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General admission, $18

Student/senior admission, $15

VIVIDA

A choral synthesis of sight and sounds

The Esoterics returns to Seattle Art Museum’s PACCAR Pavilion in the Olympic Sculpture Park to present the work of its 2010 POLYPHONOS winners Joshua Shank, Shawn Crouch, and Bernard Hughes, along with two additional premiers written for for this concert. In keeping with the visual theme, each of the winning composers has been asked to choose a work by an artist whom they know personally, and to create a choral vocalise that will be performed simultaneously to the projection of this work live in concert. In addition to these pieces, each composer will have an additional work from their portfolio performed by The Esoterics. Joining these six works will be a new piece by Founding Director Eric Banks entitled Elucidation featuring a slide show by local photographer Roger Jordan, and a new spatial work by visiting Finnish composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi called Nine evening watercolors, dividing the singers into nine separate quartets that surround the audience.

Each of the POLYPHONOS competition winners will receive a $1000 commission, will travel to Seattle to hear their works performed, and discuss the inspiration for his piece with the concert audience. By Joshua Shank (Young Composer winner) Austin TX, The Esoterics will perform Color madrigals, setting six poems by Keats (one for each color in the rainbow,) and premiere his commission Songs about most of my friends, which will accompany a painting. By Shawn Crouch (American Composer winner) Miami FL, the ensemble will perform The garden of paradise commissioned by Chanticleer, setting poetry of Rumi and Iraqi war veteran Brian Turner, and premiere To the joyous, electric all, accompanied by a stop-time drawing animation. By Bernard Hughes, (International winner) London UK, works will include Three swans, recently performed by the BBC singers and his commission for The Esoterics Revelation window, to accompany a time-lapse film of stained glass over the course of a day.

The POLYPHONOS competition and the VIVIDA concert are in keeping with The Esoterics’ mission of championing contemporary a cappella music and providing a platform for new music to be expressed.

For more information about the POLYPHONOS competition, click here. For more information about Eric Banks, click here, for Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, click here. Click on the following links for our winning composer’s websites: Joshua Shank, Shawn Crouch, and Bernard Hughes.

This concert is sponsored by KING FM.

Please join The Esoterics as they present this ground-breaking performance of new works!

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