"David Brunner's music is lyrical, fresh-sounding and always creative.  His music is a favorite with the choir as well as the audience!"

Lynne Gackle
School of Music
Baylor University

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Wednesday
Aug312022

A Timbered Choir

I just delivered the full orchestral score of my song cycle A TIMBERED CHOIR to Chung Park, Director of Orchestras at St. Olaf College. A Timbered Choir is a fifteen-minute work in three movements for tenor soloist and orchestra, on texts by Wendell Berry.  I have loved Wendell Berry’s poetry since my first encounter with it and have composed a number of choral pieces to his words.  THE CIRCLES OF OUR LIVES was the Raymond W. Brock commission from the American Choral Directors Association, their highest recognition for composers, THE WHEEL a commission from the Eastern Division of ACDA to honor Doug Miller, long-time director of choral studies at Penn State University.  Others include THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS, WE CLASP THE HANDS, and an earlier choral work on A TIMBERED CHOIR.

The three poems that comprise the text have to do with great trees:  A Timbered Choir, I Go Among Trees, and Sabbaths.  There is a majesty and reverence in these words -- wind and air, sun and shade, birds and leaves, stillness and quiet, singing and song. The timbered choir is described as “stout beams upholding weightless grace of song, a blessing on this place”.

A spring 2023 performance is planned with Wendell Berry and me in attendance.

Tuesday
Aug232022

Music in the Park

It has been quite a summer in Chicago's Millennium Park, where the Grant Park Symphony hosts its annual eight week music festival of free concerts.  Mendelssohn, Haydn, Lauridsen, Vaughan Williams, Arvo Part, Broadway, premieres of new works and performances of lesser-known music by women and people of color, the Grant Park Symphony Chorus, Anima/the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus, the Lyric Opera, Walt Whitman's Soul Children of Chicago, and more... and more.  Oh, and Riccardo Muti leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony!  It doesn't get much better than this.

Tuesday
Aug232022

Pater Noster

It's one of those rare occurrences.  I wrote this setting of the Latin text of the Lord's Prayer on July 11th. Beginning AND ENDING on July 11th.  It was that feeling of being "in flow", where one loses track of time and place. Sometimes things happen very quickly, without explanation.

Monday
Jul112022

Poems by Kaz

Just finished two new works for a cappella mixed chorus on texts by Kazuaki Tanahashi. SNOWFALL is a setting of his English translation of Ryokan's poem. AGAIN, AGAIN... is a setting of his original poem in both Japanese and English. I first met Kaz at the 20th anniversary of Doreen Rao's Choral Music Experience Institute in York, England in 2006 where he worked with the choristers on peace-making activities, led morning meditation and painted on works by the visiting five composers -- Imant Raminsh, Lee Kesselman, Francisco Nunez, Rupert Lang and me. His performance paintings on my THE WORLD IS FULL OF POETRY and A LIVING SONG hang in my home and I think of him.

Sunday
Jun122022

Yo le Canto todo el Dia on the Choral Catalogue Podcast

I was happy to be a guest of Matthew van Dyke on his Choral Catalogue Podcast, which recently went live. We talked about my Yo le Canto todo el Dia, a popular work that has been around for twenty-six years and still has worldwide performances by choirs of all ages -- young and emerging choruses and older, experienced singers. We also chatted about composing, rehearsing and performing, and some "would you rather" questions.  Thanks, Matthew, for the invitation and a fun hour of conversation!