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Lorelei Ensemble Releases
James Kallembach’s Antigone:
The Writings of Sophie Scholl and
the White Rose Movement

Out Friday, June 17, 2022 on New Focus Recordings
Press-only Download (Password - Antigone)
https://bit.ly/Kallembach
Physical Review Copies Available Upon Request

“stunning precision of harmony, intonation,
and… spectacular virtuosity”
– Gramophone Magazine

www.loreleiensemble.com

Cambridge, MA (May 10, 2022) — On Friday, June 17, 2022, the groundbreaking Lorelei Ensemble, led by Artistic Director Beth Willer, releases Antigone: The Writings of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Movement by the acclaimed composer James Kallembach, out on New Focus Recordings. The album features Ensemble sopranos Sarah Brailey, Rebecca Myers Hoke, Jessica Beebe, and Arwen Myers, mezzo-sopranos Christina English and Sophie Michaux, and altos Stephanie Kacoyanis and Emily Marvosh, plus a cello quartet consisting of Caleb van der Swaagh, Lisa Caravan, Michael Unterman, and Jonathan Dexter. Beth Willer conducts Antigone.

James Kallembach’s Antigone: The Writings of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Movement was commissioned by the Lorelei Ensemble and Carson Cooman, and premiered by the Ensemble on June 10, 2017 at Boston University’s Marsh Chapel. When Kallembach began working on the piece, he chose the writings of Sophie Scholl as a starting point. Scholl and her brother, Hans, were both active in the White Rose resistance during World War II, which was a nonviolent group of students and one professor from the University of Munich, which became active in 1942. The group wrote and distributed pamphlets denouncing the Nazi government. Both Scholl siblings were sentenced to death and executed by guillotine in 1943 for their anti-Nazi views.

The composer secondly chose Sophocles’ Antigone as the framework to give the new work structure. Kallembach explains, “In crafting the libretto, Scholl’s writing seemed to meld directly into the words of Antigone, while the anti-Nazi pamphlets distributed by the White Rose movement served as ideal Greek choruses, delivering the Antigone narrative in short, suggestive vignettes. For me, this ancient play serves to honor and extol the words of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose movement in their timeless, transcendent qualities. The clash between what we hold to be undeniably just and the decrees of those in power was important two thousand years ago in the public spectacle of Greek drama, it was important during WWII, it is important now and it always will be.”

About Lorelei Ensemble
Heralded for its “full-bodied and radiant sound” (The New York Times) and “stunning precision of harmony, intonation, and… spectacular virtuosity” (Gramophone Magazine), Lorelei Ensemble is recognized across the globe for its bold and inventive programs that champion the extraordinary flexibility and virtuosity of the human voice. Led by founder and artistic director Beth Willer, Lorelei has established an inspiring mission, curating culturally-relevant and artistically audacious programs that stretch and challenge the expectations of artists and audiences alike. Recognized for its rich and diverse vocal palette, the ensemble is celebrated for its compelling delivery of Willer's “exact, smooth, and stylish” programming (The Boston Globe).

Lorelei Ensemble is creating a living repertoire for a living audience, working with today’s leading composers to commission more than 60 new works that expand and deepen the repertoire of sounds, timbres, words and stories that women use to reflect and challenge our world. This new repertoire for women’s and treble voices demands fierce flexibility and openness from each artist and listener, allowing unparalleled music making that is born from the unique position of power and cultural influence that women hold. Collaborating composers include David Lang, Julia Wolfe, George Benjamin, Kati Agócs, Lisa Bielawa, Kareem Roustom, Jessica Meyer, Christopher Cerrone, Sungji Hong, Reiko Yamada, Peter Gilbert, Scott Ordway, James Kallembach, John Supko, and many more. Current projects and commissions include Julia Wolfe’s Her Story, celebrating the Ratification of the 19th Amendment and the First Vote for American Women; Christopher Cerrone’s Beaufort Scales, a cautionary tale in the era of climate change; and Ayanna Woods’ Look Up, inspired by the themes and imagery in NK Jemisin’s Cloud Dragon Skies.

Recordings document and preserve the work of Lorelei and its collaborators for future artists and audiences. On the New Focus, Sono Luminus, Cantaloupe, and BMOP Sound labels, Lorelei has recorded the music of living composers Kati Agócs, Peter Gilbert, James Kallembach, David Lang, Jessica Meyer, and Scott Ordway, as well as historical repertoires from William Billings, Guillaume Du Fay, Alfred Schnittke, Toru Takemitsu, the Turin Codex and the Codex Calixtinus. Recent releases include David Lang’s love fail (Cantaloupe 2020), described as “a work that channels poignancy through harmonic and melodic clarity” (The Road to Sound) and Impermanence (Sono Luminus 2018), about which WQXR raved, ”Utterly gorgeous...The group’s…probing interpretations of works both ancient and modern makes for instantly affecting listening.” In 2022, Lorelei Ensemble will release a recording of James Kallembach’s Antigone: The Writings of Sophie Scholl on New Focus Recordings.

Lorelei Ensemble maintains a robust national touring schedule, including recent collaborations with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Cantus, and performances at celebrated venues across the country, including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tanglewood Music Center, Boston's Symphony Hall, Trinity Church Wall Street, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts. Performances in future seasons are planned with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, and Nashville Symphony Orchestra.

Committed to education, Lorelei is empowering young artists to be our next creative leaders through its work with rising performers and composers at children’s choirs, high schools, and colleges and universities across the country. Cultivating both individual and collaborative artistry, Lorelei helps young artists hone their skills to become flexible, perceptive, and open-minded musicians. Past residencies include work with ensembles and composers at Harvard University, Yale University, Duke University, Bucknell University, University of Iowa, Cornell University, Luther College, Vassar College, Macalester College, Mount Holyoke  College, Connecticut College, Hillsdale College, Keene State College, Gordon College, the  Pennsylvania Girlchoir, and the Connecticut Children’s Chorus.

Founded in Boston in 2007, Lorelei Ensemble’s artists are based across the United States and maintain active performing and teaching schedules. Learn more at www.loreleiensemble.com.

About James Kallembach
James Kallembach’s works have been commissioned and performed by Brooklyn Art Song Society, Chorus pro Musica Boston, Lorelei Ensemble, Lydian Quartet, San Francisco Symphony, and Seraphic Fire, among others. He has received honors from ASCAP, ACDA, American Composers’ Forum, Pacific Chorale, ALEA III in Boston, and VocalEssence. He has written extensively for the voice, producing a large catalog of song cycles and oratorios for voices and instruments. His St. John Passion, Four Romantic Songs, Most Sacred Body, and Antigone have been commercially recorded. The Boston Musical Intelligencer praised him as “a colorful and imaginative orchestrator, word painter, and provider of singable lyrical lines” who could “wring emotion from a dictionary.”

Like his compositions, his work as a conductor creates a persistent dialogue between the present and past. He has conducted a substantial catalog of traditional repertoire, yet he is also a tireless advocate of new choral works, having conducted the premiere of works by William Bolcom, James MacMillan, Shulamit Ran, Sven-David Sandström, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. His interpretation of new music has been heralded as “rich and polished” (Chicago Classical Review). His “stylish” and “intimate” performance of Bach’s Mass in B-Minor was the work of “a first-rate choral conductor and choral scholar,” according to the Chicago Tribune. Kallembach is Director of Chapel Music and Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago, where he conducts choirs and teaches. He lives near Chicago with his wife, soprano Elisabeth Marshall, and son, Otto.

Antigone: The Writings of Sophie Scholl and the White Rose Movement Tracklist
JAMES KALLEMBACH
Prologue
     1. Ecce quomodo moritur [2:45]
I. Two Sisters
     2. Chorus: During the time of the great war [2:01]
     3. Ismene: My dear sister [2:26]
               Christina English
     4. Chorus/Antigone: Who could be sure [2:17]
     5. Chorus: Everywhere and at all times [2:57]
II. The Arrest of Antigone
     6. Trio/Creon: Then, Creon, knowing that the people [3:00]
               Sarah Brailey (Creon), Rebecca Myers Hoke, Arwen Myers, Stephanie Kacoyanis
     7. Chorus: O, numberless wonders [4:37]
     8. Trio: Then, suddenly, a sentry approached [1:02]
               Rebecca Myers Hoke, Arwen Myers, Stephanie Kacoyanis
     9. Creon/Chorus: But, lo, what dark sign [1:34]
               Sarah Brailey
     10. Chorus/Antigone: Yea, for these laws [1:25]
     11. Chorus: The state is never an end [2:19]
III. The Death of Antigone
     12. Chorus/Antigone: Farewell my friends, my countrymen [2:17]
     13. Chorus: It seems so, and will be so [1:24]
     14. Chorus/Duet: Sophie’s Dream; Ecce quomodo moritur [6:39]
               Sarah Brailey, Sophie Michaux

Total Time: 36:42

Producer: Jesse Lewis
Recording Engineer: Kyle Pyke
Mixing Engineers: Kyle Pyke, Jesse Lewis
Mastering Engineers: Christopher Moretti, Shauna Barravecchio
Label Manager: Dan Lippel Design: Marc Wolf, marcjwolf.com
Recorded: August 6-7, 2021 at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts

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