A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Eric Holtan, Jeffrey Biegel

• Jake Runestad (b. 1986): Dreams of the Fallen:
• 1 Runestad: Dreams of the Fallen 25:44
• Earth Symphony:
• 2 Runestad: Earth Symphony: I. Evolution 04:22
• 3 Runestad: Earth Symphony: II. Ambition 05:52
• 4 Runestad: Earth Symphony: III. Destruction 06:31
• 5 Runestad: Earth Symphony: IV. Lament 07:00
• 6 Runestad: Earth Symphony: V. Recovery 08:24
• Total Runtime 57:53

Info for A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad

The newest album by GRAMMY-nominated True Concord Voices & Orchestra, A Dream So Bright: Choral Music by Jake Runestad, features two world premiere recordings of works by Jake Runestad. His EMMY®­-winning choral/orchestral work, Earth Symphony, with poetry of Todd Boss, was commissioned and premiered by True Concord in 2022. Dreams of the Fallen, Runestad’s prize­-winning work for solo piano, chorus & orchestra, features pianist Jeffrey Biegel and includes texts of the poet Brian Turner, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Turner states: When the music lifts to its peak, when the choir sings into the high cathedral of the human experience—the hairs on the back of my neck take notice, my own heart takes notice, and I am moved once again by the fusion of sound and story. “Dreams of the Fallen” is a compassionate, emotionally­ layered, elegant, and poignant work of art that I am proud to be a part of.

Through brainstorming with my frequent collaborator, poet/librettist Todd Boss, we decided that giving voice to Mother Earth would be a powerful approach. Todd created a sweeping, gorgeous, compelling five-part monologue of a mother telling the history of her children — how they admired her, harmed her, and ultimately, how she recovered.

Her story begins in a pre-life genesis that tracks the evolution of humans, whose apprehension of Earth’s laws endear them to her as nothing short of miraculous (her beloved “Mirabilia”). Movement 1: “Evolution” hints at the musical themes of each subsequent section and establishes a sonic relationship between Earth (D Major) and humankind (E♭ Major), which is explored throughout the work. Movement 2: “Ambition” dramatizes humanity’s fall from grace by retelling the Greek myth of Icarus recalling ancient instruments and melodies (including the Seikilos Epitaph — the oldest, complete musical composition yet discovered). Movement 3: “Destruction” rages through a series of ecological cataclysms — forest fires, storms, earthquakes — illustrated by growling brass, raging percussion, and shrieking woodwinds. Movement 4: “Lament” expresses Earth’s grief in a loving farewell to humanity that echoes Henry Purcell’s 17th-century aria, “When I Am Laid in Earth” (Dido’s Lament), and its iconic descending bass-line chaconne. Movement 5: “Recovery” finds Earth restoring balance and moving on, into a deep spacetime like the one from which she emerged. By anthropomorphizing Earth herself, drawing on the familiar earth-mother trope, “Earth Symphony” enables entry into our own ecological shame, guilt, responsibility, potential, and redemption, all from a wide-angled, time-telescoped lens, thereby asking our most immediately pressing environmental questions in an entirely new way.

A Dream So Bright was recorded, edited and mixed by Steven Kaplan, mastered by John Polito, and produced by GRAMMY®­-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles. Recorded May 24–26, 2023 at Camelback Bible Church, Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Jeffrey Biegel, piano
True Concord Voices & Orchestra
Eric Holtan, conductor

Jeffrey Biegel
In an age when many artists' fortunes begin with a meteoric ascent and quickly cool with the inexorable free-fall, pianist Jeffrey Biegel has managed to buck that trend, fashioning a career of steady success studded with concerts at major venues with major orchestras, a Grammy-winning recording, and more than 25 commissioned works by living composers.

His life takes its roots from age three, barely able to hear or speak, until corrected by surgery. The 'reverse Beethoven' phenomenon explains his lifelong commitment to music, having heard only vibrations in his formative years. The pandemic year of 2020 focused on Biegel composing original Waltzes of Hope, Sonatina, and Three Reflections: JFK, RBG, and MLK for solo piano, and for piano and orchestra, orchestrations by Harrison Sheckler. 2021 saw the world premieres of his Reflection of Justice: An Ode to Ruth Bader Ginsburg with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg for mezzo-soprano, piano, and orchestra in tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, featuring mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. Also, the world premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Shadows, newly arranged for piano and seven players with the Idaho State Civic Symphony. In 2022, he premiered Jim Stephenson's Piano Concerto, Daniel Perttu's A Planets Odyssey for piano and orchestra, Farhad Poupel's The Legend of Bijan and Manijeh for piano, orchestra, and chorus, his own concerto, Three Reflections: Freedom (JFK), Justice (RBG) Equality (MLK), and Christopher Marshall's Thanksgiving Variations on "We Gather Together.” For 2023, the 50-state Rhapsody National Initiative began with the Utah Symphony leading a three-season effort with Peter Boyer's Rhapsody in Red, White & Blue, with a world premiere recording of the new Rhapsody with Peter Boyer conducting the London Symphony Orchestra for a Naxos digital release earlier this year. The 2024-25 season foresees a new work for piano and orchestra by Adolphus Hailstork to be performed with Pacific Symphony, Carl St.Clair conducting (February 6-8, 2025), and Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, Melissa Manchester's AWAKE for piano and orchestra (premiere tba).

Considered the most prolific artist of his generation, Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, conferred the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters upon Jeffrey Biegel in 2015, for his achievements in performance, recordings, chamber music, championing new music, and as a composer, arranger and educator. In 2019, Kenneth Fuchs's Piano Concerto: “Spiritualist” with the London Symphony Orchestra led by JoAnn Falletta received a Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium, featuring Biegel as its soloist. In 2019, the first digital recordings were released on Biegel's Naturally Sharp label: Cyberecital: An Historic Recording, A Pianist's Journey, and the September 2021 release of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in the 1924 version with the Adrian Symphony Orchestra, Bruce Kiesling conducting.

Biegel created the first largest consortium of orchestras in 1998 for Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Millennium Fantasy premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2000, followed with Charles Strouse's Concerto America with the Boston Pops; Lowell Liebermann's Concerto No. 3 with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; William Bolcom's Prometheus for piano, orchestra and chorus, with Pacific Symphony and the Pacific Chorale; Richard Danielpour's Mirrors with Pacific Symphony; Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Shadows with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra; Jake Runestad's Dreams of the Fallen with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Symphony Chorus of New Orleans; Lucas Richman's Piano Concerto: “In Truth” with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, recorded with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; and Kenneth Fuchs's Piano Concerto: “Spiritualist” with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra (MA). He also premiered and recorded Giovanni Allevi's Concerto for Piano and Orchestra and commissioned Christopher Theofanidis's Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, the Peanuts Concerto by Dick Tunney, based on music by Vince Guaraldi, Jimmy Webb's Nocturne for Piano and Orchestra and, PDQ Bach's Concerto for Simply Grand Piano and Orchestra by Peter Schickele with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra. Bringing new music to youth orchestras saw the world premiere of Daniel Dorff's Piano Concerto with the Etowah Youth Orchestra, conducted by Michael Gagliardo.

Jeffrey Biegel studied at The Juilliard School with Adele Marcus, herself a pupil of Josef Lhevinne and Artur Schnabel, and is currently on faculty at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College.

Eric Holtan
launched his professional music career at age 12 as a church organist. A native of Minnesota, he studied organ, voice and conducting at Gustavus Adolphus College. He earned a master’s degree in choral conducting at the University of Iowa, where he was assistant director of Camerata Singers, and the doctor of musical arts degree in choral and orchestra conducting at the University of Arizona, where he was the UA Opera Theater’s chorus master. His research focused on the role of the chorale form in Mendelssohn’s oratorios and symphonies as reflection of the musical and religious influences on Mendelssohn.

Eric has held several conducting positions in secondary and higher education, churches and community and professional organizations. He served as associate conductor of the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and for many years was the assistant director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, where he assisted in the preparation of numerous works, including Verdi’s Requiem,Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Handel’s Messiah. Eric continues his work in church music as minister of music, art and liturgy at Dove of Peace Lutheran Church.…

True Concord Voices & Orchestra
(our friends call us “True Concord”), was founded in 2004 as Tucson Chamber Artists. In 2015, the organization changed its name to True Concord. On the adoption of our new name, Music Director Eric Holtan explains, “The original 14th century meaning of ‘concord’ is ‘hearts together’. Shakespeare later described the emotional impact of music as ‘true concord’ — something we strive to achieve in our music-making between composer, performer and listener.”

True Concord draws upon the first rank of professional choral and instrumental musicians from around the United States in service of its artistic mission: to enrich lives through the transformational power of classical music. It accomplishes this primarily through the performance of masterworks and the diverse music of America. True Concord’s expanding repertoire includes Bach’s St. John Passion and Mass in B-Minor, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C-Minor, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, and Haydn’s The Creation. Committed to regularly premiering new works by America’s leading and emerging composers, we have commissioned Paul Crabtree, Stephen Paulus, Gerald Near and Ola Gjeilo, and regularly has premiered new works by promising emerging composers.

On September 11, 2015, True Concord will make its New York debut at Lincoln Center performing the Prayers and Remembrances oratorio commissioned in 2011 from the late Stephen Paulus to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Coinciding with the performance will be the release of the CD recording of the Paulus work—and other previously unrecorded works by the beloved composer—entitled “Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus,” on the Reference Recordings label.

Now in its 12th season, True Concord has quickly become a rising star in the American cultural scene. True Concord’s meteoric rise in the current economic climate is due in part to its immensely popular and unique programming that fuses professional voices and instruments. It is also because of the generous support of our patrons and donors, for which we are thankful.

Booklet for A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad