Young People's Chorus of NYC Expands Radio Radiance Program Across the Country

In participation with youth choruses, schools, and radio stations across the country, the Young People's Chorus of New York City and its Artistic Director/Founder Francisco J. Núñez are expanding their Radio Radiance^TM radio/internet project with performances and radio broadcasts by six U.S. youth choruses, who will perform new music compositions commissioned by the YPC for Radio Radiance^TM.

This grassroots effort is the second phase of YPC's Radio Radiance^TM, which was introduced last year to attract new listeners to this adventurous and innovative choral music.
In the first phase of Radio Radiance^TM, YPC collaborated with American Public Media and WNYC, New York Public Radio, to premiere four new works it commissioned from composers Eve Beglarian, Meredith Monk, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Rob Kapilow with Fred Newman nationally on APM's Performance Today program and in New York on WNYC, New York Public Radio.

The six participating choruses are Anima-Young Singers of Chicago, Children's Chorus of Washington, D.C., the Ithaca Children's Choir in Ithaca, New York; Miami Children's Chorus, Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart Chamber Choir in Bellevue, Washington; and Young Peoples' Chorus of Erie, Pennsylvania, a national affiliate of the Young People's Chorus of New York City.

The Radio Radiance^TM compositions are Eve Beglarian's Machaut in the Machine Age VI: Liement Me Deport, which takes the music of the 14th-century troubadour tradition and gives it a contemporary "techno" feel; Gabriela Lena Frank's Two Mountain Songs, which incorporates iconic poetry and breathing techniques of Andean pan pipes to create a vocally descriptive recreation of South American folklore; Crosstown M42 by Rob Kapilow and mouth sounds artist Fred Newman, which takes listeners on a virtual bus ride from New York's west to east sides, complete with squealing brakes, cooing pigeons, and steel drummers; and the fifth movement of Meredith Monk's song cycle Three Heavens and Hells, based on a poem by a then-11-year-old Tennessee Reed, in which singers use vocal sounds and textures to create images and ideas that illuminate the music and texts.

In May and June the six choruses will be giving local concerts in their cities and towns, and broadcasts on their radio stations as follows:

Two Mountain Songs by Gabriela Lena Frank
On Saturday, May 8 Anima, conducted by Emily Ellsworth, will sing "Picaflor Esmeralda" from Gabriela Lena Frank's Two Mountain Songs on the "Introductions" program of Chicago classical music station 98.7/WFMT. The program airs from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., and the performance will be streamed live on the WFMT Web site at www.wfmt.com Anima has already performed Two Mountain Songs in concert twice this season. More information is available from http://www.animasingers.org/

The Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart Chamber Choir of Bellevue, Washington, conduced by Alison Seaton, will sing "Picaflor Esmeralda" from Gabriela Lena Frank's Two Mountain Songs on Seattle public radio station KUOW, leading up to a local school performance. More information is available from http://www.forestridge.org/page.cfm?p=1570

Machaut in the Machine Age VI: Liement Me Deport - Eve Beglarian
The Young People's Chorus of Erie, conducted by Jason Bishop, will sing Machaut in the Machine Age in concert on June 12 at 7:30 p.m. at theYPC Erie Spring Concert at Cathedral Preparatory School Auditorium in Erie, followed by a local broadcast on 91.3/WQLN, public radio station in Erie, Pennsylvania. More information is available from http://www.ypcerie.org/

The Miami Children's Chorus conducted by Tim Sharp and the Children's Chorus of Washington, D.C., conducted by Joan Gregoryk, will also give local concerts and broadcasts of Machaut in the Machine Age over the next two months. More information about the Miami Children's Chorus is available from http://www.miamichildrenschorus.org/ and information about the Children's Chorus of Washington is available from http://cchorus.homestead.com/

Crosstown M42 by Rob Kapilow and Fred Newman
The Ithaca Children's Choir, conducted by Janet Galvan, will take on the performance of Crosstown M42, which entails not only singing but producing the urban sounds everyone is likely to hear on a bus ride on big city streets. Crosstown M42 closes with a paraphrase of the famous New York City alert heard on all city transportation: "If you see something SING something." More information is available from http://www.csma-ithaca.org/ICC.html

Podcasts, listener guides, and interviews with the Radio Radiance^TM composers are available from http://www.ypc.org/radioradiance/rrAudio.html