The Esoterics

For Immediate Release: June 11, 2007

AMAVAITA
The Esoterics celebrate history and create some of their own in upcoming concert series

SEATTLE - Birthdays are extremely important to The Esoterics. Eric Banks, the founding director, keeps track of all members' birthdates in his personal calendar and diligently announces each singer's birthday. When Steve Shelton, member of The Esoterics since January of 2003, was due to turn 80 in July of 2007, Banks arranged for a particularly meaningful celebration. "I told Steve he could choose any piece from our past repertoire to sing for his birthday," says Banks, "and it worked out perfectly, because we will be performing on the exact date of his birth."

Shelton, born on July 8th, chose a piece that not only reflects his passion for choral music, but also his keen interest in world history. Written in 1943, Francis Poulenc's Figure humaine sets eight poems by imprisoned poet Paul Eluard. Inspired by the French resistance to Nazi occupation, Poulenc wrote the piece clandestinely, after which it was smuggled to Algeria. Subsequently, copies of Figure humaine were dropped all over France by the British Royal Airforce and the piece became an underground anthem for the French Resistance. In 1945, the BBC singers premiered Figure humaine in a live broadcast performance.

The piece itself beautifully expresses the profound emotions of war-torn France in pounding moments of rhythmic intensity, devastating harmonies, and a triumphant climax during which singers proclaim, "Liberté!" For Steve Shelton, Figure humaine represents a pinnacle in choral composition. "It's got everything," says Shelton, "It's got drama; it's got passion; it's got wonderful harmonics, it's got all different kinds of pacing in the eight different sections . . . It was written during the dark days of World War II and it's a very dark piece as far as that's concerned. It doesn't hold up much hope for the human race at that point in time. It's also a very compelling piece -- very challenging to sing, but very fulfilling."

The Esoterics are honored and proud to be performing this piece in celebration of one of their most beloved and esteemed members. Doug Rank, tenor and President of The Esoterics' Board of Directors says, "I have known Steve Shelton for many years and one of my earliest memories of Steve is him telling me about Figure humaine. I am thrilled and inspired that on his 80th birthday, Steve will get the opportunity to perform the piece."

AMAVAITA represents an important moment in The Esoterics' history as well. For the first time, the group will premiere works written for POLYPHONOS, an annual composition competition sponsored by The Esoterics. In line with their mission of promoting and supporting contemporary choral music, the group began POLYPHONOS by requesting submissions for three awards: one for an American composer, one for an international composer, and one for a young composer (under age 30). The prize: a commission from The Esoterics and funding to travel to Seattle to hear their works premiered. All three POLYPHONS winners and many of their family members will be attending the concert in Seattle on July 14th.

Justin Merritt, Assistant Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and the American composer winner, says about POLYPHONOS, "Winning the POLYPHONOS prize was extremely inspiring for me, primarily because it gave me a chance to compose something new for the group. I knew I could cut loose and write music that I was longing to try and that The Esoterics would relish the challenge."

With Figure humaine as a centerpiece, the POLYPHONOS winners were commissioned to compose a piece inspired by AMAVAITA, loosely translated as "courage." All of the composed works illuminate the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity. Merritt's piece, Hay Días, sets a poem by Jaime Quemain, an independent newspaper editor in El Salvador who, in 1980, was slain by paramilitary death squads at the age of 30. Interweaving textures of individual voices (almost every chorus member has a solo in the piece), the piece explores the text's conflicting images of the horror and beauty of San Salvador during times of tragedy and conflict.

Abbie Betinis, the young composer winner and composer-in-residence of The Rose Ensemble in St. Paul, Minnesota, has set a Persian text by 14th century poet Shams Hâfez-e Shirazi called Bar xizam (Upward I rise). Betinis says about the piece, *One of my favorite parts of the process of writing vocal music is finding exactly the right text. In this case, I was able to also find an audio file of the spoken Persian and found it fascinating how much music is in these words already." She also notes that there is a personal element to her work. "I've dedicated the piece to my parents, who taught me courage in adversity. When I was little, running to my mom with stories from elementary school, she'd spread out her arms and say, "Rise above it. just rise above it." I thought of her a lot when setting this 'I rise' text."

Paul Ayres is the international winner of POLYPHONOS. Ayres studied at Oxford and is currently a freelance musician in the London area. For his commission, Ayres has set a poem by Pablo Neruda. Ayres says about his choice of text, "What attracted me about the Neruda poem was the idea that somehow 'now truth is dead'. . . there seems to be, in the text, an unusual conflict between 'truth' and 'justice.' By setting the words in Spanish and in English, in double-choir formation, I can play around with musical opposites, dichotomies, and contrasts: slow-fast, harmony-monody, etc." Ayres also appreciates the opportunity to write for Seattle's most adventuresome choir, noting, "Most of what I write is for children, for schools, for amateur church choirs, for non-music readers, and so on, and although I love doing this kind of work, it's great to write for a top-level choir like The Esoterics, and explore some more challenging writing."

The program for AMAVAITA will be rounded out by works by two Northwest composers. For the triumph of the nations, by David Asplin, explores the challenge of peace through five diverse texts. The Esoterics will also premiere a piece by their founding director, Eric Banks. Para zrvâna was inspired by Banks' travels to India during which he researched sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. Banks chose to focus on the creation story of the Zoarastrians and Para zrvâna is the first movement of what will be a seven-movement piece about how conflicting forces clash and combine in the emergence of the world.

The Esoterics' AMAVAITA performance dates and locations are as follows:

Saturday . 7 July . 8 pm . Tacoma
Trinity Lutheran Church . 12115 Park Ave S

Sunday . 8 July . 3 pm . Medina
St Thomas Episcopal Church . 8398 NE 12th St

Saturday . 14 July . 8 pm . Seattle
St Joseph's Catholic Church . 732 18th Ave E

Sunday . 15 July . 3 pm . West Seattle
Holy Rosary Church . 4139 42nd Ave SW

Tickets are $20 at the door, $18 in advance, $15 for students, seniors, the un(der)employed, and the differently-abled. Discounts are available for groups of five or more at $12 per person. Active singers of any choral group may attend for only $10. Advance tickets are available online at www.TheEsoterics.org (through PayPal.com), or reserved by phone at 206.935.7779.

The Esoterics has presented dozens of local and international premieres, and has tackled the most challenging works of 20th and 21st century choral repertoire. Now in its fourteenth season with founding director Eric Banks, the ensemble has drawn national and international praise for presenting the many styles that comprise contemporary choral music. In 2001, 2003, and 2006, The Esoterics' commitment to innovative concert repertoire was nationally recognized when ASCAP and Chorus America granted the ensemble its coveted Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. The ensemble was also honored to be selected as the only North American chorus to compete at the 2000 International Choral Festival in Cork, Ireland, the 2001 International Choral Festival in Tolosa, Spain, and the 2006 Harald Andersén International Choir Competition in Helsinki (Finland).

If you have additional questions about the AMAVAITA concerts or The Esoterics (media contact only), please contact Bayta Maring ().