- And now it is my distinct privilege to introduce
to you the 2022 WSMA High School State Honors Mixed Choir
and their distinguished conductor, Lee Nelson.
[audience cheering]
[choir singing in Hindi]
[audience cheering]
[choir singing in Latin]
[gentle piano music]
[choir singing in Latin]
[audience applauding]
- Good evening.
What a joy it is to share the hard work of these students
since last June, and then an intense day and a half
of rehearsing some very, very difficult repertoire
of varied styles and different composers.
The first piece was not "Domine, Ad Adjuvandum Me"
as marked in your program.
The first piece was "Tuttaranna" by Reena Esmail.
And the rest of the program then does follow suit
as written in the program.
We'll continue our concert with Sergei Rachmaninov's
beautiful "Bogoroditse Devo" from the All Night Vigil.
[choir singing in Russian]
[audience applauding]
[piano begins]
[piano music crescendos]
* Wake up
* My spirit
* Wake up
* My spirit
* I myself will waken the dawn
* Wake up my spirit
* I myself will waken the dawn
* Exalt Yourself above the heavens O God *
* And Your glory over all the earth *
* Wake up
* Wake up my spirit
* Wake up
* I say wake up
* Wake up my spirit
* Wake up
* I myself will waken the dawn
* I will sing praise to You among the nations *
* Awake lute and harp
* I will sing praise to You among the nations *
* Awake lute and harp
* I will sing praise to You among the nations *
* Awake lute and harp
* I will sing praise to You among the nations *
* Awake lute and harp
* I will sing melody
* Wake up my spirit
* I myself will waken the dawn
* Exalt Yourself above the heavens O God *
* And Your glory over all the earth *
* Wake up wake up wake up my spirit *
* Wake up wake up
* Wake up
* Wake up wake up wake up I say wake up *
[audience applauding]
* Alleluia alleluia
* All shall be Amen and Alleluia *
* All shall be Amen
* We shall rest and we shall see *
* We shall see and we shall know *
* We shall know and we shall love *
* Behold our end which is no end *
* End which is no end
* Alleluia Alleluia
* All shall be Amen
* Amen
[audience applauding]
[audience cheering]
- The next piece in the concert is a setting
of the timeless poem, "I Carry Your Heart"
by composer Connor Koppin.
Connor was a student at Wartburg
and was bitten by the composition bug while on tour,
singing a composition by another college student
that we had on our Wartburg Choir tour that year.
And so Connor came home and started writing music
and would bring in a piece almost every week to show me.
And every time, "Oh, this is looking really good, Connor,
let's try this."
We got three really good songs all in one right now.
Let's do, you know a different song for each one.
And one day he walked in with his setting of,
"I Carry Your Heart."
And we played through it and went all the way through it.
And he was waiting for me to say,
"Oh we've got too many of this or that."
And I looked at him, I said,
"Connor this is your first real piece.
Let's go make copies of this
and sing it tonight in rehearsal."
And this launched a career for Connor as a composer,
as a music educator.
And for these students, we've talked a lot
about what this song means and what this poem means,
and it's inspired in them feelings of who they carry
in their heart as they sing
whether it be a family member, a parent, a sibling
or a music teacher who has inspired them
to go above and beyond their perceived potential.
And in fact, most of these students
if not all of these students,
can pinpoint an elementary music teacher,
a middle school teacher, a high school teacher
a piano teacher, a voice teacher who has changed their lives
for the better because they introduced them to music.
We dedicate this to all of those people
who've inspired and instilled that spark
for music and the hearts of all of these on the stage.
Connor Koppin's "I Carry Your Heart."
* I carry your heart with me
* I carry it in my heart
* In my heart
* I am never without it
* Anywhere I go you go
* I carry your heart my dear
* I carry your heart with me
* My dear
* I carry it in my heart
* I am never without it
* I carry your heart
* I fear no fate
* For you are my fate
* You are my fate I want no world *
* I want no world
* For beautiful you are my world *
* My world
* I want no world
* For beautiful you are my world *
* My dear
* I carry your heart with me
* I carry it in my heart
* In my heart
* I am never without it
* Anywhere I go you go
* I carry your heart
* I carry your heart my dear
* I carry your heart with me
* I carry it in my heart
* My dear
[audience applauding]
[soft piano music]
* You know that death came a-knockin' on my mother's door *
* Singin': Come on, mother, ain't ya ready to go *
* And my mother stooped down, buckled up her shoes *
* And she moved on down by the Jordan stream *
* And then she shout Hallelujah *
* Done, done my duty
* Got on my travelin' shoes
* You know that death came a-knockin' on my sister's door *
* Singin': Come on, sister, ain't ya ready to go *
* And my sister stooped down, buckled up her shoes *
* And she moved on down by the Jordan stream *
* And then she shout
* Hallelujah
* Done, done my duty
* Got on my travelin' shoes
* Hey hey
* You know that death came a-knockin'
* On my brother's door
* Singin': Come on, brother, ain't ya ready to go *
* And my brother stooped down, buckled up his shoes *
* And he moved on down by the Jordan stream *
* And then he shout
* Hallelujah
* Done, done my duty
* Got on my travelin' shoes
* You know that death came a-knockin' *
* On my neighbor's door
* Singin: Come on, neighbor, ain't ya ready to go *
* And my neighbor stooped down, buckled up his shoes *
* And he moved on down by the Jordan stream *
* And then he shout
* Hallelujah
* Done, done my duty
* Got on my travelin' shoes
* Hey hey
* You know that death came a-knockin' *
* On my preacher's door
* Singin': Come on, preacher, ain't ya ready to go *
* And my preacher stooped down, buckled up his shoes *
* And he moved on down by the Jordan stream *
* And then he shout
* Hallelujah, hallelujah
* Done, done my duty
* Hallelujah
* Got on my travelin' shoes
* You know that death came a-knockin' on my front door *
* Singin': "Come on, sister, ain't ya ready to go *
* I'm gonna stoop right down, buckle up my shoes *
* And I'll move on down by the Jordan stream *
* And then I'll shout
* Hallelujah
* Done, done my duty
* Got on my travelin' shoes
[audience cheering]
- I'd like to echo the words of my colleague,
Dr. Fuelberth and the amazing Treble Choir performance
that was just watching backstage,
we got to watch on the screen
and I was just blown away by the musicality.
We didn't get to hear each other except for last night
we did a little exchange concert.
And so to hear the full program was such a joy
and so inspiring.
And the words that came to my mind as I listened
to the Treble Choir and as I got to work
with these students is we all started as strangers
and we ended as friends and as family.
And the words, "Great music makes great friends
and great friends make great music" came to mind.
We started as strangers and music brought us together.
And music has tied these students in a way that will
never be forgotten.
They'll never forget this experience.
I know I won't.
I'm so grateful to each and every one of them
for their hard work, for their dedication.
So many of them have shared stories
about how music has impacted their lives
and how these words have helped them
through some really difficult times
over the past few months and how they'll carry
these words and these notes with them.
And that's why music is so important, right?
It's because it teaches us what it is to be human,
what it is to live in the human condition
and how to interact with our own feelings
and our own thoughts,
but then also to be in someone else's shoes.
And to also look in from someone else's perspective.
Music is so, so important and all of the music directors
out there who prepared these students
who work with these students on a day-to-day basis,
thank you to echo Dr. Fuelberth.
Let's give all of the music educators
another round of applause.
[audience applauding]
I will echo all of the thanks that came before
with this team.
This was not anything that I was able to
accomplish on my own.
There was a whole team of us,
and so Kathy Bader, Bethany Meyer
Ryan Moldenhauer, John Popkey, and of course Kira Morrissey.
What an amazing team of people who have become dear friends.
And I thank them for their leadership
and their and their help and their advice
and their ideas to bring this music to life.
To Tim and Sarah and Carrie and the other Tim,
thank you to the Wisconsin Honors Project
for inviting me to be part of this.
To all the parents who have given time and effort
to to be here and to support your students
in lessons and then choir and gone to all of their concerts,
you have no idea how important it is for them
to have someone out there in the audience to sing for.
And so we thank you for being here
and supporting music in your schools
and continuing to lift up why we need
to do this every single day.
In the school we were at rehearsing last night,
there was a sign, and I'll get it wrong,
but it said along the lines,
"Everything that you need to do to succeed
in this world is being taught in the music classroom."
[audience applauding]
And the more you think about it
the more real and the more truth you find in it.
Self-discipline, confidence, working with others
agreeing to disagree, letting go of yourself
for the greater good of your neighbors.
How to fail, how to succeed, how to celebrate.
And that's what this program is all about.
Hope, celebration, as Dr. Fuelberth said,
this is our future, these are our future engineers,
political science majors, historians,
social workers, exercise, science, architects.
What else did I talk to you about today?
All these people have come up and I'm like:
Are you gonna be a music teacher?
No, I wanna go work for this major corporation.
Oh my goodness, we are in good hands
with these folks behind us.
I'm so grateful to all of you.
I can't wait to watch the world
in which you build with love and compassion
and hope because you are our future leaders in so many ways.
And so thank you for this.
We're gonna close our concert with piece called simply
"Rejoice."
[soft piano music]
* O clap your hands all ye people *
* Shout onto God with a voice of triumph *
* For the battle has just began *
* And the victory is already won *
* Raise up a song and sing out His praises *
* Rejoice
[upbeat music]
* Rejoice, sing praises to the Lord our God *
* Rejoice, there's power in the name of the Lord *
* He will see you through it all just have faith *
* He will answer your call
* Rejoice and sing out His praises *
* Come on sing rejoice
* Again I say rejoice
* Rejoice, sing praises to the Lord our God *
* Rejoice, there's power in the name of the Lord *
* He will see you through it all just have faith *
* He will answer your call
* Rejoice and sing out His praises *
* Come on sing rejoice
* Again I say rejoice
* Come bless the Lord with all of your heart *
* And forever sing His praise
* Enter into His gate with singing and rejoicing *
* And into His court with praise *
* O magnify the Lord with me
* And let's exalt His name together *
* We are His people and the sheep of His pasture *
* Be thankful unto Him and bless His name *
* Rejoice, sing praises to the Lord our God *
* Rejoice, there's power in the name of the Lord *
* He will see you through it all just have faith *
* He will answer your call
* So let's give Him praise
* Clap your hands today
* Let us rejoice and sing out His praises *
* Rejoice, again I say rejoice
[choir cheering]
* For the battle is done
* And the victory is won
* For the battle is done
* And the victory is won
* O clap your hands all ye people *
* Shout onto God with a voice of triumph *
* O taste and see that the Lord is good *
* Be thankful and bless His Holy name *
* Rejoice, rejoice
* So give Him praise
* Clap your hands today
* Let's
* Let's rejoice and sing out His praises *
* Rejoice
[audience cheering]
[audience applauding]
[all cheering]