CHORAL COLLAGE
The Future Sure Before Me
Khyle Wooten, conductor
Sean Linfors, conductor
Andre Maggio, piano
Alexei Aceto, piano
Nathaniel Worrell, piano
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel was a talented pianist and known for her compositions of lieder and chamber music. Sister and companion to Felix Mendelssohn, she was trained musically first by her mother and then with Marie Bigot in Paris and Ludwig Berger in Berlin. Her composition studies were under Carl Friedrich Zelter, however they were greatly discouraged by her father. Hensel composed over 300 works including bagatelles, fugues, preludes and sonatas, choral music and instrumental music for string and piano. Zum Fest der heiligen Cäcilia is a lyrical, early Romantic ode to St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. It was composed in two days’ time in order to be performed for the festival of St. Cecilia on November 22, 1833. The performance, which took place at the Mendelssohn estate in Berlin, featured a choir made up of members of the Berlinersingakademie with Fanny's friend, Pauline Decker, as soprano soloist. The text was taken from the mass for St. Cecilia's day. Hensel accompanied and conducted from the piano. Recently, the work has been made available to a variety of choral groups. Its difficulty level would make it accessible to a college or advanced high school choir, as well as a sacred music or community ensemble.
Roland Carter is a retired Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. Hold Fast to Dreams was commissioned for the inauguration of the new president of Hampton University in 1978. When initially commissioned to write the work, Carter was requested to use one of his favorite poems and turned to the beloved Langston Hughes text. He then connected the essence of the Hughes text to the spiritual Keep Your Hand on the Plow (Hold On). As bombastic as it is declarative, Hold Fast to Dreams demands a choral performance of rich operatic quality often expressed idiomatically in African American choral works, grounded in the Negro Spiritual tradition. Since its completion, Hold Fast to Dreams has been championed in performance by several choirs of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) across the nation. Ultimately, this powerful anthem of hope promotes a message of human endurance as prompted by the audacity to dream, pursue, and become.
Jocelyn Hagen’s I started out singing (2010), a powerful and deeply personal choral work, explores themes of identity, self-expression, and resilience. Set to a poignant text by Naomi Shihab Nye, the piece traces a journey from innocent, joyful beginnings — symbolized by the act of singing — to a more complex emotional landscape shaped by hardship and transformation. Through its expressive harmonies and heartfelt text, the piece reflects on the enduring strength found in reclaiming one’s voice.
Francis Poulenc's Petites Voix (1936) is a charming set of five short songs on poems by Madeleine Ley written for unaccompanied treble voices. The work showcases Poulenc’s characteristic blend of wit and elegance, with each miniature exploring playful texts through angular harmonic shifts and engaging rhythmic energy. Poulenc's affection for the French language is evident and his vocal writing is both accessible and musically sophisticated. Though concise in form, the set captures a delightful range of imagery.
These two works offer complementary perspectives on the expressive power of the human voice. Poulenc’s charming movements celebrate innocence and imagination through playful, finely crafted settings. In contrast, Hagen’s introspective and emotionally rich piece charts a personal journey of struggle, loss, and reclamation of self through song. Together, these works highlight the voice as both a vehicle for joy and a source of strength—whether in the carefree world of childhood or in the profound depths of personal transformation. As we reflect on the musically formative moments in childhood, we shape our own futures - as Nye states in the final lines of her poem: “my dreams were the stories that crossed the land.”
Assurance is a work that celebrates themes of reverence for nature, self-reflection, and selfaffirmation. The poem’s first five lines depict the poet’s small, but meaningful place in the Earth’s immensity. The last five lines of the text record the poet’s celebration of how alive they feel amid deep reflection of their awe-inspired view of the world, prompting them to declare confidence in their existence for the time to come.
A slow, triple-meter, contemplative piano accompaniment, in quasi-ostinato occurrence, undergirds the first half of the song. Atop this stretch of keyboard support is the choir’s unison melodies that give way to close harmonic doublings, magnifying the simplicity and powerful nature of the poet’s admiration. The piano accompaniment and homophonic vocal texture abandon the work to center the choir’s polyphonic rapture as they capture the poet’s view of their vast surroundings of sky and land. A vibrant section of affirmation joyfully announces a new phase of the work, dancing in 12/8, and immediately departs from song’s established key area of E-flat-minor to an exultant E-flatmajor. A brief return to the work’s opening devices interrupts the celebration to introspectively consider the poet’s view of the stars. In the final measures, the choir and piano return to the celebration of the assurance with which the poet leaves the reader, in turn, yielding encouragement and hopeful triumph for the listener.
Marianna Martines (1744-1812, also known as Marianna von Martinez) was an accomplished composer of oratorios, masses, sacred choral works and secular cantatas, as well as works for orchestra and keyboard. Martines was a high-profile musician and a distinguished composer during the years that Mozart spent in Vienna. Surviving compositions include four masses, six motets, and three litanies for choir. She wrote in the Italian style, as was typical for the early Classical period in Vienna. Martines's name and music were known throughout Europe, and she was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna in 1773, the first woman to gain admission. She composed the Dixit Dominus (1774) as her contribution in response to her election.
In the early eighteenth-century Italy, composers such as Vivaldi and Lotti created extended-length Dixit Dominus settings in which they divided the text into multiple movements. Handel’s Dixit Dominus setting of 1707, composed in Italy in his early twenties, is perhaps the best-known setting in this style. In an autobiographical letter, Marianna Martines listed Handel as one of her chief influences. Indeed, her 1774 setting of Dixit Dominus shares many similarities with Handel’s famous setting of 1707. While Martines’s Dixit Dominus reveals a thorough knowledge of and facility in writing in traditional Baroque style, she also incorporates elements of the newer galant style. Martines composed Dixit Dominus for five choral voices (SSATB), four solo voices (SATB), two flutes, two oboes, two trumpets, timpani, strings, and organ.
Beata immaculata via
Quae ambulat in lege Domini
Audi et vide et inclina aurem tuam
Deus qui nos annua beatae Caeciliae
Virignis et martyris tuae solemnitate laetificasda
Ut quam veneramur officio
Etiam piae conversationis sequamur exemplo
Audio et audi
Domine Deus, rex coelestis
Quam admirabile est nomen tuum How wonderful is your name in all the earth in universa terra
Coeli ennarant gloriam Dei et opera The heavens declare the glory of God manuum ejus
Annutiat firmamentum
Blessed is the way
Which walk in the law of the Lord
Hear, see, and incline your ear,
God who makes us glad on the annual solemnity of the blessed Cecilia
Virgin and martyr of yours
That we may venerate her with due honor
Let us follow the example of pious conversation
Heard and heard again
Lord God, King of Heaven
How wonderful is your name in all the earth
The heavens declare the glory of God
The firmament displays his wonders
1. La petite fille sage
La petite fille sage est rentrée
de l’école avec son panier.
Elle a mis sur la table les assiettes
et les verres lourds.
Et puis elle s’est lavée à la pompe de la cour
Sans mouiller son tablier.
Et si le petit frère dort dans son petit lit cage,
Elle va s’asseoir sur la pierre usée
Pour voir l’étoile du soir
The Wise Little Girl
The wise little girl came home
From school with her bag.
She put the plates on the table
And the heavy glasses.
And then she washed herself at the pump
In the square without wetting her apron.
And as soon as her little brother was asleep in his cot,
She went to sit on the worn stone
To watch the evening star
2. Le chien perdu
Qui es-tu, inconnu? Qui es-tu, chien perdu?
Tu rêves, tu sommeilles;
Peut-être voudrais-tu que je te gratte là,
derrière les oreilles,
doux chien couché sur le trottoir
qui lève vers mon œil ton regard blanc et noir?
Qui es-tu, inconnu, chien perdu?
Lost Dog
Who are you, unknown one, lost dog?
You dream, you sleep.
Perhaps you would like me to scratch you
here, behind your ears,
sweet dog on the pavement,
catching my eyes with your black and white face?
Who are you, unknown one, lost dog ?
5. Le hérisson
Quand papa trouve un hérisson il l’apporte à la maison.
On lui donne du lait tiède dans le fond d’une assiette.
Il ne veut pas se dérouler lorsqu’il entend parler.
Mais si non quittons la cuisine,
il montre sa tête maligne,
et si je me tais un instant je l’entends boire doucement.
Quand papa trouve un hérisson il l’apporte à la maison.
The hedgehog
When father finds a hedgehog he brings it up to the house.
It is given some warm milk in the bottom of a plate.
It does not want to uncurl because it hears voices.
But if we leave the kitchen
It shows its naughty little head.
And if I keep quiet for a moment I can hear it drinking gently.
When father finds a hedgehog he brings it up to the house.
Dixit Dominus Domino meo:
sede a dextris meis
donec ponam inimicos tuos
scabellum pedum tuorum
Virgam virtutis tuae emittet
Dominus ex Sion:
dominare in medio
inimicorum tuorum
Tecum principium in die
virtutis tuae
in splendoribus sanctorum:
ex utero ante luciferum
genui te
Dominus a dextris tuis confregit
in die irae suae reges
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto
sicut erat in principio
Et nunc et semper
Et in saecula saeculorum, Amen
The Lord said unto my Lord :
Sit on my right hand
until I make thine enemies thy
foot-stool
A scepter of your power
The Lord will send from Zion:
To rule in the midst
of your enemies
In the day of thy power
shall the people offer thee free
will of erings with
holy worship
From the womb before the
morning star
have I begotten thee.
The Lord upon thy right hand
shall wound even kings in the day of his wrath
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning
Is now and ever shall be
World without end, Amen
Julian Bingham
Brendan Blazier
Ashley Brokaw
Caleb Cackowski
Kaitlyn Campbell
Hope Carey
Jack Cecere
Bean Cesari
Jaewon Chae
Cody Chelune
Cian Connolly
Lorelei Cramer
Kerry Cullen
Ruby DeFilippis
Darren De Leon
Hunter De Young
Jack Delman
Heidi Engelhert
Jack Foley
Eli Foodman
Raegan Fritts
Abinaya Ganesh
Kathleen Gang
Sarah Griffin
Isabell Grimaldi
Scarlet Hickman
Julia Huff
Daquan Jarrett
Emmanuel Jeffreys
Janelle Jusino
Grant King
Ana Kirsch
Jonathan Kuster
Morgan Linn
David Miller
Joe Mukamal
Alanna Ramos
Lauren Ravas
Jayar Rhoades
William Rock
Victoria Schecter
Kendra Seidel
Charlie Shanton
Caden Sitts
Grace Tomasula
Vincent Velazquez
Will Vetter
Mireida Villaronga
Toby Wells
Genesis Williams
Maia Wong
Ryan Yuu
Kaeleigh Banda
Sofia Beaulieu
Emma
Cardamone
Sybella Chaine
Chloe Cramer
Isabella Cruz
Amara Evans
Chloe Farkouh
Kirsty Ferguson
Jasmine Foster
Katie May Gang
Cherylanne
Garrett
Cordelia Gilbert
Jordyn Halper
Taylor Hagquist
Lusi Halaifonua
Lucy Montgomery
Sabeena Mori
Ella Padilla
Regina Ramirez-Sastre
Grace Rankel
Elena Rodenborn
Kelly Rogers
Lindsay Rusakow
Margot Saganich
Rachel Somers
Mackenzie Sturm
Lily Suchomel
Sammie Tesoriero
Mo de Poortere
Shiyu Wu
Anushka Sharma, S1
Lydia Smith, S1
Molly Dubner, S1
Alexandra Ives, S1
Allison Lewis, S1
Ellie Babbitt, S1
Leah Monteleone, S1
Paige Socol, S2
McKayla Mitchell, S2
Danielle Yamashiro, S2
Faith Tomasula, S2
Rachel Somers, S2
Amelia Ostamendy S2
Kirsten Ferguson, S2
Sarah Smith, S2
Caroline Buell, A1
Grace Commisso, A1
Sofia Santoro, A1
Katie Hayes, A1
Roli Zibuck, A1
Nikki Sutera, A1
Jaya Badhe, A2
Anastasia Inglima, A2
Bria Petrella, A2
Jayna Simeon, A2
Andrew Kadar, A2
Haley Rayfield, A2
Jack Lewis T1
Sam Wurdemann T1
Joe Kaffen T2
Trevor Griffiths T2
Matthew Amori, B1
Henry Denton B1
Owen Umiker, B1
Paul Narkewich, B1
Jack Patterson, B2
Matthew Scott, B2
Aidan Zajkowski, B2
Khyle B. Wooten (he/they), a native of Philadelphia, PA, is Assistant Professor of Music Performance and Director of Choral Activities at Ithaca College. He maintains professional activities as a conductor, educator, clinician, researcher, and composer. Previously, Wooten served as Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and has fulfilled prior K-12 teaching posts with charter schools in the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Atlanta, Georgia. At present, Wooten leads ongoing research on the life and music of Lena McLin and extended choral works of Black women composers, presenting regularly at regional and national conferences. They are an inaugural fellow of the Future of Music Faculty Fellowship with the Cleveland Institute of Music. Additionally, Wooten completed commissioned pieces for the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, The 2024 ACDA Eastern Region Student & Community Honor Choir, Cincinnati Song Initiative, and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra MINA String Quartet. His choral recent works include Sancta Maria (TTBB), Life and Death (TTBB) and The Dream Keeper (SA). Wooten is the co-founder and conductor of the Sankofa Vocal Collective in Atlanta, Georgia and Director of Music of EmpoweringWord Ministries in Philadelphia, PA. Wooten holds degrees in music education and choral conducting from Lincoln University of PA (BS), Georgia State University (MM), and Florida State University (PhD).
Sean Linfors is an Associate Professor of Music Education at Ithaca College, where he directs ensembles and has taught choral methods, choral conducting, and choral literature. He received his undergraduate degree in trumpet performance from University of Richmond and graduate degrees in choral conducting and choral music education from Florida State University, studying with André Thomas. Prior to graduate study, he taught public school in Florida and Virginia. In 2013, he was the Guest Conductor and Clinician for the East African Choral Festival in Nairobi, Kenya. In 2016 he was semi-finalist for The American Prize, as a conductor and as director of the Tallahassee Community Chorus. In 2019 Linfors was named the Artistic Director of the Syracuse Chorale in Syracuse, New York, and in 2020, he was named to the same position by the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble in Ithaca. Ensembles under Linfors’ direction have toured Canada, Italy, and the United States, and have been featured at National ACDA Conference and regional conferences. The Ithaca College Choir, under his direction, was awarded the 2023 American Prize in Choral Performance for larger collegiate programs. He’s an active commissioner of new choral works for collegiate and community ensembles. Recent performances have included Reena Esmail’s This Love Between Us, Margaret Bonds’ Credo and The Ballad of the Brown King, and Carol Barnett’s Bluegrass Mass: the World Beloved, Locally, he has prepared choirs for Opera Ithaca and Cayuga Chamber Orchestra.