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Steven James Schmidt
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Felix Mendelssohn
Local composer Jasper Randall has created a new a cappella arrangement of the Gustav Holst setting of Christina Rossetti’s Christmas carol text, and Sterling Ensemble Los Angeles is ecstatic to collaborate with Randall to bring his arrangement to life. The recording of this arrangement is now available to stream wherever you listen to music.
When they aren’t singing Randall’s warmly voiced harmonies on the carol text, the singers imitate the pure sound of handbells that has come to be associated with Christmas music. As the piece progresses, the key continues to raise, depicting the rising intensity of emotion for those witnessing the birth of Christ.
Echoes of Grace is a breathtaking new choral album featuring the works of Choral Director & Composer, Patti Drennan, as performed by the Sterling Ensemble Los Angeles under the direction of Conductor, Michelle Jensen.
Patti Drennan and Emily Drennan, who serves as Chorus Master for the project, envisioned an album that encapsulated both sacred and secular works as that is most indicative of Patti’s compositional style as well as indicative of the choral music genre. There is often an intertwining of text, themes and harmonies in choral music which are conducive to both the sacred and secular realm. The title, “Echoes of Grace” is exactly that. It suggests an exploration of an overarching theme of grace – both sacred and secular. It harkens back to grace given to us in songs like Lux Aeterna and Ave Maria, reminds us of grace we can give each other in Grace Before Sleep and If I Can Stop One Heart from Breaking and ultimately, shows us the grace we can extend to ourselves in Awake, My Soul. There is an echo of that grace not only in the text, but in the polyphony of voices, in the moving lines of the orchestra and in the musical motifs that are echoed from one song to the next.
For this album, the Sterling Ensemble Los Angeles was joined by the Onyx Lane Chamber Orchestra and featured soloists Helena Marie Falk (violin), Jennifer Slater (pennywhistle), and Andrew W. Parker (oboe). It was recorded at East West Studios in Los Angeles and Timberlake Studios and Pitman Recital Hall in Oklahoma. Produced by Kitt Wakeley and Jonathan Estabrooks, co-produced by Patti Drennan, Emily Drennan and Christina Giacona, mixed by Patrick Conlon and Christina Giacona and mastered by Kevin Lively with Assistant Engineers including Chaz Sexton, Chris Prather, Ashton Mayle, Zack Copeland and Nic Moore, the album is released by the Studio Sever Media, LLC in conjunction with Lexicon Classics and Symphonic.
Echoes of Grace is available now, everywhere you listen to music .
In early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic brought in-person music making to an abrupt halt. Churches and concert halls were suddenly left empty and silent.
Into the Light is a collaboration between Sterling Ensemble and composer Richard Burchard. The artists firmly believe music is not created to live in a vacuum. In the creation of this project, the decision was made to forego the sterility and safety of a recording studio and instead record the music where it was intended to live. This album was recorded in three arcs: Latin Liturgical, English Poetry, and Darkness into Light. Each arc was recorded in a different, distinct space: an urban cathedral, a university concert hall, and a residential church.
Into the Light is not only a compilation of Richard Burchard’s choral music, it is also a study of sound in space. In the urban cathedral, you will hear the vaulted ceilings and marble surfaces. You may also notice the occasional ambient noise of urban living. The clarity of the university concert hall illuminates the English poetry and highlights Burchard’s ability to evocatively set text. The residential church, lacking in grandeur and refinement, allows raw human emotion to be expressed, prompting one’s progression from difficulty and loss to hope and healing.
Founded in 2018, the Sterling Ensemble is a semi-professional choir based in Los Angeles. In addition to featuring existing works by Richard Burchard, Into the Light includes two new compositions: “Ave Verum Corpus” and “Where Are You?”.