In November of 2015 the choir was a featured ensemble at the National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference, held in Portland, Oregon, performing with renowned conductor Simon Carrington. During the summer of 2011, Choir of the West competed among choirs from 47 nations at the prestigious Harmonie Festival in Lindenholzhausen, Germany, winning two gold certificates and one silver. In 2015 the choir competed in the Anton Bruckner Choir Competition, held in Linz, Austria.

Eriks Esenvalds BBC Proms premiere

Eriks Esenvalds has his debut Proms premiere today in front of a sell-out Royal Albert Hall. The concert features the Proms Youth Choir and Academy, conducted by Simon Halsey who will start the concert with “A Shadow”, a piece for a cappella choir. The concert continues with music by Britten and Beethoven.The picture shows Eriks and Simon Halsey in rehearsal with the Proms Youth Choir.

A Shadow will be available to purchase after the premiere, published by Musica Baltica.