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CONSPIRARE
Established in Austin, TX, in
, Conspirare,
which translates from Latin as “to breathe to-
gether,” is a Grammy-winning and internation-
ally recognized choir led by founder and artis-
tic director Craig Hella Johnson that comprises
soloists from around the country. Conspirare’s
extensive discography includes releases on the
Harmonia Mundi label. e
album
e Sa-
cred Spirit of Russia
won the Grammy for Best
Choral Performance. e choir’s commitment to
new music and willingness to showcase a broad
repertory has been highlighted since its rst re-
cording in
,
rough the Green Fuse
, which
featured a Gaelic hymn, African-American spiri-
tuals, and works by Sibelius, Stephen Foster, and
Eric Whitacre, among others.
Requiem
(works
by Howells, Whitacre, and Pizzetti) followed in
and received two Grammy nominations. In
,
reshold of Night
(music by Tarik O’Re-
gan) also received two nominations, including
for Best Classical Album.
e
PBS tele-
vision special
A Company of Voices: Conspirare
in Concert
received a Grammy nomination for
Best Classical Crossover, and
Pablo Neruda: e
Poet Sings
was nominated for Best Choral Per-
formance in
. Conspirare represented the
United States at the EighthWorld Symposium on
Choral Music in Copenhagen in
, joining
invited choirs from nearly countries. Harmo-
nia Mundi’s re-release of
Requiem
in
won
the Netherlands’
Edison Award. Conspirare
was honored again in
when
Path of Miracles
was awarded the German Record Critics Prize
for choral music. Most recently, the
St.
Olav Festival in Trondheim, Norway, presented
the group in a collaboration with the ensemble
Trondheimsolistene. Conspirare’s current tour-
ing project,
Considering Matthew Shepard
, a mu-
sical response to the murder of Matthew Shep-
ard, is a three-part oratorio composed by Craig
Hella Johnson. Its recording debuted at number
four on
Billboard
’s Traditional Classical chart
and received a Grammy nomination. Conspir-
are premiered
Considering Matthew Shepard
in
Austin in
, and presented the work at Boston
Symphony Hall and Texas A&M during
– .
Conspirare is touring the work nationally in
to commemorate the th anniversary of Mat-
thew Shepard’s death.
SOPRANO
Anna Christofaro – Minneapolis, MN
Mela Sarajane Dailey – Austin, TX
Kemper Florin – Chicago, IL
Melissa Givens – Claremont, CA
Estelí Gomez – Watsonville, CA
Gitanjali Mathur – Austin, TX
Stefanie Moore – Los Angeles, CA
Fotina Naumenko – Washington, DC
Kathlene Ritch – Santa Fe, NM
Sonja DuToit Tengblad – Boston, MA
ALTO
Sarah Brauer – Portland, OR
Angela Burns – Wilmington, NC
Janet Carlsen Campbell – Omaha, NE
Lauren McAllister – Cincinnati, OH
Laura Mercado-Wright – Austin, TX
Keely J. Rhodes – Austin, TX
TENOR
Matt Alber – Portland, OR
Dann Coakwell – Ithaca, NY
Carr Hornbuckle – San Antonio, TX
David Kurtenbach – San Francisco, CA
Jos Milton – Oxford, MS
Wilson Nichols – New York City, NY
Steven Soph – Austin, TX
BASS
Dashon Burton – New York, NY
Charles Wesley Evans – Tampa, FL
Rick Gabrillo – Round Rock, TX
Robert Harlan – Austin, TX
Harris Ipock – Winchester, VA
Tim O’Brien – Austin, TX
John Pro – Austin, TX
Paul Max Tipton – Boston, MA
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Stephen Red eld,
violin
– Hattiesburg, MS
Ames Asbell,
viola
– Austin, TX
Douglas Harvey,
cello
– Austin, TX
Jessica Valls,
double bass
– Austin, TX
Vanguel Tangarov,
clarinet
– Austin, TX
omas Burritt,
percussion
– Leander, TX
Mitch Watkins,
guitar
– Austin, TX
“ALL OF US” CHOIR
Windy City Performing Arts
Eric Esparza,
artistic director
PRODUCTION TEAM
Robert Harlan,
co-producer & technical director
Viera Buzgova,
stage manager
Willa Snow,
assistant stage manager
Walter Olden,
lighting supervisor
Randall Squires, Connor Goodrum, and Chris
Boyd, Nomad Sound,
audio
CONSPIRARE STAFF
Craig Hella Johnson,
Artistic Director
Ann McNair,
Managing Director
Marianne DeLeon,
Chief Development O cer
Rick Gabrillo,
Associate Conductor
Robert Harlan,
Production Consultant
Natalie Howard, Conspirare Youth Choirs
Ben R. King,
Production Assistant
Meri Krueger,
Artist Relations
Kathy Leighton,
House Manager
Jaime Leighton,
Production Administrator &
Webmaster
Jane Ramirez,
Business Manager
Special thanks to Dr. Cheryl Frazes Hill
CREATIVE CONTRIBUTORS:
Michael Dennis Browne,
poet & co-librettist
Michael Dennis Browne’s latest collection of
poems is
Chimes
, published in
by Nodin
Press. His poems have been published in many
magazines and anthologies, and his honors in-
clude fellowships from the National Endowment
for the Arts and the Bush Foundation. Two of
his collections have won the Minnesota Book
Award for poetry. As a librettist, he has written
many texts for music, working for almost four
decades with composer Stephen Paulus.
eir
post-Holocaust oratorio
To Be Certain of the
Dawn
was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in
Music by the Minnesota Orchestra. Browne is a
professor emeritus of English at the University
of Minnesota, where he taught for years and
was a member of the Academy of Distinguished
Teachers.
Lesléa Newman,
poet
Lesléa Newman is the author of books for
readers of all ages, including the children’s books
Heather Has Two Mommies
and
Ketzel, e Cat
Who Composed
, the poetry collections
I Carry
My Mother
and
Lovely
, and the short story col-
lection
A Letter to Harvey Milk
, which was re-
cently adapted for musical theater. Newman, a
former poet laureate of Northampton, MA, has
received poetry fellowships from the National
Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts
Artists Foundation. She teaches at Spalding
University’s low-residency MFA in Writing pro-
gram. Her book
October Mourning: A Song for
Matthew Shepard
received an American Library
Association Stonewall Honor and the Florida
Council Teachers of English Joan F. Kaywell
Books Save Lives Award. Newman works close-
ly with the Matthew Shepard Foundation as a
member of its speakers bureau. She has visited
schools all over the country giving her presen-
tation “He Continues to Make a Di erence: e
Story of Matthew Shepard.”
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