acadia
choral
society
Commissioned Works
COMMISSIONED WORKS
The Acadia Choral Society has commissioned and performed many works by Stephen Chatman, Professor of Composition at the University of British Columbia School of Music in Vancouver. In Summer 2008, ECS Publishing released a CD, The Music of Stephen Chatman, which includes eight live-performance recordings of the ACS from December 2006 and May 2007.
The chorus first performed a few of Chatman's carols in concert in December 2005. A generous memorial gift enabled the chorus to commission three more selections for its December 2006 concerts. All three were published in 2008 (Boston: Highgate Press, ECS Publishing):
A Cradle Song
Text: William Blake
SATB chorus
Shepherds, Rejoice!
Text: Isaac Watts
SSATB chorus, optional drum and optional organ
Voices in the Mist
Text: Alfred, Lord Tennyson
SSATB chorus
Most recently, the ACS commissioned Chatman's Songs of Nature for the May 2007 concerts. The commission was made possible by a generous gift from Barbara McNeil Jordan, in memory of Nina Cooke Cochran, longtime patron of the ACS and mother of choristers Jay Emlen and Cookie Horner.
On the Beach at Night Alone
Text: Walt Whitman
SATB chorus
Boston: Highgate Press, ECS Publishing, 2008.
Bitter for Sweet
Text: Christina Rossetti
SSA or SATB chorus
Boston: Highgate Press, ECS Publishing, 2008.
(Note: The SSA version was commissioned and premiered by the Mississauga Children’s Choir,)
The Voice of the Rain
Text: Walt Whitman
SATB chorus
Will There Really be a Morning
Text: Emily Dickinson
Soprano solo
The Grass so Little has to do
Text: Emily Dickinson
Tenor solo
Unseen Buds
Text: Walt Whitman
SAT soli, SATB (div.) chorus
Boston: Highgate Press, ECS Publishing, 2008.
Woodland Bells
SATB chorus
Boston Highgate Press, ECS Publishing, 2008.
Autumn Violets
Text: Christina Rossetti
SATBB chorus
Boston: Highgate Press, ECS Publishing, 2008.
