iSing Silicon Valley Releases love & light

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katlyn Morahan | Morahan Arts and Media
katlyn@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646-378-9386

ISING SILICON VALLEY RELEASES love & light

Album Features Debuts of New Works by Kenyon Duncan and Sungji Hong

Out April 14, 2023 on Avie Records

“iSing Silicon Valley girlchoir has made a monumental contribution to the art of the treble choir.” — Choral Journal

www.isingsv.com 

Palo Alto, CA (February 24, 2023) — Award-winning Bay Area-based girlchoir iSing Silicon Valley releases its second full-length album, love & light, on April 14, 2023 on Avie Records. A collaboration with GRAMMY®Award-winning soprano Esteli´ Gomez and virtuosa harpist Cheryl Fulton, this release comes as part of iSing’s 10th anniversary celebrations.

As the world began to emerge from the darkness and separation of the pandemic, and choirs prepared to stand, breathe, and sing together again, iSing was drawn to music on themes of remembrance, love, wisdom, and healing, from the ecstatic chant of the 12th-century abbess Hildegard of Bingen to ascendant contemporary choral works by Sir James MacMillan, Andrew Smith, and Kile Smith.

 To these sacred pieces, iSing has added new commissions chorea lucis by California-based multi-disciplinary composer Kenyon Duncan and Lux Aeterna by South Korean Guggenheim Fellow Sungji Hong, both works part of iSing’s robust commissioning initiative that has produced nearly 30 new pieces for treble voices. 

Every work on love & light evokes an emotion, instinct or value that came to feel significant, even urgent, throughout the long separation imposed during the pandemic. 

“It was three years of limited access to the people we care about most,” Artistic Director Jennah Delp Somers explained. “These girls have grown up together at iSing: At age 15-18, most of them have known each other for nine years. And they weren’t able to sing together, they weren’t able to create harmony together, for so long. So, this album, which has some of the most beautiful music written for treble voices, both old and newly composed, is a beautiful synthesis of our coming together and being a choir again.” As well, this album is a testament to the unwavering dedication and the joyous pursuit of artistic excellence by these young singers — and those who came before them — during iSing’s first ten years.

About iSing Silicon Valley
Founded in 2013 by artistic directors Jennah Delp Somers and Shane Troll, award-winning girlchoir iSing Silicon Valley brings together more than 300 talented young singers in Silicon Valley, offers them rigorous musical and vocal training, and guides them toward the highest level of artistry. Celebrated for innovative choral education methods and for the gorgeous vocal blend and joyous singing of its choruses, iSing has built a deeply committed musical community in the Bay Area and beyond. iSing has also achieved recognition on the national and global stages through collaborations with world class artists including Angel Blue, Barbara Bonney, Estelí Gomez, Meredith Monk, and Voces8, and as the winner of both new music commission and international competition awards. iSing can be heard on Here I Stand and So Quietly (Innova Recordings), Drift (New Amsterdam Records), and love & light (Avie Records). 

About Cheryl Ann Fulton
A world-class artist and leading pioneer of historical harps, Cheryl Ann Fulton has enjoyed an international performing, recording, teaching, and scholarly research career since 1984. Recognized as a “genuine virtuosa of her instrument,” she performs on and teaches medieval, bray, Baroque (triple and single-action pedal), and contemporary “Celtic” lever harps. She earned BS (pedal harp), MM and DM (historical harp/ musicology) degrees from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. A versatile recording artist, Cheryl can be heard on over 30 albums on major labels, as well as on film scores and video game soundtracks (Braid, Age of Empires) in a broad range of musical styles from Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, classical and contemporary, to Celtic, World and orchestral music. Cheryl has a private studio in the San Francisco Bay area and teaches online, through her own HarpSecrets.com. You can learn more about Cheryl and see her collection of 20 harps at cherylannfulton.com.

About Estelí Gomez
Praised for her “clear, bright voice” (The New York Times) and “artistry that belies her young years” (Kansas City Metropolis), Grammy Award-winning soprano Estelí Gomez has gained recognition as a stylish interpreter of early and contemporary repertoires. Estelí can be heard on the Seattle Symphony’s 2017 recording of Nielsen’s Symphony No. 3, on the first track of Silkroad Ensemble’s Grammy- winning 2016 album Sing Me Home, and on Roomful of Teeth’s self-titled debut album, for which composer Caroline Shaw’s Partita was awarded the 2013 Pulitzer Prize. Estelí received her Bachelor of Arts with honors in music from Yale College, and Master of Music from McGill University, studying with Sanford Sylvan. In addition to maintaining a busy performance schedule, Estelí currently serves as assistant professor of voice at Lawrence University. She is a member of Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists who donate a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about.

love & light Tracklist

1. SIR JAMES MACMILLAN - Os Mutorum [4:13]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
2. GABRIEL JACKSON - Ubi Flumen Praesulis [4:48]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
3.HILDEGARD OF BINGEN - O Virtus Sapientie [3:24]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
    Estelí Gomez, soprano
4.KILE SMITH - Monstra Te Esse Matrem [4:31]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
5. SUNGJI HONG - Lux Aeterna [6:24]
6. ANONYMOUS - O Maria, Stella Maris [4:03]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
    Estelí Gomez, soprano
7. ANONYMOUS (14th c. English) -  Salve Virgo Virginum [2:36]
8. INCHCOLM ANTIPHONER (c.1340, Scotland. Chant arr. for harp by Cheryl Ann Fulton) - O Columba [2:35]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
9. ANDREW SMITH - Ave Regina Caelorum [1:40]
10. ANDREW SMITH - Ave Maria [2:35]
11. ANDREW SMITH - Regina Caeli [2:57]
12. KILE SMITH - Psalm 113 [7:04]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
    Estelí Gomez, soprano
13. KENYON DUNCAN - chorea lucis  [7:01]
    Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp
    Estelí Gomez, soprano

Total time: [53:57]

Dan Merceruio, Producer
Leslie Ann Jones, Dann Thompson, Robert Gatley, Recording Engineers
Dan Merceruio, Editing
Daniel Shores, Mixing and Mastering

Recorded at Mont La Salle Chapel, Napa, CA, May/June 2022

Published by Boosey & Hawkes (01); MusicSpoke (03, 12); Musikforlagene (09–11); unpublished (02, 05, 13)

Photo by Rob Badger & Nita Winter

Rob and Nita use their iconic California landscape and wildflower images to raise awareness, and inspire hope and action regarding land conservation, species extinction and climate change. Discover more of their beautiful images and wildflower project at winterbadger.com and wildflowerbooks.com.

# # #