quince Ensemble and Dal Niente Perform Courtney Bryan’s Requiem

Saturday, September 23

TIME: 1:00-1:30PM

VENUE: hyde park union church. 5600 South woodlawn ave.

Four of the Quince Ensemble band members posing outside with a grass and flowers around them and a yellow house in the background; followed by a black and white image of Courtney Bryan sitting in a pew holding sheet music; followed by the band member

Four of the Quince Ensemble band members posing outside with a grass and flowers around them and a yellow house in the background; followed by a black and white image of Courtney Bryan sitting in a pew holding sheet music; followed by the band members of Ensemble Dal Niente posing together.

ABOUT THIS PIECE

This piece is indebted to the tradition of requiem masses and other death rituals, but with emphasis on customs that embrace death as a life stage–a transformation, part of a cycle–rather than as a solemn end. The foreword to the score cites inspirations as plural as neoshamanist death rituals and the Tibetan Book of the Dead, but its influences are more philosophical than sonic.

Program notes

Requiem is inspired by death rituals of various cultures including the Anglican Church Order for the Burial of the Dead, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Neoshamanist dying rituals including the “Great Death Spiral,” and New Orleans jazz funeral celebrations of life.  The form is in five sections, with English text from the Bible and Greek and Latin text from traditional Catholic mass:

  1. “All go to the same place; all come from dust and to dust all return” - Ecclesiastes 3:20 (NIV)

  2. “Listen I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.” - I Corinthians 15:51-52 (NRSV)

  3. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.  He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole long life.” - Psalms 23 (NRSV)

“Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.  Dona eis requiem sempiternam”

“Kyrie eleison.  Christe eleison.  Kyrie eleison.”

  1. (no text)

  2. “See the home of God is among mortals.  [God] will dwell with them; they will be [God’s] peoples, and God will be with them; [God] will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death with be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” - Revelation 21:3-4 (NRSV altered)

    Courtney Bryan

Quince Ensemble

Quince Ensemble is a treble voice quartet dedicated to changing the paradigm for contemporary vocal chamber music. Described by Opera News as “the Anonymous 4 of new music,” Quince continually pushes the boundaries of vocal ensemble literature. By performing almost exclusively the music of living composers and actively commissioning works with a broad and curious aesthetic ear, the ensemble seeks to create a landscape of contemporary vocal music that is embodied, complex, and expressive, with a musical boldness and virtuosity that is often reserved for instrumental groups.

Formed in 2010, Quince regularly commissions new works for voices, providing wider exposure for the music of living composers. In 2019, they launched the Quince New Music Commissioning Fund, a fund to grow the repertoire for women and treble voices. Quince has been featured as part of many festivals and series and has released four studio albums. 

Courtney Bryan

Courtney Bryan, a native of New Orleans, is “a pianist and composer of panoramic interests” (New York Times). She is currently the composer-in-residence with Opera Philadelphia.

Bryan’s compositions have been performed by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (Creative Partner, 2020-2023), Jacksonville Symphony (Mary Carr Patton Composer-in-Residence, 2018-2020), New York Philharmonic, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, LA Phil, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Chicago Sinfonietta, and London Sinfonietta in a wide range of renowned venues, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Blue Note Jazz Club.

Recent accolades include the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (2018), Samuel Barber Rome Prize in Music Composition (2019-2020), United States Artists Fellowship (2020), and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship (2020-2021). She is the Albert and Linda Mintz Professor of Music at Newcomb College in the School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University.

The musicians:

Quince Ensemble:

Liz Pearse - soprano

Kayleigh Butcher - mezzo soprano

Amanda DeBoer Bartlett - soprano

Carrie Henneman Shaw - soprano

Ensemble Dal Niente Performers:

Katie Jimoh, clarinet

Charles Roberts, trumpet

Riley Leitch, trombone

Kevin Harrison, tuba

Kyle Flens, percussion

Michael Lewanski, conductor

Special thanks to John Bierbusse for support of this program.