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. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife, soprano Hila Plitmann, and son.

Image:Http://www.arsisaudio.com/images/whitacre.jpg|Eric Whitacre hard at work

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. Whitacre also studied at the Juilliard School under John Corigliano and David Diamond, eventually receiving a Master's Degree.

[edit] Music

In the past decade, Whitacre has become a prominent classical composer, particularly for educational bands and choirs. He has 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 this most 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 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]

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 fourth movement is strongly related to that of another of his pieces, Winter.

Whitacre premiered his first work for stage, Paradise Lost, in 2004 at California State University, Northridge, one year after premiering the work's musical suite in Berlin, Germany in the summer of 2003. The show is only distantly 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. Paradise Lost will play in Pasadena in July and August 2007 with full cast, taiko drums, dj, anime, and flying riggs.

[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 annual Eric Whitacre Wind Symphony Festival. In late July of 2007, Venice and Florence, Italy will host the first Venice Whitacre Festival, which will include a fully-staged performance of Paradise Lost.

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
  • 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

  • A Boy and A Girl ** (poem by Octavio Paz)
  • Cloudburst * ** ++ (poem by Octavio Paz)
  • Five Hebrew Love Songs ++ (poem by Hila Plitmann)
  • Her Sacred Spirit Soars ** (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
  • Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine * (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
  • Little Birds ++ (poem by Octavio Paz)
  • little tree (poem by E. E. Cummings)
  • Lux Aurumque * ** (poem by Edward Esch; translated into Latin by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
  • She Weeps Over Rahoon ++ (poem by James Joyce)
  • Sleep * ** ++ (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
  • This Marriage ** (poem by Jalal al-Din Rumi)
  • Three Flower Songs
  • Three Songs of Faith (poems by E. E. Cummings)
    • i will wade out * **
    • hope, faith, life, love * **
    • i thank You God for most this amazing day * ** ++
  • When David Heard * ** (from II Samuel 18:33)
  • Water Night * ** ++ (poem by Octavio Paz; translated by Muriel Rukeyser)
  • Winter + (poem by Edward Esch)

* 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

[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] External links

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