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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Every composer has one wonderful, heartfelt work that was overlooked.  Most composers have more than one. They are pieces that were possibly presented at the wrong time, to the wrong person, in the wrong setting.  Pieces that end up forgotten.  The upcoming recording Modern Masters by Octarium plans to resurrect those lost gems, polish them and present them anew.

Octarium's Artistic Director, Dr. Krista Blackwood, enjoys mining for underperformed musical material.  Her programs have consistently offered listeners a taste of the obscure.  Whether the group is commissioning brand new pieces specifically for their voices, altering existing pieces for eight soloists, or digging the depths of choral libraries for works unknown, the result is always a concert with surprises around each turn.

For this recording project, their fourth, Dr. Blackwood contacted a variety of composers.  "I asked them which of their pieces they thought had not received enough exposure and/or which pieces they would like to hear Octarium sing.  The response was overwhelming." 

Ten composer/collaborators where chosen from the pool of respondents.  All of them masters indeed.  Rene Clausen, John Corigliano, Daniel Gawthrop, Stephen Hatfield, Libby Larsen, Morten Lauridsen, Stephen Paulus, Steven Stucky and Eric Whitacre will all be represented on the recording.

In addition, Opera composer, Mark Adamo will also be included.  Both Blackwood and Octarium Alto Andrea Coleman have had the pleasure of singing Jo in his opera Little Women.  (Blackwood was the second only mezzo soprano to perform the role.)   Adamo reworked his two contributions specifically for the group.  "Originally written as one piece, Canticle, he divided it into two (Pied Beauty and The Poet Speaks of Praising) and re-voiced the entire thing.  "The piece originally featured male trebles so minor adjustments were made to feature the female sopranos of Octarium.  It was nothing short of miraculous...they are fantastic pieces." says Blackwood.

The singers working on the project come from Seattle, Boston, Springfield, MO and locally from Lawrence and Kansas City to rehearse and meld into eight as one. Ashley Winters and her husband Ben Winters, Renee Stanley, Andrea Coleman, Leah Jenkins, Jason Parr, Jay Van Blaricum all met and worked together at K.U.  Brady Shepherd joined the group when Blackwood was music director at St. Andrews Episcopal Church. 

The recording is scheduled to launch by mid-November 2009 and will be available on itunes a few months after that.  Audiences will be able to hear the release concert Modern Masters on November 14^th at Visitation Catholic Church and November 15^th at Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Lawrence. 

Singing together from college, through adulthood as they grow from students to parents to teachers themselves, their long tenure has mellowed their maturing sound.   Just entering their prime, this ensemble is set to take center stage, Nationally, very soon. 

Octarium
Modern Masters
November 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Visitation Catholic Church
5141 Main Street, Kansas City, MO

November 15 at 2:30 p.m.
Corpus Christi Church
6001 Bob Billings Parkway, Lawrence, KS

For tickets call 816-729-6516 or online at www.octarium.org

By Megan Browne Helm

Classical, Vocal and Theatre Contributor

Megan Browne Helm grew up singing, dancing and acting.  Inspired by Emma Kirkby as a high school student in St. Louis she went on to study voice and sing with the Collegium Musicum at the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she also had a radio show of contemporary classical music on WOBC.  At the University of Kansas she had the pleasure of working with former Kings’ Singer, Simon Carrington in his Collegium Musicum and Oread consort. Years later, she was a choral fellow at the Yale School of Music’s  Norfolk Chamber Music Festival.  She is currently singing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under the direction of Charles Bruffy. 

 As a freelance music and culture writer her work can be found on KCMetropolis.org, presentmagazine.com, the Lawrence Journal World, Shawnee Magazine, Leawood Lifestyle Magazine and KC Parent.  She was one of 26 journalists in the country chosen as a NEA Institute Fellow for Classical Music and Opera at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. 

Her current interest is how classical music remains relevant through active collaborations with artists in different fields, including science.  She also sees a connection between classical music, travel and food as a way to engage all of the senses in a 360 degree cultural experience.  She blogs at raworganum.wordpress.com.