The Dale Warland Singers
Besides its pristine and peerless signature sound, the Dale Warland Singers is also renowned for rejuvenating the choral genre. The ensemble commissioned an astounding 270 works in 32 years – more than any other classical musical organization in the country.
In total, more than 150 notable composers have worked with the DWS, including Grammy-winners Dominick Argento and Libby Larsen, Stephen Paulus, Carol Barnett, Aaron Jay Kernis, George Shearing, Dave Brubeck, Peter Schickele, Alice Parker, Kirke Mechem, Mary Ellen Childs, Augusta Read Thomas, Jennifer Higdon, Janika Vandervelde, Bernard Rands, Emma Lou Diemer, Brent Michael Davids, Frank Ferko and Eric Whitacre.
In its final season alone, DWS premiered 16 new works by 14 American composers – eight of whom live in the Twin Cities. The Dale Warland Singers annual Choral Ventures™ Program, created in 1987, has awarded over $162,000 in commissions to 60 talented emerging composers from all over the USA.
In 1992, the Dale Warland Singers became the first-ever recipient of the Margaret Hillis Achievement Award for Choral Excellence. The group’s extraordinary efforts on behalf of composers and new music resulted in ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming in 1992, 1993, 1996, and 1999.
In addition to offering an annual subscription season in the Twin Cities, the Dale Warland Singers toured throughout the United States and abroad. In 1990, the ensemble traveled to Stockholm and Helsinki to represent North America at the Second World Symposium on Choral Music. In July, 2002, the DWS made its debut at the Ravinia Festival (Chicago), and performed at the American Society of Harpists National Conference and the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music, both held in the Twin Cities. In 2003, the Singers performed again with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during a tour of the western United States. Its Spring 2004 concerts in Ohio, Florida and West Virginia received rave reviews.
The Dale Warland Singers regularly collaborated with many other Twin Cities arts organizations including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies and the James Sewell Ballet. The choir worked under the batons of the late Robert Shaw, Hugh Wolff, Edo de Waart, Leonard Slatkin, Bobby McFerrin, David Zinman, Roger Norrington and James Conlon, to name a few.
The ensemble also appeared on Garrison Keillor’s original A Prairie Home Companion and has been featured on Public Radio International’s Saint Paul Sunday. The annual Echoes of Christmas and Cathedral Classics broadcasts reached listeners nationwide. Some of these performances are available online archived through Minnesota Public Radio.
The final recording of the Dale Warland Singers Lux Aurumque was released in March 2007. The Singers released Harvest Home: Songs from the Heart in September 2005. This recording debuted at number 11 on the Classical Billboard charts in December. Reincarnations, a recording of American choral classics, was debuted at their final concert (2004). In 2003, the ensemble released its first “live” recording, Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, as well as the Grammy nominated Walden Pond, containing three major choral works written by Pulitzer-Prize winning composer, Dominick Argento. Christmas With the Dale Warland Singers, which the Seattle Times described as “impeccable, full of vibrant life and blended like a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Grande Dame,” was released in 2002.
These recordings join some 24 other Dale Warland Singers recordings including Bernstein and Britten, which contains Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, along with Stephen Paulus’ Pilgrims’ Hymn and movements from Albright’s Chichester Mass. Another favorite, Blue Wheat, is a collection of American folk music. Also among the Singers’ lauded releases is December Stillness, which BBC Music Magazine gave its highest rating for performance and sound, calling it, “… splendid, melting stuff.” The South Jersey’s Courier-Post called the 1994 release of Cathedral Classics, “an unmatched musical experience,” and The Oregonian stated simply, “peerless.” Earlier recordings by the Singers include, Fancie, A Rose in Winter, Christmas Echoes, Vols. 1 and II, Carols for Christmas, Choral Currents, as well as 13 others.
Recording History
1980
Stephen Paulus: And Must I Now Depart Then?
Paul Fetler: Madman’s Song
Paul Fetler: Wild Swans
James Walker: The Electronic Alice, Part I
20th Century American Eclectic Mass
(movements by Randall Thompson, Vincent Persichetti, Leonard Bernstein, Joseph Ott, Dale Warland)
1981
Claudio Monteverdi: Sestina (Lagrime d’amante al sepolcro dell’amata)
Frank Martin: Mass for Double Choir
1982
Alfred Janson: Nocturne
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Mass in G minor
Ingvar Lidholm: …a Riveder le Stelle
Benjamin Britten: A Shepherd’s Carol
Benjamin Britten: Chorale
Alfred Burt: All on a Christmas Morning
arr. Stephen Paulus: The First Noel
arr. John Rutter: Cradle Song
Elizabeth Poston: Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
1985
Thomas Tallis: The Lamentation of Jeremiah, Part I (arr. James Erb: Shenandoah)
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs-Full Fathom Five
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs-The Cloud-Capp’d Towers
Ralph Vaughan Williams: Three Shakespeare Songs-Over Hill, Over Dale
1986
Irving Fine: The Hour-Glass (excerpts from)
Luca Marenzio: Giá torna a rallegrar (Now Once More to All the Earth)
Ildebrando Pizzetti: Due Composizione Corali (Two Choral Compositions)
Gioacchino Rossini: Toast pour le nouvel an (Toast for the New Year)
arr. Gail Kubik: Oh, dear! What can the matter be?
1988
1995
Rachmaninoff: All Night Vigil, Op. 37 (Vespers): 14. Thou Didst Rise
Frank Martin: Mass: Gloria
Frank Martin: Mass: Agnus Dei
Gregorio Allegri: Miserere mei, Deus (Psalm 91)
Veljo Tormis: Jaanilaul (St. John’s Song)
Herbert Howells: Requiem (excerpts from)
Randall Thompson: Alleluia
2004
Eric Whitacre: Lux Aurumque
Herbert Howells: Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing
John Rutter: Hymn to the Creator of Light
Vytautus Miskínis: O sacrum convivium
Nikolai Golovanov: Otche Nash (Our Father)
Morten Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium
Carol Barnett: McKay (from An American Thanksgiving)
The Dale Warland Singers Recordings
Royalties from the sale of every Dale Warland Singers recording on Gothic are donated to the Dale Warland Singers Fund for New Choral Music, an endowment administered by the American Composers Forum. Earnings from the Fund are used to commissioning, performance and recording of new choral works.
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Argento: Walden Pond/Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Bernstein & Britten / Dale Warland Singers
$11.95 -
Blue Wheat: A Harvest of American Folk Songs / Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Carol Barnett: Treasures from the Archives
$16.99 -
Cathedral Classics
$11.95 -
Christmas Echoes v1 – Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Christmas Echoes v2 – Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Christmas with the Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Cosmos Trio: American Premieres
$12.95 -
December Stillness / Dale Warland Singers
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Harvest Home – Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Lux Aurumque – Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Noel: A Musical Feast / A Loft & Gothic Sampler
$18.98 -
Rachmanioff’s All-Night Vigil – Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
Reincarnations – Dale Warland Singers
$18.98 -
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The Complete Dale Warland Singers on Gothic!