Shared Visions
Join Ars Nova Singers for the climactic final program of its 38th season, as we proudly present Shared Visions—a remarkable interdisciplinary collaboration that brings together artists from across Colorado. This multi-year project began with a gallery featuring 24 captivating works by eight visual artists. Poets from across the state were then invited to engage with these works, using them as a wellspring of inspiration to create new poetry. The resulting anthology, a testament to the shared visions between visual and literary artists, served as fertile ground for commissioned choral compositions by four talented Colorado composers. Now, as our audience, your presence and engagement will complete this cycle of inspiration and forge the final connection between these diverse artistic disciplines. Immerse yourself in the transformative power of this extraordinary collaboration, where shared visions come to life, hearts are moved, and spirits soar.
DOWNLOAD the digital concert program PDF here.
PROGRAM
Ralph Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending (with violin)
Paul Fowler, Yet Another Layer
Eriks Esenvalds, Trees
Annika Socolofsky, Like a Diamond
arr. Moses Hogan, This little light of mine
Bach/Nystedt, Immortal Bach
<intermission>
Bach, Allemande from Partita No. 2 (Violin solo)
Hugo Alfven, Aftonen (Ensemble Singers)
Paul Mealor, Upon a Bank (Ensemble Singers)
SHARED VISIONS 2024:
Raul Dominguez, The Rings of Your Heart
Leigha Amick, Shattering Love
Tom Morgan, A Glimmer of Sun (with violin)
Paul Fowler, Freedom Night
Below are the four chains of inspiration that this project has generated, and the 12 artists who have inspired each other.
Visual Artist: Chris DeKnikker, Fractions
Poet: Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Holding Your Heart
Composer: Raul Dominguez, The Rings of Your Heart
Visual Artist: Michiko Theurer, amethyst
Poet: Hayden Dansky, Shattering Love
Composer: Leigha Amick, Shattering Love
Visual Artist: Raj Manickam, Freedom Night
Poet: Jennifer Gurney, Freedom Night
Composer: Paul Fowler, Freedom Night
Visual Artist: Margaret Josey-Parker, Riding It Out
Poet: Erin Robertson, Burning It Off
Composer: Tom Morgan, A Glimmer of Sun
We’re excited to welcome CU Professor of Violin Alex Gonzalez to share the stage with us for an arrangement for choir and violin of Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ The Lark Ascending. The work was originally scored for violin and orchestra; this innovative and imaginative choral arrangement sensitively sets George Meredith’s poem (on which the original orchestration is based) and combines it with wordless vocal lines and vocal solos.
Composer Heather Niemi Savage says: “It is impossible to listen to Ralph Vaughan William’s gorgeous and transcendent piece, The Lark Ascending, without imagining a lark climbing, diving, turning, soaring as the violin’s flurry of notes floats above the orchestra below, the lush harmony a forest canopy of green dotted with geographical landforms.”
Described by the Viborg Folkeblad as a “true virtuoso … that left the audience almost breathless,” violinist Alex Gonzalez enjoys a versatile career as a chamber musician, ensemble leader and educator.
An active chamber musician, Gonzalez has enjoyed performances at Carnegie Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, the National Gallery of Art, Oxford University, Sitka Music Festival, and both the Thy Chamber Music Festival and Autumn Tour. His performances have been aired on BBC Radio 3, WQXR, and the SkyArts Television network. Recent solo appearances include performances at the Caramoor Center, the Newport Classical Music Festival, and with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra and Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.
Gonzalez is a member of The Knights and has performed with the ensemble in a variety of roles including as soloist, chamber musician, and within the ensemble on international tours and recordings. He is also a member of the Sphinx Virtuosi where he currently plays as concertmaster and tours extensively with the group throughout the country and abroad. He can be heard on the ensemble’s debut album titled “Songs of Our Times,” released in 2023 on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Gonzalez is a former member of the New World Symphony where he regularly served as concertmaster to Michael Tilson Thomas. He has also performed throughout the United Kingdom and Europe through collaborations with the Chineke! Foundation. Outside of these ensembles, he has enjoyed past performances with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra among many others.
Gonzalez currently serves as Assistant Professor of Violin at the CU-Boulder College of Music. During the summer months, he is on the faculty of the Sphinx Performance Academy at both the Juilliard School and CU Boulder, and has previously been a faculty member at Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra Program (NYO2) and the IberAcademy in Medellin, Colombia. He has also enjoyed giving master classes at institutions such as the University of Oregon, Montclair State University, North Carolina School of the Arts and Cleveland Institute of Music.
Gonzalez is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Rice University, and Carnegie Mellon University.
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Concert sponsors:
Millstone Evans Group
Matt and Julianne Davis
Boulder Arts Commission