Adolphus Hailstork's I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Cantata (Mvmnts 2 and 3)
Tenor: Jameon Moss
Conductor: Tyrone Clinton
choir and orchestra are students of Northwestern University
I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes (1997) Adolphus Hailstork
Adolphus Hailstork dedicated this cantata to the memory of Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989). Moore, known as the “Dean of Black Women Composers,” is celebrated for laying a foundation for other African-American composers of the 20th century. Similar to Moore, in this three movement cantata, Hailstork uses several African-American musical elements in each movement, while also illustrating grief, acceptance, and ultimately hope. Using the text of Psalm 13, the second movement of the cantata is based on the folk tradition of an African-American sorrow song, while the third movement, taking its text from Psalm 23, uses rhythms found in the jubilee and rain-shout folksong sub-genres. Also present in both movements, the theme from movement 1 (“I will lift up mine eyes”) serves a unifying element, taken from Psalm 121.
Hailstork composes in a variety of genres for chorus, orchestra, chamber ensembles, voice, organ and piano and his works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and a host of others. He is frequently commissioned, writing works for the Detroit Symphony, Michigan State University, Houston Choral Society, and his opera Joshua’s Boots for the Kansas City Lyric Opera.
Hailstork received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University as a student of Owen Reed. He received an M.M from Manhattan School of Music under Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, and a B.A from Howard University. Hailstork also studied at Fontainebleau with Nadia Boulanger. He is currently serving as Eminent Scholar and Professor of Music at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
4 мар 2017
