Organist and composer Trent Johnson (BM ’89, GPD ’91, Organ) premiered his song cycle Songs of Irony for tenor and piano, with tenor Rufus Muller in May at the Watchung Arts Center in New Jersey. This song cycle was inspired by the poems of Stephen Crane. In March, Johnson previewed his concerto for clarinet, bird whistles, chorus and orchestra entitled Cantus Avium Solamen Est (Birdsong Brings Relief to My Longing) in Westfield, N.J. The clarinet soloist was Andrew Lamy of the NJSO, with the Oratorio Singers of Westfield, and members of the NJ Symphony Orchestra conducted by Johnson. The work sets poems of Rilke, Rumi, and Laura Richards to music, with bird inspired motives and actual bird calls.
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