Vocal Consort

As the sun sets on our time at Princeton, we were inspired to pursue the sun as the central theme of our final concert. With this program, we explore the sun’s versatility as a metaphor to represent the divine, hope, resilience, and unconditional love. Day and night also offer rich metaphors for protection and danger, or life and death. Sunrise and sunset represent welcoming a new beginning and bidding farewell. The program is a journey from sunrise to sunset.

We open the concert with MacMillan’s O Radiant Dawn from The Strathclyde Motets’. It is one of the “Great O” antiphons to be performed in the days leading up to Christmas, and it is our first introduction to light, dawn, and “Sun of Justice” as a metaphor for the divine. We follow with multiple settings of “lux aeterna,” or “eternal light,” from the text of the Communion antiphon for the Requiem Mass. First, we present the original chant, then respond with Portuguese Renaissance composer Manuel Cardoso’s lesser-known setting. Later in the program, we continue to explore eternal light with Abbie Betinis’ Aeterna Lux.

Ma Tänan Sind, a free-flowing Estonian folk hymn, is an arrangement from Estonian a capella group Heinavanker. The homophonic piece, comprised of repetitions of the same melody with slight variations, is a prayer of thanks for protection through the night.

On the 400th anniversary year of his death, we pay homage to English composer William Byrd with Vigilate, a warn to watch for danger during night.

Howells’ Requiem begins the second half of our concert in a more somber tone. Howells experienced the tragic death of his son Michael at the age of 9, and as a result, his requiem setting became closely connected to his son’s death. Material from it formed a basis for Howell’s Hymnus Paradisi, a work he wrote for Michael’s memorial. Howells’ Requiem alternates between complex settings of Latin text from the requiem mass and more simple, speech-like psalm settings. Through the darkness and heaviness of the music, Howells emphasizes eternal light, which offers a sense of solace.

We then recite Soul of Dhanashri, an arrangement of a South Indian classical Carnatic thillana and an Anirudh Ravichander film song in the Indian language of Tamil. It is sung in a particularelodic scale (raagam) titled Dhanashri, which is usually sung during the transition from afternoon to night.

Our journey comes to an end with Morten Lauridsen’s Soneto de la Noche (“Sonnet of the Night”). It is a setting of a Pablo Neruda love poem, where he expresses his hopes for his love to be felt even after his death.

We would like to thank our directors, Gabriel and Jacqui, as well as the Music Department for making this year and this event possible. Though we will soon part ways, you will always have a special place in our hearts. And to our junior friends, thank you for all the memories made, laughs shared, and trips down the old bog road. We wish you the best of luck for your remaining time at Princeton, and see you at the back end of beyond!

Signing off,
Katie Chou ’23, Shruti Venkat ’23, and Matthew Higgins Iati ’23

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

Katie Chou ’23- Soprano II
Shruti Venkat ’23 – Alto II
Matthew Higgins Iati ’23 – Tenor I

Emily Della Pietra ’24 – Soprano I
Molly Trueman – ’24 Alto I
Priya Naphade – ’24 Alto II
Tim Manley – ’24 Bass I
Rupert Peacock – ’24  Bass II

Katie Chou ’23 is a senior in the Computer Science department and is pursuing certificates in Asian American studies and Vocal Consort Singing with Conducting. She is a member of the Chamber Choir and the Glee Club, where she was a Publicity Chair and Student Conductor.

Shruti Venkat ’23 is a senior in the Economics Department at Princeton, pursuing certificates in Statistics and Machine Learning, Finance, and Vocal Consort Singing with Conducting. She was the Manager and Student Conductor of the Glee Club, Chamber Choir, and the President of Princeton Swara, Princeton’s South Asian music ensemble.

Matthew Higgins Iati ’23 is a tenor from the DC area studying Computer Science. When he is not participating in one of various different vocal ensembles on campus he enjoys playing guitar, piano, and pickup basketball.

Emily Della Pietra ’24 is a junior in the chemistry department at Princeton. She sings in the Glee Club, in which she has served in several officer positions and the Chamber Choir. Her proudest accomplishment was leading her a cappella group, the Tigerlilies, as music director during their 50th reunion this past semester. When she’s not singing, you’ll likely find her spinning in the air with the aerial arts club, climbing, or thinking about organic chemistry.

Molly Trueman ’24 is a junior in the Music Department and is pursuing certificates in Vocal Consort and Applications of Computing. She also sings in Glee Club, Chamber Choir, and the Tigressions. Outside of ensemble singing, she is a singer/songwriter and is passionate about music production.

Priya Naphade ‘24 is a junior studying Computer Science at Princeton. She grew up singing in choirs and also enjoys performing jazz and musical theatre. She is very excited to be a part of the vocal consort program!

Tim Manley ’24 is a junior at Princeton University and a member of many vocal ensembles on campus. He is the pet cat of our group.

Rupert Peacock ’24 is a junior in the Department of Music at Princeton. He sings in the Glee Club, Chamber Choir, Decem and is music director of the Princeton Footnotes. Before coming to Princeton, he was a chorister at King’s College, Cambridge. When he isn’t singing, he is also the captain of Princeton Men’s Rugby.