Nov. 19, 2004
Contact: Hunter Lillis
(805) 756-5999
'Song of Luke' To Be Performed at Cal Poly Dec. 7
SAN LUIS OBISPO - Composer Cyprian Consiglio, a Roman Catholic monk of the Camaldolese monastic community, and the Animas Chamber Ensemble and Chorus from Durango, Colo., will perform "The Song of Luke," an oratorio based on the nativity according to the Gospel of Luke. Showtime is at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7, in the Spanos Theatre at Cal Poly.
"What I have always loved about the 'Gospel of Luke' is that everyone seems to burst into song," Father Consiglio said. "There is a tradition that Luke may have been an artist, perhaps even the first iconographer, since he paints such stunning tableaus with his words; but most assuredly he was a poet and a singer."
"My idea was to write a cantilation of the Gospels for the Christmas cycle, with optional parts for soloists and choir, and to tie them together with the great canticles, so that they could also be performed together as a program of sorts," Consiglio said.
Consiglio is an esteemed musician, composer, author and teacher. He lived for 10 years at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, serving for eight years as liturgist and choir director and teacher. He currently lives at Holy Cross Church in Santa Cruz, writing, composing, touring, teaching and preaching.
He has five collections of original music recorded and published through Oregon Catholic Press, and another collection with his longtime collaborator, percussionist John Pennington, released through the Equilibrium label.
A student of the writings of Bede Griffiths, Consiglio also has a great love for comparative religion, has done work in inter-faith ritual, and has been to India twice to study and teach music and liturgy.
Pennington is also performing with the Animas Chamber Ensemble and Chorus. He is an associate professor of music at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo., and is artistic director of the Animas Music Festival. He holds degrees from the Universities of Michigan and Arizona, and Arizona State University.
He performs with the Music in the Mountains International Music Festival, Animas Music Festival, and the San Juan Symphony. He has performed with the Arizona Opera, the Santa Fe Opera and the Arizona Ballet, as well as with the Phoenix, Ann Arbor, Saginaw and Tucson symphonies.
Pennington has recorded with Ensemble 21, Summit, Cristo, OCP, and Equilibrium labels. Recent releases include Old News; Desert Songs, with the Arizona Repertory Singers; and Transformations, a collection of musical stories he composed and performed.
He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet the Composer Series, and was the 1996 Colorado Council on the Arts Co-Vision Composition Recognition Award recipient.
"The Song of Luke" premiered at the Animas Music Festival in 2002. The performance at Cal Poly is sponsored by the Newman Catholic Center and local residents Winifred Boyce, Deborah and John Spatafore, and the Skaggs Foundation.
Tickets are $18 to $10 and can be bought at the Performing Arts
Ticket Office from 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. weekdays and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday or by calling
756-2787.
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