Works commissioned by Mendelssohn Club

Dedicated to the ongoing vitality of the choral art, Mendelssohn Club, under Music Director Alan Harler, has commissioned and premiered 43 new works since 1990. This commitment has earned Mendelssohn Club an ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming

2009 David Lang battle hymns
text inspired by writings by Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Foster and Sullivan Ballou, a Civil War soldier
2009 Robert Maggio
Cynthia Folio
Peter Hilliard

Into the Light
I, Too, Can Sing a Dream
Consider Krakatau

Co-commissioned with Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus and Ana Crusis Choir
2009 Jennifer Higdon On the Death of the Righteous
text by John Donne
written to be paired with Verdi Requiem
2008 Anthony Mosakowski Resonet in laudibus
2008 Pauline Oliveros

Urban ECHO: Circle Told
Movement and sound improvisation created with Leah Stein - co-commissioned with the Leah Stein Dance Company

2008

Maurice Wright

Vox Humana
for chorus and electroacoustic sound

2007

Donald
St. Pierre

Caído se la ha un Clavel / A Carnation Has Fallen
text from a Christmas poem by Luis de Góngora

2006

Donald
St. Pierre

little tree
text from a Christmas poem by e. e. cummings

2006

Jan Krzywicki

Fortuna
written to be paired with Orff’s Carmina Burana

2006

Andrea Clearfield

The Golem Psalms
based on the legend of the Golem of Prague

2005

Donald
St. Pierre

A New Song
based on a Norwegian folk hymn

2005

Kim D. Sherman

The Happiest and Unhappiest of Men
text from the writings of Beethoven

2004

Donald
St. Pierre

Agnus Dei
written to complete the text of Mozart’s unfinished Mass in C minor

2004

Jay Krush

Fanfare Felix
processional for Mendelssohn Club’s 130th Anniversary concert

2003

Donald
St. Pierre

Billings with Brass
arrangements of hymns by William Billings

2003

Charles Fussell

High Bridge
based on the poetry of Hart Crane

2002

Donald
St. Pierre

Love Came Down at Christmas
text from the poetry of Christina Rossetti

2001

Donald
St. Pierre

Memento mori
written to be paired with Stravinsky's Les Noces

1999

Donald
St. Pierre

Ite missa est
written to be paired with Beethoven’s Mass in C Major

1999

Alice Parker

Sing Now of Peace
written for Mendelssohn Club’s 125th Anniversary

1999

Jay Krush

A Fanfare for the Chorus
processional for Mendelssohn Club’s 125th Anniversary concert

1998

James Primosch

Fire-Memory/River-Memory
based on the poetry of Denise Levertov

1996

Donald
St. Pierre

Songs of Sweet Accord
written to be paired with Britten’s Ceremony of Carols

1996

Roberto Sierra

Lux Aeterna
written to complement Brahms' German Requiem

1995

Donald
St. Pierre

Shepherd
based on an American folk-hymn

1995

Jan Krzywicki

Lute Music
written for the multicultural holiday program Golden Voices of the East

1995

Shui-Lung Ma

America, Our Home
Written for a concert celebrating the 125th Anniversary of Philadelphia’s Chinatown

1995

Jonathan B. Holland

Symphony (of Light)
written for African-American multicultural program

1995

Robert Moran

Winni ille Pu
a Latin version of the popular A. A. Milne stories

1994

Kim D. Sherman

A Winter Solstice Ritual
processional for the December holiday concerts

1994

Cynthia Folio

Touch the Angel’s Hand
text from Fra Giovanni’s famous letter of consolation

1994

Robert Stern

Returning the Song
written for the Chinese multicultural program Voices from the Bamboo Grove

1993

Charles Fussell

Invocation
Mendelssohn Club’s performance was featured on NPR’s First Art program

1993

Ricky Ian Gordon

Towards Independence
music taken from the play Towards Independence, which premiered at the American Music Theater Festival

1992

Jack Délano

La Rosa y el Colibrí
written for the Hispanic multicultural program Songs of the New World

1992

Charles Fussell

Specimen Days
written for the centenary of the death of Walt Whitman; recorded on the Koch International label

1991

Jan Krzywicki

Poem
a choral vocalise inspired by the poetry of Robert Frost

1991

Byung Chul Choi

The Apostle Song
commissioned for the Korean multicultural program An American Seoul

1991

Robert Moran

Agnus Dei and Ite missa est
written to complete the text of Mozart’s unfinished Mass in C minor

1990

Osvaldo Golijov

Cantata de los Inocentes
written for December holiday concerts

1990

Robert Moran

Requiem: Chant du Cygne
written to complement the Mozart Requiem,
recorded by Mendelssohn Club on the Argo label

Composers for 2008-2009 Season

Lang Headshot
Olivieros Headshot
David Lang
Pauline Oliveros
Folio Headshot
Higdon Headshot
Cynthia Folio
Jennifer Higdon
Maggio Headshot
Hilliard Headshot
Robert Maggio
Peter Hilliard

St. Pierre Headshot

Don St. Pierre, Composer-in-Residence

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