Theater of Voices
Theater Of Voices is one of world's foremost vocal ensembles and annually tours throughout the United States and Europe. Founder and artistic director Paul Hillier created the group to be flexible in number, focusing on three main areas of specialty: medieval and renaissance polyphony, Anglo American folk psalmody (including the Shape Note tradition), and contemporary composers of the "new tonality" school.
The idea for the group was conceived as early as 1989 while Hillier was still artistic director of the Hilliard Ensemble, but looking for ways to expand into different styles of singing while performing the early music of his choice. Under the name Theatre of Voices, he began creating new projects ranging from Proensa, a recital of Troubadour songs to programs devoted to the music of John Cage and Arvo Pärt. Hillier began to form the American nucleus of the present ensemble after moving to the University of California, Davis as Professor of Music in 1990. The group debuted at the Berkeley Early Music Festival in June 1992 is now based in Bloomington, Indiana, where Hillier is director of the Early Music Institute at the Indiana University School of Music.
Theatre of Voices has performed in the Opera de la Bastille in Paris, Radio Frankfurt, the Schauspielhaus Berlin, Vredenburg in Utrecht, the Frick Museum and Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and on Minnesota Public Radio's nationally syndicated program "St. Paul Sunday". In recent years Theatre of Voices has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe including collaborative concerts with Steve Reich & Musicians. Paul Hillier and Theatre of Voices were the subject of a series of six radio shows produced by Washington DC's " Millenium of Music" and syndicated nationally. The BBC program "Behind the Masque" presented an in-depth interview and biography of Hillier that was broadcast in the fall 1996. Hillier's book Arvo P?rt was published in 1997 by Oxford University Press. Director Paul Hillier.
With the 1968 Paris première of his Stimmung, Karlheinz Stockhausen (b. 1928) exploded the very definition of vocal performance. This musical tour de force, made up of an unbroken sequence of 51 sonic models - entirely built on the overtones of B-flat and presented in every possible voice combination - experiments with new compositional techniques and deconstructs the mechanics of speech and song. Paul Hillier, a champion of early and contemporary vocal repertoire, leads Theatre of Voices in his newly created “Copenhagen version” of a milestone of 20th-century music that today remains as relevant as ever. Hillier’s life-long relationship with Stimmung began in the 1970s when he performed it as a member of Singcircle with the composer at the controls. The serene but highly charged aural landscape of the work has its roots in Stockhausen’s assimilation of global musical currents as he traveled the world in the 1950s and 1960s - from mystic experiences in Mexico to Tibetan overtone singing. Surprisingly, this is one of Stockhausen’s most accessible compositions: spiritual yet humorous, mystical yet worldly and erotic in its poetry. Following the performances Theatre of Voices gave in the UK, the Times of London called them “mesmerizing” and The Daily Telegraph described the event as “evoking a feeling of ritual and tranquility.” This SACD-only release is a demonstration-quality recording that is certain to wow the most exacting of audiophiles.
| 8668 SACD $19.95 |
 |
Dopo La Vittoria The Woman With The Alabaster Box Berliner Messe Kyrie Gloria First Alleluia Verse Second Alleluia Verse Veni Sancte Spiritus Credo Sanctus Agnus Dei Solfeggio Magnificat Bogoroditese Djevo I Am The True Wine Which Was The Son Of… |
In celebration of composer Arvo Pärt’s 70th birthday on September 11th, Harmonia Mundi offers this special selection of recordings, conducted by his long-time collaborator and biographer Paul Hillier. Of special note is the first release of Hillier’s reading of Dopo la vittoria. Previously released recordings are taken from Hillier’s two highly acclaimed recordings of the music of Arvo Pärt. His first CD, De Profundis, has remained a bestseller since its debut in March 1997. I Am The True Vine, his second Pärt disc, illustrated Hillier’s unique affinity for the deep spiritual mysteries of Pärt’s music, and his ability to illuminate them in ways no other performer can match. The collaborative relationship between Hillier and Estonian composer Pärt dates back to the early 1980s, when as director of the Hilliard Ensemble, he was among the first to present Pärt’s music to the West.
| 7867 CD $16.98 |
 |
while shepherds watched the shepherd's star a christmas carol joy to the world! the apple tree christmas hymn: a virgin unspotted away in a manger While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night hark! the herald angels sing en etsi valtaa, loistoa still, o himmel suber die glocken weihnachtslied still, still, still gaudete, christus est natus personent hodie the yorkshire wassail song green grow'th the holly here we come a-wassailing the cherry tree carol in th bleak mid winter there is no rese a new year's gift a wassail, a wassail throughout all this town! |
Directed by ethnomusicologist and Professor Paul Hilliard, the Theatre of Voices, a fourteen-member mixed ensemble, performs twenty-four delightful carols. Most are of either English/American or German origin, with many traditionals, such as "The Yorkshire Wassail Song"; as the liner notes so aptly remind us, the practice of caroling was frequently rewarded by food or ale! The 20th century American composer, Charles Ives' "A Christmas Carol" and the Romantic Finnish composer, Jean Sibelius' "En Etsi Valtaa, Loistoa" are a bit of spice. The Theatre of Voices has a distinctively stable and rich sound, without the excessive artifice or harsh shrillness that can mar some classical groups.
Listen to "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night" in RealAudio.
| 6134 CD $15.98 |
 |
Rainbow Colchester The Apple Tree O quanta qualia Schectady Thanksgiving Anthem Brigg Fair Audivi vocem The Year Begins to Be Ripe Benedicamus Domino Jordan Worcester Benedictus Epithalamica It wassummer now The Keel Row II Give good gifts one to another Chester Evening Hymn |
An attractive selection of music befitting Thanksgiving, drawn from nearly a dozen of Paul Hillier’s many successful Harmonia Mundi USA recordings, these songs of thanks and praise include works from the American shape-note tradition blended with music of the 20th century and medieval chant.
| 7009 CD $9.98 |
 |
De Profundis Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus Agnus Dei Ite Misse Est Solfeggio And One Of Those Pharisees Cantate Domino Summa O Weisheit O Adonai O Spross O Schlussel O Morgenstern O Konig O Immanuel The Beatitudes Magnificat |
Review pending
| 6136 CD $15.98 |
Choral - Home | Mens Choral | Womens Choral | Mixed Choirs | Early Music
Childrens Choir | Boys Choirs | Girls Choirs | Choral arrangements | Choral Christmas | Director's resources
African | English | Canadian | Bulgarian | Estonian | Hungarian | Scandinavian | Russian | Latin American
Spirituals | Madrigals | Budget Choral titles | DVDs | Complete choral list
RSS Feed - Choral New Releases
Vocal Jazz| Contemporary | Barbershop | Gospel | Christian | World | Choral | Doo Wop
Arrangements | Women's | Collegiate | Vintage | DVDs | Instructional
The Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Festival | West Coast A Cappella Summit
To find a specific song on any recording (or to find recordings by group name or CD title),
pick the search method and type the item you are searching for here:
All Rights Reserved All Content, page design, CGI Copyright © 2006 United Singers International