Brigham Young University Choirs and Eric Whitacre 2

In 1999 the BYU Singers, conducted by Ronald Staheli, performed two Whitacre pieces—“When David Heard” and “Water Night”—as part of their solo premier at New York’s Carnegie Hall. The success of the BYU Singers: Live at Carnegie Hall recording, demand for more Whitacre music, and the fruitful partnership between the composer and BYU Singers led to Whitacre’s request for the group to record his complete a cappella works in 2001. As a result of the enormous response to that album, the Singers are pleased to release a companion volume, Brigham Young University Choirs and Eric Whitacre 2.

This CD, with BYU Singers’ tracks recorded in the spring of 2008, is essentially volume two of Eric Whitacre: The Complete A Cappella Works, 1991-2001. That recording, released by the BYU Singers seven years ago, continues to be one of the best-selling choral CDs worldwide.

This new recording includes not only Whitacre’s compositions for accompanied choir, but also his a cappella pieces written since 2001. The varied nature of these pieces in this second compilation led to the Singers’ collaboration with the BYU Concert Choir, conducted by Rosalind Hall, and the BYU Women’s Chorus, conducted at the time by David Thomas.

Click on any song title to hear a sample (mp3 format)

Little Birds

A Boy and a Girl

This Marriage

Her Sacred Spirit Soars

Five Hebrew Love Songs:

Temuná
Kalá kallá
Lárov
Éyze shéleg
Rakút

She Weeps over Rahoon

little tree

Animal Crackers:

The Panther
The Cow
The Firefly