The Esoterics Reflect on Intimacy and More in SUBTILIOR This Weekend

In a program that reflects upon intimacy, subtlety, and all things delicate, The Esoterics will present five brand-new choral works inspired by our innermost dreams, our delight of nature, and the great beyond.

The centerpiece of this concert will be the world premieres by the most recent winners of The Esoterics' POLYPHONOS competition - Michael Gilbertson, Karen Siegel, and Hasan Uçarsu. Gilbertson's Late sets a triptych on past, present, and future by the Seattle poet Kai Hoffman-Krull. In Clouds ephemeral, Siegel sets her own text on the various species and genera of clouds. Uçarsu's Sevgilerde [In loves] sets verses by the poet Behçet Necatigil (which The Esoterics will perform in Turkish). Michael and Karen will be joining us from New York, and Hasan will be traveling from Istanbul - for this weekend of premieres!

In addition to the three POLYPHONOS-winning works, The Esoterics will present the world premiere of The wheel of time, the dance by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Aaron Jay Kernis. Although Kernis composed his choral cycle for the Dale Warland Singers and the French ensemble "Microkosmos," neither ensemble were able to sing all four movements in the same concert. So, The Esoterics will be presenting Kernis' entire work (revised earlier this year) for the first time. Kernis' Wheel sets four poems by Wendell Berry, the celebrated American novelist and environmental activist, who wrote on the cyclical nature of days, weather, and the seasons, as well as the dance of partners in love. The Esoterics is excited that Kernis will join us in Seattle for the world premiere of his most substantial choral work.

Also featured in the program will be the West Coast premiere of Eric Banks' This delicate universe. After winning the 2010 Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America, Banks composed this a cappella choral symphony for the Grammy-winning ensemble Conspirare, and it was premiered in Austin in May of this year. Banks' 32-minute work sets five poems by the Greek-Egyptian poet Constantine Cavafy that explore the themes of artistic solitude, the familiarity of home, the distraction of memory, the most intimate of interactions, and "the sacred silence of creation."

Please join The Esoterics for one of these three performances of SUBTILIOR:

2 Oct 2015 | 800 pm | St Stephen's Episcopal Church | 4805 NE 45th Street | Seattle

3 Oct 2015 | 800 pm | Holy Rosary Catholic Church | 4210 SW Genesee St | West Seattle

4 Oct 2015 | 300 pm | Grace Episcopal Church | 8595 NE Day Road | Bainbridge Island

Ticket prices are $25 at the door ($22 in advance), $18 for students, seniors, the un(der)employed, and the differently-abled ($15 in advance). Active singers in other choral groups may attend for only $10. Advance tickets are available online at www.TheEsoterics.org (through PayPal).

Now in its twenty-second season, Seattle's most innovative chorus has drawn local, national, and international praise for performing rarely-heard compositions of contemporary music for unaccompanied voices, for infusing elements of the literary, theatrical, and visual arts into the typical concert experience, and for performing settings of poetry, philosophy, and spiritual writings from around the world.

Since its founding in 1993, The Esoterics has performed over 400 concerts throughout the Pacific Northwest, has commissioned and premiered more than 150 new works for a cappella voices in dozens of languages, and has mastered many of the most virtuosic choral compositions of the last century. The Esoterics has released sixteen CD recordings - several which have been favorably reviewed in The Gramophone and American Record Guide. The group's recordings are distributed by Naxos of America. The ensemble has been honored as the only North American chorus invited to compete in the 2000 Cork International Choral Festival (Ireland), the 2001 Certamen Coral de Tolosa (Spain), and the 2006 Harald Andersén International Choral Competition in Helsinki (Finland). The ensemble has also been featured in the BBC Radio program "The Choir."

Always on the search for the next great choral masterpiece, The Esoterics inaugurated its annual choral composition competition, POLYPHONOS, in 2006. Through this competition, The Esoterics awards commissions to three composers each year. In recognition for its efforts in choral education and innovation, The Esoterics has been honored four times with the ASCAP / Chorus America Award for the Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music (in 2001, 2003, 2006, and 2008). The Esoterics has been honored to receive several grants from the arts commissions of Washington State, King County, and the City of Seattle, as well as from ArtsFund, The Ann Stookey Fund for New Music, The Horizons Foundation, The Seattle Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Copland Fund for New Music. The Esoterics is a proud member of the American Choral Director's Association, Chorus America, and the International Federation for Choral Music.

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