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Welcome to SDG news central. Here is where you can keep up-to-date on the latest happenings around the world with SDG-related concerts, commissions, and events. If you attend an SDG-related event or hear an SDG-related concert, we'd love to hear from you! Click here to send us a message.
SDG Co-Commissions Major New Work by James MacMillan on the Resurrection
James MacMillan
(Photo: Philip Gatward)
In an exciting intercontinental collaboration, Soli Deo Gloria has partnered with the Hebrides Ensemble (Scotland’s premier new-music group), the Edinburgh International Festival, and Kings Place (London’s award-winning destination for the music and the arts) to commission a major new work by leading Scotland composer James MacMillan.
read moreFirst Woman Composer in SDG Psalms Project
Roxanna Panufnik
Soli Deo Gloria is delighted to announce the world premiere of Love Endureth by British composer Roxanna Panufnik.
Commissioned by SDG for the Psalms Project, this setting of Psalm 136 (135) uses two fragments of Spanish Sephardic chants and, halfway through the piece, substitutes the Hebrew equivalent for the English response "For forever His Mercy": Ki L'olam chasdo. The strong Jewish flavor carries over into the music, written for a cappella double choir.
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Gavin Bryars and Peter Bannister Choral Works to Premiere at Vale of Glamorgan Festival
Soli Deo Gloria is delighted to be a sponsor of the upcoming 2012 Vale of Glamorgan Festival in Wales, May 1-12, 2012. One of the hallmarks of the Festival is its commitment to celebrating the work of living composers. With 15 concerts spread over 11 venues, ranging from historic castles and churches to 21st-century, state-of-the-art concert halls, this year’s Festival, "Unveiling Musical Worlds," is the most ambitious to date.
read more"A Fervent St. John Passion Soars!"
Chicago Bach Project 2012 St. John Passion
Long after the last note faded, the last claps diminished, and the pews emptied, resonances of the glorious music made on April 4, 2012, continue. Soli Deo Gloria's second annual Chicago Bach Project presentation, Bach's dramatic St. John Passion, left an imprint on all who heard it. We've posted photos and audience comments so you can share in some of the impact of the evening.
read moreJohn Nelson to Lead Furman University Students and Soloists
Furman University Singers, Chorales,
and Symphony Orchestra
From April 9-15, 2012, Soli Deo Gloria’s Artistic Director, John Nelson, is in residency at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. During the course of the week, Nelson will meet with music students, conduct master classes, and rehearse with the orchestral and choral forces of the university in preparation for a concluding concert on Sunday afternoon, April 15, at 3:00 p.m.
This Spring Oratorio will feature Maestro Nelson leading the Furman Symphony Orchestra, Furman Singers, Furman Chorales, and three professional soloists in a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 2, “Lobgesang.” This 70-minute symphony-cantata features three orchestral movements followed by a choral-orchestral "Hymn of Praise" featuring tenor Stanford Olsen and sopranos Tamara Matthews and Lisa Barksdale. Nelson will open the program conducting the Furman Symphony Orchestra in Franz Liszt’s symphonic tone poem “Les Préludes.”
read moreBBC Music Magazine Hails "Missa Solemnis" DVD as "Magnificent"
Soli Deo Gloria's release of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis DVD has received high praise from the distinguished BBC Music Magazine. In the March 2012 issue, reviewer Michael Tanner declares it "the most impressive I have ever heard."
read moreChicago Bach Project
Johann Sebastian Bach
ST. JOHN PASSION, BWV 245
APRIL 4, 2012
8:00 p.m.
Soli Deo Gloria is pleased to continue the Chicago Bach Project Lenten tradition this year with a performance of Bach's dramatic St. John Passion. On Wednesday, April 4, 2012, Maestro John Nelson returns to St. Vincent de Paul Church in Chicago to conduct a distinguished roster of soloists and the Chicago Bach Choir & Orchestra in this second annual Chicago Bach Project concert.
Daniel Kellogg Premiere with South Dakota Symphony
Daniel Kellogg
On February 25 and 26, 2012, the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Delta David Gier, will present the world premiere of Daniel Kellogg’s From Everlasting to Everlasting. Commissioned by Soli Deo Gloria, this new 17-minute work is a Psalm cycle for orchestra and mezzo-soprano and is the fifth SDG commission from Dr. Kellogg.
read moreWyner Choral Work Is Next Premiere in SDG’s Psalms Project
West Window,
American Cathedral in Paris
Soli Deo Gloria is pleased to announce the world premiere of the next SDG commission in the Psalms Project, The Lord is close to the heartbroken, by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Yehudi Wyner.
Written for mixed chorus, the work is based on Psalms 34 and 68, using what the composer calls “a slight mélange” of several scripture translations. He has carefully selected his text with a keen ear for language that is singable and with a desire to call attention to what he describes as “the remarkable purity and hopefulness of the text itself.”
read moreIn Honor of Henryk Górecki
On the one-year anniversary of Henryk Górecki’s death, November 12, 2010, Soli Deo Gloria has posted a tribute page featuring clips and historical photos from the North American premiere of his beautiful, haunting Miserere, which SDG was privileged to sponsor in Chicago in 1994.
Keep Up to Date
Upcoming Events
Einojuhani Rautavaara
July 5, 2012: UK Premiere of Missa a cappella by Einojuhani Rautavaara, performed by the BBC Singers, David Hill, conductor, at Cheltenham College Chapel. This UK premiere is sponsored in part by SDG.
James MacMillan
August 22, 2012: World premiere of James MacMillan’s Since it was the day of preparation... at the Edinburgh International Festival, Scotland. Co-commissioned by SDG, with the Hebrides Ensemble, the Edinburgh Festival and Kings Place.
Filming of St. Matthew Passion
at St. Denis Basilica
Fall 2012: Planned release of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion DVD, filmed live at the St. Denis Festival, John Nelson, conductor, with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, the Maîtrise de Paris and the Scola Cantorum of Oxford, Werner Güra, Stephen Morscheck, Lucy Crowe, Christine Rice, Nicolas Phan and Matthew Brook.
November 10, 2012: World premiere of Latvian composer Ēriks Eŝenvalds’ setting of Psalm 67 (part of SDG’s Psalms Project) at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Netherlands, performed by Polyphony, Stephen Layton, conductor.
Recent Events
Roxanna Panufnik
May 13, 2012: World premiere of Love Endureth by Roxanna Panufnik, Westminster Cathedral, London
Gavin Bryars
Peter Bannister
May 10, 2012: Vale of Glamorgan Festival, Wales: Premiere of two SDG commissions, Psalm 141 by Gavin Bryars and Spiritus divinae lucis gloriae by Peter Bannister, SDG's Composer-in-Association.
Chicago Bach Project 2012
April 4, 2012: Second annual Chicago Bach Project, April 4, 2012, with John Nelson conducting the Chicago Bach Choir and Orchestra in the St. John Passion at St. Vincent de Paul Church, Chicago.
South Dakota Symphony Orchestra
with Margaret Lattimore
(Photo: Courtesy of the South Dakota Symphony)
February 25-26, 2012: World premiere of From Everlasting to Everlasting by Daniel Kellogg. Performed by the South Dakota Symphony, Delta David Gier, conductor, with mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore.
