Celebris Concert May 2024 Program

Our Celebris Ensemble spring concert is tomorrow, May 19, at First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo (4pm). We have some wonderful music for you, including beautiful pieces by our winners for the 2023 Composition Competition. This year, we will be joined by the Plainwell High School Honors Choir under the direction of Abby Ernst. The theme is Earth & Sky. The music is inspired by God’s glorious creation. Here is the program:

I

Living in the Seasons (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

This upbeat song uses the image of seasons to remind us to live each time of life to the fullest.

Can We Reflect the Stars (Jane Kozhevnikova)

This song pairs the image of light with the power of love. Do we reflect the love of those around us?

Cradle Song (Levent Altuntas, Winner of the 2023 Celebris Composition Competition)

This haunting lullaby reflects on the darkness of the night and the joy of morning.

II

No Little People in This World (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Inspired by a philosopher and apologist, this text plays on the word “little” to remind us that there are no insignificant people in this world. Everything we do to others has value, and everyone we show love to has value. The accompaniment and harmonies are joyful and uplifting.

I dug up a rose (Lisa Neher & Caitlin Vincent)

Using the story of a rose, this song offers the moral, “To remind me/To know my worth/And to know it most of all/When sideways in a broken pot.”

III (Plainwell High School Honors Choir (Abby Ernst, Director)

Homeward Bound (arr. Jay Althouse)

Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho (arr. Robert G. Olson)

The Road Home (Stephen Paulus)

IV

Sehnsucht (Johannes Brahms)

Based on the German word for yearning, this song uses a flowing piano accompaniment to paint the image of water and the agony of longing for something that may or may not come.

Nächtens (Johannes Brahms)

This song makes us feel the darkness of the night and the seeming futility of the cold. It ends on a picardy third, which helps add a little light at the end.

Sure on This Shining Night (Morten Lauridsen)

Masterfully set by Lauridsen, this text tells of a woundrous night watching the stars. The warm accompaniment and lush chords give one a feeling of beauty and awe.

V

Tell Me Somethin’ Good (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Inspired by the popular songs of the 60s and 70s, this simple, heartfelt song tells us to show love to others. “Tell me somethin’ good/Show me somethin’ beautiful/Play no selfish games with me/And I will do the same for you.”

Click on the following for the texts.

Soprano: Amelia Marciniak, Tricia Tetzlaff

Alto: Bella Proulx, Arianna Lutes

Tenor: Chase Ehlert, Howard Tejchma

Bass: Joel Snyder (director), Matt Lang

Piano: Kara Damon

This concert is partially sponsored by the Michigan Arts & Culture Council.

Celebris May 2023 Concert Program

For every concert, we like to publish the program order. We do this so that folks can see the exciting music they get to listen to! Our concert on May 6, 2023 (4pm) will be held at First Congregational Church in Kalamazoo. This marks our first ever Community Sing. We invited people from all over Michiana to join us in a few rehearsals of Fauré’s Requiem. We even have a few singers coming from Indiana! We will also have an orchestra join us for a few of the pieces as well as the Requiem. This concert was funded in part by the Michigan Arts and Culture Council.

Celebris will also be performing some other pieces, including the winner of our annual Composition Competition, Emily Drum. Without further ado, here’s the program!

I

A Prayer in Spring (Emily Drum, Winner of Celebris’ 2023 Composition Competition)

After While Light Will Come (Jake Huntley, Runner-up of Celebris’ 2022 Composition Competition)

II

Light the Darkness (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Kingdom Come (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Non Nobis (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Hold Fast (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

III

Requiem Aeternam (Jane Kozhevnikova)

Let Them Be Found (Jane Kozhevnikova)

Requiem (Gabriel Fauré)

Celebris January 2023 Concert Program

We’re excited to present to you this program of new music! Our ensemble has been hard at work on this repertoire, and we think you will enjoy it. This weekend (Jan 27 & 28), you have TWO opportunities to come hear us. The first concert will be at Bethany Reformed Church in Kalamazoo (7:30 pm) on Friday. The second concert will be at The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Allegan (6 pm) on Saturday. This concert will feature the Plainwell High School Choirs, who will also be participating in a masterclass with us earlier in the afternoon! Members of the community will also be able to join us for the last two numbers.

I

Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany

You That Wont to My Pipes Sound (Thomas Morley)

Salvation Has Come to Us (Jane Kozhevnikova)

Christmastime (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

II

(This will be either the following collection on Friday or Plainwell Chorale’s performance on Saturday.)

The Lights and Shadows of Your Eyes: 

A Collection of Poems by James Weldon Johnson (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

1–The Glory of the Day Was in Her Face

2–Voluptas (I)

3–The Awakening

4–Sonnet from the Spanish of Plácido

5–Beauty That Is Never Old

III

New Years

Esto Les Digo (Kinley Lange)

By and By (Brian Field—Runner Up, Celebris Composition Competition 2022)

Light the Darkness (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Hold Fast (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

IV

Valentine’s Day

You Are Loved (Joel Snyder & Rebekah Marvin)

Beloved, Let Us Love (Jane Kozhevnikova)

Why Do We Need Timeless Wisdom?

In Marvel’s 2012 blockbuster The Avengers, there’s a scene where Captain America talks to SHIELD’s Agent Coulson. They’re just chit-chatting when the conversation starts getting serious. Captain America asks about the suit they made for him.

“Aren’t the stars and stripes a little old-fashioned?” he asks.

Agent Coulson ponders for a moment, and then responds, “With everything that’s happening, and the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old-fashioned.”

It was this conversation that was rattling around inside my mind as we prepared for my Celebris Ensemble’s 2nd Annual Composition Competition. For each competition season, we like to have a theme for the song entries. These are general themes, and they have to be broad enough for a broad range of composers to apply, but narrow enough that it will actually fit. It’s pretty tricky. Last year, we chose Hope and Resilience. This year, the theme is Timeless Wisdom.

What is Timeless Wisdom, anyway?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments.” Timeless Wisdom, then, is the collected wisdom of the ages. Truths that transcend particular times and places. Truths we sometimes take for granted, but shouldn’t. Truths that can lead us as we live through the messy ups and downs of our lives.

What’s so important about Timeless Wisdom, and why do we need it right now?

I work at a hospital in the Kalamazoo area. Much of my job deals with helping suicidal patients. Over the past few years, we have had a massive influx of these sorts of patients. These poor folks are unmoored from hope and tossed about on the roiling seas of uncertainty.

It is precisely during these times that we need a little old-fashioned. We need perennial wisdom. We need truths that stand the test of time, truths that we can rely on.

What do songs about these kinds of timeless truths look like? It could be a song about being honest with yourself and others. It could be a song about loving others even when it hurts. It could be a song about knowing the right word or the kind word and when to say it. It could be a song about holding on and keeping on through hard times. It could be a song extolling the virtues of forgiving others or that it is more blessed to give than to receive. These are songs about universal truths that can guide us through the twists and turns of our lives. They can provide us comfort, especially during these times of economic stagnation and inflation as well as the political instability both here and abroad.

We’re excited to see the pieces that composer will send in. Last year, we were given so many great songs. With the talent out there, we’re confident that the submissions will be just as good. So please, send it in. This is a message that is desperately needed right now.

Celebris Concert Program May 2022

It’s so good to post another one of these. We are doing a wonderful concert featuring a lot of new works and some old favorites as well! Join us this Saturday at Bethany Reformed Church in Kalamazoo (7 pm). We’ll even have some community members join us for a few of the songs. It’s gonna be awesome!

Seasons of Life & Love

Sing We and Chaunt It (Robert Lucas Pearsall)
April Is in My Mistress’ Face (Thomas Morley)
And So It Goes (arr. Bob Chilcott)
Dirait-on (Morten Lauridsen)

Seasons of Work

Golow an Tewlder (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)
Reap with Joy (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)
Let My Country Awake (Jessie Leov—Runner Up, Celebris Composition Competition 2021)

Seasons of Heartache & Healing

The Voice of God (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)
You Are Loved (Joel Snyder & Rebekah Marvin)
Beloved, Let Us Love (Jane Kozhevnikova)

Seasons of Hope

The Gift to Sing (Jane Kozhevnikova)
In the Morning (Amy Gordon—Winner, Celebris Composition Competition 2021)
The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Life Update January 2022

Celebris Ensemble at our Jan 29 Choral Residency

Today is the first free day that I’ve had in quite a while, so I thought I’d do a quick life update for you all. The Lord has been good, and I’ve kept busy with various and sundry projects and challenges. All of these reflect my passion for creation. I’ve been thankful that creativity for me requires a lot of alone time. The pandemic has definitely made things difficult in getting together. So, without further ado, here is my life update!

The Giftless Chronicles

I hate having projects hang over my head for long periods of time. They are swords of Damocles, reminders of the promises and responsibilities that I have made. With that said, writing my young adult urban fantasy series has been an enjoyable sword of Damocles. I started writing in the fall of 2014, and I have now finished the first draft of my last book. All told, I will have completed about 223k words broken up over 3 novels, 2 novellas, and 1 short story. I hope to start publishing my last few stories in April and finish by the end of May!

Historical Novel

I got to the point with my urban fantasy series where I wanted to write something completely different. Enter my adult historical novel. It’s a 64k word action-spy-thriller with a dollop of romance. It takes place in England in 1815 just after the War of 1812. The characters were a blast to write. Since no one is waiting on this book to see what happens, I’m using this book to search for an agent. If I can’t find one in a reasonable amount of time, I’ll self-publish!

Well, that about concludes my writing stuff. Next up is my music. We’ll start with my Musical as that is both writing and music.

Ruth: The Musical

At the beginning of the pandemic, I approached Jane Kozhevnikova about writing a musical on the book of Ruth from the Bible. Strangely, she said yes, and the rest is history. I cranked out some song melodies and lyrics and then sent them to her. She worked her compositional magic on them, and they became some beautiful, moving songs. I wrote a script as well!

The cool thing is that we received a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo in order to make a demo recording of the songs. We could pay artists to make our music! We recorded a couple weeks ago. Now we need to listen through all of the takes and decide which ones we want to get cleaned up. Then it’s on to a search for a production company.

Celebris Ensemble

Celebris took a hiatus for the fall of this year, but we returned with our first ever choral residency. A residency is basically a masterclass. We hosted it this last weekend (Jan. 29) with the West Michigan Homeschool Fine Arts. The students were very attentive, and it was heartwarming to see them grow as singers. This was a very rewarding experience, and definitely something we will be looking into over the next few years. As a teacher, I have always been passionate about training budding musicians.

The next project with this ensemble is our concert in May. For this concert, we will also be doing another brand-new thing: we announced our first-ever composer competition this last fall. Our composer-in-residence, Jane Kozhevnikova, had been pushing for this for about year before I gave the thumbs up. I’m very glad that I did. I love the collaborative process between composer and performer, and giving nascent composers some opportunities is a wonderful way to do this. Many composers sent in pieces, and it was cool to see their passion for the choral art. We will announce the winner on Feb. 12, and perform the song on the May concert.

That’s pretty much it for now. I’m keeping busy and pushing forward. I have many more things going on, but I wanted to keep this short! Thanks for partnering with me on this journey called life. I couldn’t do this without your support.

I Wrote a Musical & You Can Be Part of It!

A few days ago, I announced that I had big news. Here it is: I wrote a musical, and I recently received a grant from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo to make a demo recording of the songs! That’s right, you can get paid to sing some really fun new music!!!! We’ll be recording in November/December. I’m providing a link right here for you to fill out a Google Form.

First, I feel like some explanation is in order.

History of the Musical

I good summary of Jane’s and my working relationship: me philosophizing and she humoring.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I spoke with Jane Kozhevnikova. She is the composer-in-residence of my Celebris Ensemble, and she and I have always worked well together. We collaborated on a performance of her art songs that won 2nd place in the American Prize. She and I tend to not be afraid of trying new things/projects. So, when I approached her about writing a musical, she of course said, “Yes.”

We began to write the music, and it seemed to flow pretty well. I would write the melodies and the lyrics, and then she would add her harmonic and pianistic skills to it. Then, we would come back together and discuss the music. Sometimes, she wouldn’t like something that I wrote (or vice versa), and we’d debate what would would work better. This made for a strong end product!

What It’s About

I have always been intrigued by the book of Ruth from the Old Testament. It is a part of my faith tradition, and I have read it many times. The German poet Goethe is said to have called it “the loveliest, complete work on a small scale.” There is profound loss, love, and faithfulness depicted in it. The book is especially compelling when one thinks of the chaotic time period in which Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz lived.

Anyway, there are some beautiful, highly artistic sections in the text that lend themselves to musical settings. I used those, other quotations from the Bible, as well as my own lyrics to complete it. The work flew by, and before I knew it Jane and I had written thirteen songs! (I actually just got some more ideas for a few more songs, so we’ll see. I’ve also written a script.)

What You Can Do

We need singers, and because of the Arts Council, we can pay you! We need all voice parts to audition! Auditions will be held from today, July 14th, until August 6th. Please do the following in the Google Form:

• Name
• Email Address
• Artistic Resume or list of your musical background and experience.
• YouTube link to at least 1 recording of you singing (max 2 songs) something that demonstrates your vocal range and musicality.

That’s it. That’s all we need. We’ll take a look at who auditions and then have callbacks with our own music.

The Klingon-ization of Classical Music

When I was young, my family would watch Star Trek: the Next Generation together. Each week, we’d thrill as Capt. Picard and his intrepid crew solved ethical dilemmas and stopped nefarious aliens from doing their evil deeds. One famous race of aliens was the proud and warlike Klingons. They were basically a mix of samurai and Vikings, and they spoke in a famously guttural language.

I eventually found out that Klingon was an actual language. A linguist named Marc Okrand initially developed a dictionary of Klingon words, and then he developed rules for the language. The language has gained a number of hobbyists who are fluent. You can learn it on Duolingo. There have been performances of a Klingon version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and even an original Klingon opera, ‘u’.

All of which brings me to the topic for today: modern Western classical music. Increasingly, classical music has faced marginalization and declining interest. But what does Klingon have to do with classical music, and in what way has classical music become Klingon-ized? Grab your prune juice, gather ’round, and prepare yourself for a dish best served cold.

The current state of classical music goes back to the early 20th century. I could go back even further to some of its antecedents in the 19th century and the attitude that composers were these geniuses who were descending from the mountaintops of inspiration to share their brilliance with us. But that’s a longer story. For our purposes, we’ll start with an Austrian composer named Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951).

Mr. Schoenberg was that sometimes curious and dangerous mix of a brilliant composer who was also a good writer. He was quite capable of promoting his own opinions and compositions, and he could flay you with his pen if he so chose. Around a hundred years ago, he concluded that Wagner had taken the major/minor system (tonality) as far as it could go, and so he created a completely new one, twelve-tone serialism (sometimes called “atonality”).

Some would claim that this was the future of music. It wasn’t. One hundred years later, most people don’t even know about twelve-tone technique, and most music is still composed in tonality. Tonality has proven remarkably resilient.

The reason for this is relatively straightforward. Tonality is a language, one that most people can understand even if they don’t know much about music. They’ve grown up with it playing on their radios, movies, and televisions. Over the centuries, it’s picked up new sounds and techniques. New instruments were constantly being explored. The piano, wind machines, and even the cannon (thanks, Tchaikovsky!) have been used in tonal compositions. Tonality is a highly versatile and eclectic language.

What Schoenberg did was to create a completely new musical language. To many people in his day, it sounded about as strange and alien as Klingon does to us. Most people couldn’t understand it. They definitely didn’t like it. But Schoenberg’s adherents ardently defended the new language and continued to write in it.

Schoenberg’s true legacy was to encourage modernist composers to continue to create new musical languages, each thinking of these new languages as the future of music. This line of thought has continued into our postmodern era. Lacking Schoenberg’s mind, these composers often do not make complete languages. They more or less experiment with techniques that will never really gain more than a handful of people who speak the new language. The result is a group of many composers and compositions that won’t be enjoyed or understood by many people in the the world.

It’s not that normal people are stupid. It’s that composers aren’t speaking their language.

(If you made it this far in this post, congratulations. Here’s a humorous bluegrass song about atonal music.)

Celebris Concert Program for May 15, 2021

Well, it seems like a long time since I’ve posted a program for Celebris on here. We are very thankful that we are able to perform a real, live, actual concert for you. Consider this an invitation to join us at Arcadia Creek Festival Place here in Kalamazoo on May 15. As part of our celebration, we will also be joined by the Choral Artists of Michigan, a choral group based in Detroit. We’ll be singing on their concert this Friday, May 14, and then they will join us for our concert on Saturday, May 15. There’ll be premieres by Molly Ijames and Jane Kozhevnikova and even yours truly!

Our Tickets are Free, but donations would be greatly appreciated. We also ask that you reserve tickets so that we know who is attending!

Get Tickets

Also, check out our brand new website, www.celebris.org!

Here’s what we will be singing on Saturday. We’d love to see you there!

I

Darkness

Abendlich Schon Rauscht Der Wald (Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel)

Pity Me Not (Jane Kozhevnikova)

Sure on This Shining Night (Morten Lauridsen)

Stand by Me (Mac Huff)

Dawn

Beloved, Let Us Love (Jane Kozhevnikova)

II

Choral Artists of Michigan

Great Day (arr. by Brazeal Dennard)

A Time for Turning (by Molly Ijames)

All My Trials (arr. by Stacey Gibbs)

III

Death

Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd)

Earth Song (Frank Ticheli)

Precious Lord, Take My Hand (Roy Ringwald)

Life

Hark, I Hear the Harp’s Eternal (Alice Parker)

Alleluia (Elaine Hagenberg)

Benediction (Combined with CAM)

The Lord Bless You and Keep You (Joel Snyder & Jane Kozhevnikova)

Jane Austen and the Emptiness of Modern Art

I have a confession to make. I’ve been listening to Persuasion by Jane Austen on audiobook. You may ask why I would do such a thing. The short answer is that I am writing a novel set in that time. It’s already at 43,000 words, and I plan to have it out this year. Reading a work by an author (what the historians call a primary source) living during that time provides insights into the culture, tech, and political issues that you don’t get by reading historians (secondary sources).

The long answer is more complex. First, I’ve always been fascinated by that time period. It was a time of great upheaval. War was a fact of life. The industrial revolution was proceeding apace. Those times in history intrigue me. Second, I like Jane Austen as a novelist. Her characterization is subtle, nuanced, and, in a word, human. No person is a Mary Sue or Gary Stu. They all have foibles, make mistakes, and even do wrong things. There is much to be learned from that. Also, she has such a distinctive authorial voice. She’s feisty, judgmental, clever, sarcastic, and many other wonderful adjectives. Her prose flows seamlessly.

Anyway, at a certain point in Persuasion, two of her characters discuss the poet Lord Byron. This immediately caught my attention. I was curious: how would an incisive literary mind like Austen perceive Byron? I find Byron’s poetry to be an empty product of its time, convoluted and ponderous. Would she agree with me? Austen’s heroine, Anne Elliot, merely says in her subtle way that she hoped the other character “did not always read only poetry” and that he should add more “prose in his daily study.”

As I reflected on Byron and Austen, a third writer from that time period jumped to my mind, William Wordsworth. In 1802, he wrote a sonnet. I will include the first six lines as they are the most pertinent to our discussion.

Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour:
England hath need of thee: she is a fen
Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen,
Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower,
Have forfeited their ancient English dower
Of inward happiness. We are selfish men;

In this poem, Wordsworth is a kind of Jeremiah, a man calling out the decadence of his time. These luminaries appear every so often to point out the emptiness of our society. He calls his own beloved country “a fen of stagnant waters.” Ouch.

I believe we are in a similar time of cultural stagnation, “altar” (church), “sword” (military), and “pen” (art/writing/governance). Our churches have ceased to say anything. Britain had been at war for almost 50 years; the West has been for at least 20 years. And our artists have failed to produce great art. This last sentence is controversial, and I apologize if it offends. But I believe it. Where are our great poets? Composers? Painters? Sculptors? Choreographers? Writers? Our televisions are a desert of reruns, reboots, and expanded universes that tell the same story over and over again because we’ve forgotten how to tell new stories.

Why is this? I have several thoughts. Take them as you will. First, like England in the first couple decades of the 19th century, “we are selfish men.” We are obsessed with ourselves. Everywhere, you hear the cry of “you do you” or “live your truth.” We aren’t pointed toward greater ideals, to be more or strive for more. Second, postmodernism has stripped the world of truth. There are no longer standards for great art, and the obvious result has been a marked decrease of it. Instead of studying better artists than ourselves from times past so that we can improve our own craft, we’ve attacked them. We tear down those artists because their depth exposes our own shallowness. Their commitment to universal truths shows the emptiness of our personal ones. Third, we no longer try to master our crafts. In times past, artists mastered techniques and forms, then they would show what they could do with them. Bach demonstrated absolute mastery over the fugue. Shakespeare over the sonnet. Yet, when was the last time you heard a modern composer or poet do the same? Our poets never rhyme, our composers blast sound with computer programs, and our painters smear color on canvas. I fear we shall never sail out of these doldrums .

I will close this jeremiad with hope. I think we can get out of this. Britain’s poetry found a rebirth through the Brownings. Her composers found a voice in Elgar and Vaughan Williams. Like Austen, perhaps we were born to such a time as this in order to keep the flame of great art burning.

It will take a recommitment to universals. It will take serious study of the past greats. It will take practice and failure and more practice.

But it can be done.