Here is an anthem about inclusivity, equality, and equity of opportunity inherent in the Amy Lowell poem The Congressional Library. Commissioned by the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, the Cincinnati Children's Choir, and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra as a celebratory statement to rededicate historic Memorial Hall.

Composer: Dominick DiOrio

Dominick DiOrio has chosen the vivid and striking poetry of Amy Lowell for this powerful work. Lowell's poetry explores the awakening of one's passions by the arrival of a before-absent lover. DiOrio paints this internal exultation with glissandi in the voices, richly-harmonized chords and high chromatic ululations of a solo soprano. This was the first prize winner of the Cerddorion Vocal Ensemble's Emerging Composer's Competition. Duration: Ca. 3 minutes 30 seconds

Composer: Dominick DiOrio

Here is a reflective composition for a cappella choir that uses overlapping, repetitive homophonic textures which build to an emotional climax. This is a prayer for understanding in difficult times.

Composer: Shawn Crouch

This music is restless and unbridled, like a child who fusses and pouts when not wanting to be restrained. And it is optimistic like a child is naïve, until the final warning words of the work.

Composer: Dominick DiOrio

This one simple word, Alleluia has been the inspiration for countless choral compositions. Here is a new setting by one of America's premier composers of choral music. Written for the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Craig Hella Johnson, Director for a recording of the composers music. This is accessible for good high school choirs, collegiate and professionals.

Composer: Kile Smith

As one of America's exciting young composers, Dominick DiOrio is stretching the boundaries of choral music. In Alleluia, he explores the percussive qualities of the voice and the lyrical quality of the marimba and the result is an energetic and exciting new experience for all. Duration: ca. 6:00

Composer: Dominick DiOrio

Written for the 100th anniversary of the St. Olaf choir, this work is commensurate with ability of one of the great choirs in America. The music makes consistent use of divisi texture, expansive arcs of musical phrase, and coloristic harmonies that demand excellent intonation, balance, and blend - all hallmarks of the St. Olaf Choir sound.

Composer: Rene Clausen

This setting of the poignant and evocative Christina Rossetti poem Dream Land paints dark and brooding images of shadows, stars, and sunless rivers. The center point of the poem is the sad singing of the nightingale which the composer underlines by the sound of the flute. This is a companion piece to I Am.

Composer: Dominick DiOrio

With a depth and emotional range comparable to art songs, spirituals have become a powerful and significant body of work in Western art music. This pairing of two songs displays a quality of emotional directness and a fascination with the broad palette of feelings, colors and ideas inherent in the music. Duration: ca. 6:30.

Arranger: Craig Hella Johnson

Winner of the 2021 ACDA Genesis Project. This powerful and inspirational new work reaches across cultures, ages, languages and geography. Premiered by Conspirare at the National ACDA conference, this looks at 1st blush like it is beyond many choirs reach. However, the skill of Kyle Pederson is exceptional and his music is available to almost all high school, college, community, and professional choir.

Composer: Kyle Pederson

This musical setting of a contemporary text by J. Philip Newell celebrates self-awareness and openness to God's message. With subtle shifts in tonality and wide swings in dynamics, harmonic complexity and textual clarity, this piece requires a mature choir.

Composer: Tom Trenney

A profoundly beautiful poem speaks of life as a series of doors opening and of sighs unfolding, one upon another, rising on a tide of mornings. The music creates a peaceful atmosphere of unfolding sonority, until it fades away in the aleatoric final phrase. Duration: ca. 4:15.

Composer: Eric William Barnum

This was a collaborative project featuring letters written by elementary school students and answering the question What would you like to tell the earth? The answers are in three movements titled I Will Bless You, There Can Be No Numbers and To Fly a Plane

Composer: Various

Commissioned by Earl Rivers and the CCM Chamber Choir with a text chosen to celebrate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. Composer DiOrio has chosen Bass Clarinet, Violin and Vibraphone to accompany while using a liberal dose of tenor solo alternating with the chorus to mirror the alternating representation of the original text. The chorus takes on many emotional frames, depicting the colors and shapes inherent in each line of the poety. This music is high but never serious, just like Shakespeare himself.

Composer: Dominick DiOrio

Written for the Paideia Women's Chorus from the Paideia School in Atlanta, Craig Hella Johnson sets the words of the poet-mystic Dorothy Walters. With four movements incorporating a variety of musical styles including a 3rd movement that uses aleatoric techniques for singers and pianist, this is stunning and sophisticated set for a good high school or college women's chorus. Movements include: Don't Make Lists, I Cannot Tell You, Order Of Melchizedek, Until Even The Angels. Duration: ca. 12:30.

Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

Craig Hella Johnson's remarkable setting of verses by the poet Rabindranath Tagore creates a mesmerizing effect with music that is both ancient and modern. Ever in my life have I sought thee with my songs. Duration: ca. 4:30.

Arranger: Craig Hella Johnson | Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

Craig Hella Johnson's remarkable setting of verses by the poet Rabindranath Tagore creates a mesmerizing effect with music that is both ancient and modern. Ever in my life have I sought thee with my songs. Duration: ca. 4:30.

Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

The great poet and essayist Langston Hughes used the power of words to speak out against racism, division, poverty and greed. In this new setting of the poem Give Us Our Peace, we first hear the African American spiritual I've Been in the Storm So Long. Once the historical context is established, a treble chorus - representing the role of innocent children - enter singing Dona Nobis Pacem (grant us peace). Finally, the mixed chorus enters with the bluesy/gospel theme that carries the rest of the song. Powerful and inspiring.

Composer: Rollo Dilworth

This lesser known spiritual speaks nobly and poignantly of the lifelong heartache and desperation experienced by enslaved Africans in America. In this setting that features a soprano solo, the words of the third verse are those of a nineteenth century woman whose entire life was spent in slavery. The meditative quality of the music creates a pensive atmosphere that is spellbinding. Duration: ca. 5:00.

Arranger: Craig Hella Johnson

Longfellow wrote this text during the Civil War, while his son was fighting with the Union Army. The angst and agitation is clear in the text There is no peace on earth. Crotales or bells and bass drum are used for accompaniment but both can be covered in the piano if instruments are not available. This music is not difficult and is in the scope of choirs of a wide range of abilities.

Composer: Kile Smith

Setting an anonymous poem, the message is beautiful and relevant. Music truly is a magical art. It has the power to move and transform us. It gives deeper meaning to the important milestones of our lives. It gives voice to feelings and emotions too complex to put into words. Powerful and insightful.

Composer: Dominick DiOrio

Here is a short and poignant text seeking to sum up much of the wonder and uncertainty we find in our most meaningful relationships. I hope you feel like all of my life and you will. Newly-awarded ACDA Brock professional composer, Dale Trumbore captures the electric thrill of lasting and meaningful relationships in this lush, contemporary score.

Composer: Dale Trumbore

Craig Hella Johnson has become well known for outside the box programming, composing and arranging. Here is another great example. This folk song written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays in 1949 in support of the Progressive movement and later made popular by Peter, Paul and Mary is here arranged with a driving motif If I Had A Hammer by SATB divisi chorus. Hand percussion underpins this motif and the melody floats above. A powerful video of this by Conspirare lives on YouTube.

Arranger: Pete Seeger | Composer: Pete Seeger | Performed By: Pete Seeger

From Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare, this setting of a beloved evangelical hymn by Jonah Kliewer is both sturdy and transformational, projecting a sense of calmness and comfort. Duration: ca. 2:50.

Arranger: Jonah Kliewer

This English folk song, also commonly sung throughout the American Revolutionary War, tells the unfortunate eternal story of soldiers going off to war, leaving loved ones at home. René Clausen artfully uses the soprano sax to establish the sad, melancholy emotion of the text while the voices reflect the emotions of those left behind.

Composer: Rene Clausen

Donald Grantham has set the beautiful and descriptive Jane Kenyon poem in a serene and gentle musical pallet. With lush harmonies and much rubato within a slow tempo, this is atmospheric in its final impact.

Composer: Donald Grantham

This creative pairing of Amanda McBrooms's The Rose with the Praetorius' Lo, How a Rose e'er Blooming has become a classic at Conspirare's Christmas at the Carillon concerts. Incredibly moving! Performance time: Approx. 5:35.

Arranger: Craig Hella Johnson

Opening with the phrase How you wonder what you are, this poem, described by the composer as a sort of fable for adults, is set for mixed voices with soprano solo as a work of lyricism and reassurance, intense, colorful, dissonant and worthy of the best choirs.

Composer: Dale Trumbore

This short unaccompanied motet celebrates the wondrous mystery of God made man with this rich setting of a traditional Latin text. Full contemporary harmonies will resound throughout your performance space supporting the serene melody. Duration: ca. 3:40.

Composer: Taylor Davis

This is a bold reimagining of Hildegard's chant, both tune and text. Actively quoting the source material, DiOrio's setting takes Hildegard's music as a launching point from which to imagine new sonic possibilities. This piece is meant to be experienced in the round, as the voices surround the audience and attempt to create an enactment of Hildegard's visions. Duration: ca. 5 minutes.

Arranger: Dominick DiOrio | Composer: Hildegard von Bingen

Cary Ratcliff's charming and refreshing oratorio Ode to Common Things is set to poetry by Chilean writer Pablo Neruda, who, over the course of his life, wrote odes to ordinary, everyday objects, five of which were chosen for the Ratcliff setting. Starting with the percussive Ode to Things, the music sweeps through many moods, moving into a deep and emotional Ode to the Bed and the reflective Ode to the Guitar. The final two movements, Ode to Scissors and Ode to Bread complete the connection to everyday life. For SATB divisi chorus, soloists, with piano reduction. Orchestra available on rental.

Composer: Cary Ratcliff

This is a meditative composition which uses ascending scale patterns to support an arching melodic line. This gives way to homophonic clouds of soft dissonances which build to a climax before receding back to the original material. This is a prayer for peace in the wake of tragedy.

Composer: Shawn Crouch

This 3rd movement in the three movement work The Gentlest Lady by Doug Brandt speaks of hopes that all mothers hope for but the mother of the baby Jesus will never experience. This is strong powerful music with an ending that is quiet and a fitting finale for this movement and the three song set.

Composer: Doug Brandt

Craig Hella Johnson is one of the most creative programmers, conductors and composers in America. This new work, with a text by the late young poet, Mattie Stepanek, is a simple and spacious setting of Mattie's text. Craig says that this should be sung quietly and expressively, never hurried, as if walking on hallowed ground while singing.

Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

With long sections of aleatoric sounds, a viola scordatura and a text filled with duality of imagery, this is an anthem for the advanced and adventurous choir. The viola (or cello) is not an accompaniment instrument but rather a full musical partner and will require a fine player.

Composer: Michael Ippolito

Singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson wrote Requiem as a song of grief following the Asian tsunami in December, 2004 and the song found a renewed audience after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region. This setting by Conspirare conductor Craig Hella Johnson has been long anticipated by choral groups around the world and is powerful in its emotional impact. Duration: ca. 4:10. Recorded by Conspirare - Craig Hella Johnson, conductor

Arranger: Craig Hella Johnson

This work for mixed chorus and semi chorus of the text from Ruth 1:16-17 and texts from Proverbs 30:18-19 and Psalm 139:6 is a rich, largely homophonic setting that expressively portrays Ruth's famous pledge. Performance time: approx. 4:35. From the Craig Hella Johnson Choral Series.

Composer: Paul Ayres

This setting of a prayer for peace from the Jewish liturgy is a fitting work for our time. Opening quietly, it builds steadily to an intense emotional outpouring, then gradually retreats to a hushed conclusion. Duration: ca. 4:45.

Composer: Daniel Kellogg

This piece, written for the Houston Chamber Choir for SATB divisi with flute, clarinet, marimba, cymbals and piano and with a text by poet Julia Klatt Singer is a multi-faceted tapestry of sound and color.

Composer: Jocelyn Hagen

Written for a commissioning consortium through Chorus America, here is a beautiful and thoughtful piece intended as a quiet call to return home to discover oneself and to rediscover our home with each other. Long flowing lines with a beautiful and soloistic piano part create a feeling of peace and hope.

Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

Written to be sung in unison or in hymn-style harmony, this heartfelt work can be sung on any number of occasions in which the gathered community wishes to sing an expression of gratitude. Perform it as a tribute to a significant individual or for the many gifts we experience as a part of the progression of life.

Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

The choral ensemble creates a spare and stark vocal atmosphere with steady, pulsating vocal effects as the solo lines emerge from the texture. First Soon ah will be done and then I wanna die easy, which are then combined in a powerful collage of sonority that expresses the drama and emotion of this powerful music. Duration: ca. 5:50.

Arranger: Craig Hella Johnson

Setting the words of the 14th century Persian poet Hafiz and arranging the classic My Funny Valentine creates a dialogue between the Divine and the human heart. Both texts and the music highlight the quirky and odd aspects of being human and the heart's need to know love and to be loved. Each melody is introduced separately by soloists, then harmonized alone and finally juxtaposed to lift up the dialogue and bring it to completion.

Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

In this beautiful poem by Dorothy Parker, Mary knows her baby is holy simply because he is hers. She considers herself blessed whenever he reaches another birthday, without even knowing how few he has left. Celebrating Mary the mother and Christmas, Doug Brandt creates an inner voice of Mary in the altos and tenors while the outer voices create the ironic voice of both joy and heartbreak.

Composer: Doug Brandt

A carol of Joy - Dream every blessing we receive deep within this joy; a carol of peace - Here we are, breathing peace; and a carol of love - Love is always holding us. These are the powerful themes of the promise of Christmas and the tender moments shared in the new carol.

Composer: Craig Hella Johnson

With a text excerpted from the poignant and insightful Wordsworth poem, composer Shawn Crouch has crafted music that flows as if one long line or brushstroke of continuous sound.

Composer: Shawn Crouch

This beautiful new piece from Tom Trenney offers a kaleidoscopic musical setting of a powerful prayer for light, love and unity. An organic piano accompaniment knits the harmonic and thematic sections together.

Composer: Tom Trenney

This Dorothy Parker text reveals Mary's youth and courage through the memory of another then-young woman. The bright light and blinding star seen by the narrator nearly thirty years prior is remembered sensitively and with a quiet, unison final statement.

Composer: Doug Brandt

From the PBS program A Company of Voices, by Conspirare, this beloved folk tune is arranged for cello, solo soprano, mixed voices and piano in a rich and sonorous setting that is simply breathtaking. Cello part included. Duration: ca. 3:45. Recorded by Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson, conductor.

Arranger: Craig Hella Johnson

This work captures the quiet drama of the Nativity, as viewed by a white barn owl - a wild, disinterested observer, a night hunter that is both unaware of the event's significance and yet close to its mystery. The minor tonality and sweeping 3/4 meter combine to create a mystical quality that will provide a fresh change of pace in your Christmas programming.

Composer: Doug Brandt