News

JOHN MUEHLEISEN’S WWI ORATORIO,
“A KIPLING PASSION,”
WINS THE 2020 AMERICAN PRIZE FOR PROFESSIONAL CHORAL COMPOSERS:
MAJOR WORKS DIVISION

 

I’m honored to announce that my second oratorio, But Who Shall Return Us Our Children – A Kipling Passion, has been awarded the 2020 American Prize for Professional Choral Composers: Major Works Division.

Conceived as a WWI commemorative oratorio, the work was premiered in March 2017 during the centenary of WWI and has received nearly a dozen performances since its premiere.

A recording of the work has been released worldwide and is available in a variety of formats: physical CD, digital download, and on various streaming services. Please consider purchasing the CD from one of the following organizations, without which this recording would not have been possible.

If you’d like to read more details about the work, please download the beautifully designed digital CD booklet here, with insightful program notes by Dr. Gary D. Cannon.

For a perusal score of the full work, please contact the composer via the Contact page on this website.

Featured Works

SONGS to SEE US THROUGH:
Choral works of HUMOR, HEALING, and HOPE

Looking for upbeat and positive choral works to dispel the clouds of COVID? Here’s a newly curated set of my choral works designed to bring some light and hope into our world as we emerge from the darkness of the past year. In that spirit, I offer the works below for your consideration. Keep the faith, my choral brothers and sisters, and continue your ministry of mercy by singing beauty, hope, and resilience into the world to heal wounded souls and to gladden human hearts.

HUMOR
Welcome relief in troubled times
Eat Your Vegetables! – Set One
(Joanne Gunnerson)
SATB choir and Bb clarinet

Eat Your Vegetables! – Set Two
(Joanne Gunnerson)
SATB choir, trumpet, and percussion

HEALING
Singing and gathering together in community
Life has Loveliness to Sell
(Sara Teasdale)
SATB a cappella

Sing to Me!
(Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
SATB div. a cappella

Singing Together
(Jill Clymer)
SATB div. a cappella

That Music Always Round Me
(Walt Whitman)
SATB div. a cappella

The Gathering (“Come in”)
(Robert Bode)
SATB choir, Audience, and Piano
with optional percussion played by singers
(tambourine, triangle, low hand drum)

HOPE
Finding hope and peace in the midst of adversity
A Psalm of Life
(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
SATB div, trumpet, and piano

Hope
(Emily Dickinson)
SSA a cappella

Love Is
(Rabi’a of Basra)
SATB div. and trumpet

Making Peace
(Denise Levertov)
SATB div., soprano + tenor saxophone (one player), and piano

The Stars Still Shine
(Charles Anthony Silvestri)
SATB div. a cappella

Tides of Peace
(Henry van Dyke)
SATB div. a cappella

Performances

2021 Performances

2022 Performances

  • Feb. 12 – The Gathering – newVoices Choir, Phillip Swan, cond. (Appleton, WI)
  • March 10 – Eat Your Vegetables! – Set One – Cleveland Statue University Chorale, Brian Bailey, cond. (Cleveland, OH)
  • March 27 – Eat Your Vegetables! – Set One – Ohio Wesleyan University Choral Art Society, Xin Su, cond. (Delaware, OH)
  • April 2 – De Profundis – Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, Loren Pontén, cond. (Seattle, WA)
  • April 25 – The Soul’s Expression – Baylor University Chamber Singers, Brian Schmidt, cond. (Waco, TX) – TEXAS / MIDWEST PREMIERE
  • May 21 – “Nor I for You” from After Love – Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, Loren Pontén, cond. (Seattle, WA)
  • May 21 – Singing Together – Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, Loren Pontén, cond. (Seattle, WA)
  • June 3 – Sing to Me! – Bay Choral Guild, Sanford Dole, cond. (Campbell, CA)
  • June 4 – Sing to Me! – Bay Choral Guild, Sanford Dole, cond. (San Francisco, CA)
  • June 5 – Sing to Me! – Bay Choral Guild, Sanford Dole, cond. (Palo Alto, CA)
  • June 11 – Hope (poem by Emily Dickinson) for SSA choir a cappella – Seattle Girls Choir: Prime Voci, Sarra Sharif Doyle, cond. (Seattle, CA)
  • June 12 – Imagination! (poem by Phillis Wheatley) for SATB choir a cappella (WORLD PREMIERE) – Commissioned by The Donald Brinegar Singers in honor of the conductor’s 70th birthday, The Donald Brinegar Singers, Donald Brinegar, cond. (Pasadena, CA)
  • June 26 – Hope (poem by Emily Dickinson) for SSA choir a cappella – Seattle Girls Choir: Prime Voci, Jacob Winkler, cond. (Seattle, CA)
  • Various Dates – Hope (poem by Emily Dickinson) for SSA choir a cappella – Seattle Girls Choir: Prime Voci, Jacob Winkler, cond. (Summer 2022 Tour)
  • July 6 (2 performances) – Cantata Caffeinata (libretto by Charles Anthony Silvestri) for Soprano + Baritone Soloists, SATB choir, Soprano Saxophone, Percussion, and Organ (WORLD PREMIERE) – Commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for the Biennial National Convention in Seattle, WA, Anne Lyman, conductor. (Seattle, WA)
  • October 15 – The Gathering – newVoices Choir, Phillip Swan, cond. (Appleton, WI)
  • October 21 – A Psalm of Life – Ensign Chorus, Steve Danielson, cond. (Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA)
  • October 22 – Eat Your Vegetables! – Set Two – Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, Loren Pontén, cond. (Seattle, WA)
  • October (specific date TBD) – Two River Nocturnes: 1. Prairie Waters by Night, 2. River Moons – Sunday Night Singers, Michael McCullough, cond. (Museum of Art + History in Lancaster, CA)
  • December 4 – “O Adonai” and “O King of Nations” from The Great “O” Antiphons – Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter & Paul, Charlene Angelini, cond. (Philadelphia, PA)
  • Date TBD – The Gathering – Unitarian Universalist Congregation Atlanta Choir, Donald Milton, cond. (Atlanta, GA)

2023 Performances

  • Jan. 20 – A Psalm of Life – Broken Arrow High School Chamber Choir, Justin Rosser, cond. (Oklahoma Music Educators State Conference; Oklahoma City, OK)
  • May 13, 2023 – Pilgrim Beatitudes (libretto by Euan Tait) for 2 Vocal Soloists, SATB choir, 2 Percussion, Piano, and Strings (WORLD PREMIERE) – Commissioned by Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble to celebrate their 30th Anniversary Season. (Seattle, WA)
  • Date TBD – Eat Your Vegetables! – Set One – Boychoir of Ann Arbor, John Boonenberg, cond. (Ann Arbor, MI)
  • Date TBD – Eat Your Vegetables! – Set One – Georgre Fox University Choirs, Danielle Warner, cond. (Newberg, OR)

Commissions & Premieres

Recent Premieres

  • June12, 2022 – Imagination! (poem by Phillis Wheatley) for SATB choir a cappella (WORLD PREMIERE) – Commissioned by The Donald Brinegar Singers in honor of the conductor’s 70th birthday, The Donald Brinegar Singers, Donald Brinegar, cond. (Pasadena, CA)
  • July 6, 2022 (2 performances) – Cantata Caffeinata (libretto by Charles Anthony Silvestri) for Soprano + Baritone Soloists, SATB choir, Soprano Saxophone, Percussion, and Organ (WORLD PREMIERE) – Commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for the Biennial National Convention in Seattle, WA, Anne Lyman, conductor. (Seattle, WA)

Upcoming Premieres

  • May 13, 2023 – Pilgrim Beatitudes (libretto by Euan Tait) for Two  Soloists, SATB choir, 2 Percussion, Piano, and Strings (WORLD PREMIERE) – Commissioned by Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble to celebrate their 30th Anniversary Season. (Seattle, WA)
  • Date TBD – Borders, (WORLD PREMIERE of Complete Version) – Commissioned by Matthew Melendez and the Great Bend Center for Music in collaboration with the Distinguished Concerts International New York Premiere Project, with support from the Mason County Washington Historic Preservation Commission and Sierra Pacific Industries – Great Bend Chorale and Youth Chorale; Tess Altiveros, sop; Matthew Melendez, cond.
  • Date TBD – And Music Shall Untune the Sky for choir and soprano saxophone (WORLD PREMIERE) – Commissioned by Brian Gorelick. Performing ensemble TBD.

* Please contact composer for perusal scores of works listed above.