In his role as advisor on composition to the American Choral Directors Association, Sametz has designed a series of panels devoted to composition of choral music, including masterclasses for composers participating in the Brock Student Composition Competition, Canadian and American choral music, the Composing Conductor, and Business Models for Composers in the Age of the Internet. Guest speakers include Dale Warland, Libby Larsen and Barlow Bradford.
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Sametz leads The Princeton Singers in concerts in China
In September, 2016, The Princeton Singers headlined the Fourth International Choral Festival in Shenzhen, China. At the invitation of the Chinese government, Sametz led masterclasses for over 100 Chinese choral directors and conducted The Princeton Singers in a concert of American works at the state-of-the-art Shenzhen concert hall.
While in China, The Princeton Singers also took part in a flash mob, which included a rousing rendition of the finale of Beethoven’s Ninth, sung in Chinese and accompanied by fifty Chinese dulcimers. Memories were made!
A Child’s Requiem CD scheduled for release in March of 2017
The recording of “A Child’s Requiem” featuring The Princeton Singers, Princeton Girlchoir, soprano Tami Petti, treble Casey Durso, and tenor David Vanderwal under the direction of Steven Sametz will be available through princetonsingers.org in March.
The work honors those slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.
Video of “A Child’s Requiem”
A video of “A Child’s Requiem” from the performance by Lehigh University Choral Arts on November 7, 2015 is now available. Videography by Steven Lichak adds a new dimension to the work, displaying children’s drawings and writings as part of the presentation.
A Child’s Requiem to be performed by the Metropolitan Chorale in Boston
A Child’s Requiem to be performed by the Metropolitan Chorale in Boston, under the direction of Lisa Graham, May 12, 2017. For ticket information, check http://www.metropolitanchorale.org/season.
Lehigh University Choral Arts to tour to Spain, May 2017
Steven Sametz will be directing eighty members of Lehigh University Choral Arts on tour in Grenada, Cordoba, Sevilla and Malaga, May 22-June 1.
Princeton Singers to perform Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil
The Princeton Singers will perform Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, in concert at Trinity Church Princeton on April 29th under the direction of Steven Sametz.
The Premiere of “A Child’s Requiem”
“A Child’s Requiem” was premiered Thursday, March 5th at the Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts in Storrs with The University of Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and University of Connecticut Concert Choir, Chorus Angelicus Children’s Choir of Torrington and soloists Jillian Cowles, treble; Janani Sridhar, soprano; and Gregory Zavracky, tenor, under the direction of Dr Jamie Spillane. It will be presented again Saturday at the Palace Theater in Stamford.
In the news
WTNH – Westport-born composer dedicates piece to Sandy Hook, Newtown
WNPR – “A Child’s Requiem” Offers Consolation After Sandy Hook
The Newtown Bee – ‘A Child’s Requiem’ At UConn And Stamford Center for the Arts
A Child’s Requiem
Sametz was commissioned by the University of Connecticut to compose a piece for chorus and orchestra. The libretto is to be based on writings of elementary school children in response to tragedy and loss. The work was premiered in the spring of 2015, in conjunction with an exhibition of children’s artwork.
Below are two news segments about the new piece. Read the AP story here.
CBS News
Associated Press
Sametz to be in residence at Yaddo, Feb-March 2014
Sametz has been invited as a Fellow at the Yaddo Artist Colony in the Spring of 2014, where he will be concentrating on his new A Child’s Requiem during sabbatical leave from Lehigh University.
Founded in 1900, Yaddo is an artists’ community dedicated to nurturing the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment. Yaddo offers residencies to professional creative artists from all nations and backgrounds working in one or more of the following media: choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance art, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video.
For more information about Yaddo, see http://yaddo.org
