Reflections
Saturday, February 7, 2026 • 7:30 p.m.
First Free Methodist Church (3200 3rd Ave W)
Harmonia Chorus
William White, conductor
Program
Reena Esmail (*1983)
Tuttarana
Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Reincarnations, Op. 16
Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949)
He Met Her in the Meadow
Sheila Bristow (*1969)
Winter Solstice
Huntley Beyer (*1947)
Reflections [world premiere]
Stephen Paulus (1949–2014)
Pilgrims’ Hymn
Henry Purcell (1659–1695)
Hear My Prayer O Lord, Z. 15
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943)
“Blessed art Thou, O Lord” from All-Night Vigil
Jake Runestad (*1986)
Nyon Nyon
About the Concert
A world premiere by longtime Harmonia collaborator Huntley Beyer anchors this program of choral gems. Beyer’s new composition reflects on life, maturity and aging&8202;—&8202;three of the themes explored by the other works on this varied concert.
This performance will last approximately 75 minutes, with refreshments to follow.
Maestro’s Prelude
— William White
Program Notes
Indian-American composer Reena Esmail writes that the title of Tuttarana “is a conglomeration of two words: the Italian word tutti means ‘all’ or ‘everyone,’ and the term tarana designates a specific Hindustani (North Indian) musical form, whose closest Western counterpart is the ‘scat’ in jazz. Made up of rhythmic syllables, a tarana is the singer’s chance to display agility and dexterity. While a Hindustani tarana is a solo form, I wanted to bring the tarana into an ensemble setting.” The original SSA version was commissioned by Mount Holyoke Glee Club and premiered on January 17, 2015, in South Hadley, Massachusetts; the composer has subsequently made arrangements for SATB chorus (heard this evening), as well as brass quintet.
Sheila Bristow is a church musician, composer and collaborative keyboardist who serves as music director and organist for St. Barnabas Episcopal Church and as keyboardist for Harmonia. The poem on which she based her 2024 choral work Winter Solstice “conjures visions of our primeval ancestors sitting around the fire in the dead of winter,” she writes. “As they sit in this community, they mark the turning of the season, from the longest night of the year to the rebirth of the light. To represent this scene, I have used modern equivalents of basic musical instruments — percussion (vibraphone), plucked strings (harp), winds (clarinet) — combined with communal singing. Between each choral phrase, the clarinet repeats a folk-like melody over a harmonic pattern derived from one of the Lassus motets heard on tonight’s program.” Says conductor William White (who conducted the world premiere with Harmonia on March 9, 2024): “The choral writing is both smooth and dramatic. It’s a knock-out of a little choral piece!”
“In April 1997 I had a one-act opera called The Three Hermits (based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy) premiered at the House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul, Minnesota,” writes composer Stephen Paulus. A friend “encouraged me to have the final chorus in the opera published as a separate work” and “eventually I sort of grudgingly adapted and extracted a short choral work from the opera consisting of just the final chorus. I printed up 1,000 copies at a local print shop” as the first piece published by his own company. These “sold out quickly and we eventually started printing up 3,000 copies and then 10,000 copies at a time.” The work was subsequently sung at funeral services for Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.
The eight-part choral anthem Hear my prayer, O Lord, composed around 1682 by Henry Purcell, sets the first verse of Psalm 102.
“When I was in college,” composer Jake Runestad told the International Choral Bulletin, “I put together a small choir of my friends in order to practice conducting and to perform new music. I wrote a work for them called Nyon Nyon that incorporates unique vocal sounds, beatboxing and nonsense words. At the time, I thought it was just a fun way to make music, but little did I know that this work would become my most-performed piece, receiving thousands of performances around the world!”