Vocal Consort Recital

As our time at Princeton draws to an end, we are increasingly aware of our affection for the people and places surrounding us. It feels only right to present a senior recital which features some of our own original work, and celebrates the different forms of love that have shaped our journey throughout our years here.

We open the concert with Nature Boy, a standard written by Eden Ahbez and popularized by Nat King Cole. The lyrics focus on the enchanting power of nature and love: “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” Our two other vocal jazz arrangements, London by Night and How Do You Keep the Music Playing, describe the bewitching qualities of cityscapes and the romances within them.

Ambitious Love and Love is a Fit of Pleasure by William Byrd are joyful expressions of the reverence of the natural world and true love as gifts from the Divine. By contrast, Like As the Doleful Dove by Thomas Tallis, portrays the sadness which comes from love’s absence.

Yours, based on the text by Daniel Hoffman, is completely rooted in nature-inspired metaphors to show one’s love. With lines like “Possessed by the scent of linden blossoms” and “Without you, I’d be an unleafed tree,” this poem manages to express such strong, pure love despite being so short and simple.

O Viridissima Virga and Viriditas focus on the role of nature in the theology of Hildegard von Bingen. Hildegard was a German Benedictine abbess, composer, and visionary during the High Middle Ages, widely regarded as one of the best-known composers of sacred chant. Central to her theology are the concepts of the divine femininity of nature and Viriditas. Viriditas can be literally translated to many things—greenness, growth, vitality—but to Hildegard, it was the creative healing life force in all living things. Hildegard’s philosophy placed Mother Earth at the forefront of importance from which all life was derived. O Viridissima Virga begins with a salutation to the virgin Mary and praises nature’s beauty. Viriditas personifies and gives voice to its namesake with a poetic adaptation of Hildegard’s writings.

Pavel Chesnokov and Aleksandr Sheremetev lived contemporaneously in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nine Sili Nebesniya is an ultimate demonstration of reverence. It is usually heard at the solemn moment when the bread and wine prepared for communion are brought to the altar. Sovet Prevechnii (The Pre-Eternal Council) is a sacred choral work depicting the Annunciation. The text is from the point of view of the heavenly council that predestined Mary’s role and celebrates her virtues.

Let My Love Be Heard relates an all too familiar experience – one’s plea to the heavens to send love and redemption to their own lost loved ones, “and as grief once more mounts to heaven and sings let my love be heard,” and was popularized following a performance at a vigil honoring the victims of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris. We hope now, as it was then, it serve as a plea for peace and camaraderie.

Our upper voices celebrate the portrayal of water imagery as a symbol for rebirth in American folk songs. Both Bring Me Little Water, Sylvie, and Down in the River to Pray are two African American spirituals, arrangements of which have become ubiquitous in the world of American choral music. Their melodies and text have appeared in many different iterations over the years.

Finally, we would like to emphatically thank our directors, Gabriel and Jacqui, as well as the Music Department for making this recital possible. We would also like to thank Mike McCormick and the rest of the choral program at Princeton for the memories and constant support. To Braiden and Sophia, we could not be leaving the program in better hands – we wish you luck for your remaining time at Princeton and cannot wait to see what next year has in store for you. It is impossible to believe that this will be our last time sharing the stage at Princeton, but who knows, maybe we’ll be back before you know it!

With hopes that the music will always keep playing,

Emily Della Pietra ‘24, Tim Manley ‘24, Priya Naphade ‘24, Rupert Peacock ‘24, Molly Trueman ‘24

The Princeton University Vocal Consort is a music department certificate ensemble composed of 8-10 singers with an interest in one-to-part singing, of unaccompanied vocal music from any era or genre, to pursue their passion together in a supervised setting.

Gabriel Crouch is Director of Choral Activities and Professor of the Practice in Music at Princeton University. He began his musical career as an eight-year-old in the choir of Westminster Abbey, where his solo credits included a Royal Wedding, and performances which placed him on the solo stage with Jessye Norman and Sir Laurence Olivier. After completing a choral scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was offered a place in the renowned a cappella group The King’s Singers in 1996. In the next eight years, he made a dozen recordings on the BMG label (including a Grammy nomination), and gave more than 900 performances in almost every major concert venue in the world. Since moving to the USA in 2005, he has built an international profile as a conductor and director, with recent engagements in Indonesia, Hawaii and Australia as well as Europe and the continental United States. In 2008 he was appointed musical director of the British early music ensemble Gallicantus, with whom he has released six recordings under the Signum label to rapturous reviews, garnering multiple ‘Editor’s Choice’ awards in Gramophone Magazine, Choir and Organ Magazine and the Early Music Review, and, for the 2012 release ‘The Word Unspoken’, a place on BBC Radio’s CD Review list of the top nine classical releases of the year. His recording of Lagrime di San Pietro by Orlando di Lasso was shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in 2014, and his follow-up recording – Sibylla (featuring music by Orlandus Lassus and Dmitri Tymoczko) was named ’star recording’ by Choir and Organ magazine in the summer of 2018. His most recent release is Mass for the Endangered, a new composition by Sarah Kirkland Snider released on the Nonesuch/New Amsterdam labels, which has garnered high acclaim from The New York Times, Boston Globe, NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ and elsewhere.

Dr.Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, mezzo-soprano, is a singer, conductor, educator, and composer. She was a member of the world-renowned vocal quartet Anonymous 4 and recorded twelve award-winning CDs with the ensemble including American Angels which twice topped Billboard’s classical music charts, and The Cherry Tree, one of the top selling classical CDs of 2010. Anonymous 4′s performance of the Irish lament “Caoineadh” on Christopher Tin’s album Calling All Dawns, with Jacqueline as featured soloist, led to a Grammy for Best Classical Music Crossover Album. She is currently Artistic Director of ModernMedieval Voices, a women’s ensemble dedicated to creating programs that combine early music with new commissions. Dr. Horner- Kwiatek has a D.M.A. from The Juilliard School and is on the performance faculty at Princeton University where she teaches voice, directs the Early Music Princeton Singers and is Associate Director of the Certification Program in Consort Singing. She is also on the voice faculty at New York University. She is in demand as a clinician and gives masterclasses, ensemble technique workshops, and vocal pedagogy for composers seminars all over the USA. Her website is ModernMedieval.org.

Princeton University Vocal Consort

Emily Della Pietra is a senior in the chemistry department. Emily spends of much of her time singing as possible, and when she’s not singing with her friends in consort, you can find her singing with them anyways in the glee club, chamber choir, Tigerlilies, and Decem (or maybe just spontaneously in Molly’s room).

Priya Naphade is a senior in the computer science department. When she isn’t singing or coding, Priya enjoys frolicking outside and napping.

Rupert Peacock is a senior in the music department. Captain of the Men’s Rugby here at Princeton, he enjoys a wide range of extracurricular activities, but particularly enjoys singing as a way of relaxing.

Molly Trueman is a senior in the music department. When she’s not in consort, you can find her singing in Glee, Chamber Choir, Tigressions, and Decem. Outside of ensemble singing, she enjoys writing and producing her own music.

Tim Manley is a senior studying Computer Science with certificates in Music Performance and in Applied and Computational Mathematics. At Princeton he is a former Social Chair of the Glee Club, and a member of the Chamber Choir and the Vocal Consort. He is the current Music Director of the student run vocal consort Decem, and for two years was the music director of the Nassoons. Originally from the U.K., he was a chorister at the Choir of King’s College Cambridge, and then head chorister at Eton College.

Sophia Huellstrunk is a junior studying math with certificates in vocal consort singing and applied and computational mathematics. She loves to sing, and is involved in chamber choir, glee club, opera scenes, and a production of the Magic Flute in addition to consort. She’s particularly excited to sing this ‘love and nature’ repertoire in the chapel with her consort friends, and hopes you enjoy the program!

Braiden Aaronson hails from Fort Worth, Texas, bringing with him a propensity to say “y’all” and a strong appreciation for the fast food chain Whataburger. He is a junior studying public policy with minors in music and statistics & machine learning and a proud member of the Footnotes, low-voice a cappella group. You can find him around campus hanging out around Terrace F. Club or in a Woolworth practice room, often musing about cats or various books that he’s enjoyed reading.