Composers in the Mist: Choral Composition in the Pacific Northwest

Attend this session to discover the influence of the Pacific Northwest on its choral composers and how regional conductors and composers have used creative collaborations to engage audiences through thought-provoking experiences.

• Composer Robert Kyr discusses the Northwest’s influence on his compositions, particularly on his 2007 collaboration with Cappella Romana, A Time for Life, an environmental oratorio for three soloists, chorus, and strings.
• Seattle composer John Muehleisen and conductor Robert Bode (Choral Arts) discuss their close collaboration on Pietà, a 90-miinute oratorio commissioned by Choral Arts that explores the qualities of mercy and compassion.
• Conductor Morna Edmundson (Elektra) will discuss Elektra's Kindred Spirits project, "a journey through a real – and imagined – Canada through its seasons, its people and its stories," their collaboration with Canadian composer Stephen Smith on his composition Solitude, and its role in exploring the subject of depression in Kindred Spirits.

Attendees will receive a Resource Guide that includes links to the web sites of Pacific Northwest composers, and the closing Q&A allows attendees to interact with panelists.

Introduction: Shawn Crouch, composer; founder and director, Miami Choral Academy