Food of Love

A few months ago I was asked to design the poster for this year's concert for the Bob Jones University Chorale. For me part of nailing down a relevant design was getting my hands on the sheet music and developing a mental picture for the overall personality of the performance. The focus of the concert was on modern choral composers. Dr. Cook took "New Voices in American Choral Music" as the title for the performance. The scope of the concert was very wide; from the beloved 'Magnum Mysterium' by Lauridsen to the world debut performance of Dan Forrest's award winning "Words from Paradise" (which beat Rutter for first place in a recent international composition contest).

The final poster design crystalized from what I had read in the music into a two dimensional version of what I expected to eventually hear. Wide sweeping phrases built on full, eight part chords in 2/2 time contrasted against what I pictured to be something like vocal pezzicato in 7/8. (I did manage to get hear some snippets at a chorale conference that the BJ Chorale sang for in Anderson before the polished concert)

Finally getting to hear the performance from the third row of War Memorial was amazing! In the end I felt more satisfied with the design after the concert than I had before I had heard the music. The entire choir was very focused and controlled. One of my favorites is "A Basque Lullaby" by Forrest.

I really can't tell you how extraordinary the recording is. I've been listening to straight it since I got my copy. I've heard through some chorale friends that a choir director at the school where Forrest is persuing his doctorate liked the recording more than his own choir's sound with the "Words from Paradise" collection. It's simply a great recording of a very talented group of singers performing award winning compositions directed by an extremely brilliant choral conductor. And I love it! Copies are made at the univerity's book store. Email me if you would like to hear some sample clips (I'm having trouble uploading them).