Concerts will showcase a dozen new songs of peace

By Fred Crafts
From The Register-Guard

Robert Kyr's strong words resonate like a call to arms. 
" It is time to wage peace - not war," says Kyr, the professor who heads the composition department at the University of Oregon School of Music and runs the Oregon Bach Festival's Composer Symposium.

"The waging of peace is a dynamic process in which music has a crucial role to play. By performing and hearing music from around the world, we are taking an active part in promoting cultural understanding - and, ultimately, peace - between the diverse peoples of humankind."

Robert Kyr, top, will be 'Waging Peace Through Singing' in three concerts this week. Assisting him will be composers, from bottom, Murray Schafer of Canada, Alberto Grau of Venezuela and Veljo Tormis of Estonia.

With armed conflicts and terrorist activities breaking out everywhere, peace is certainly something the world could use more of. Kyr believes choral music "is an especially moving way to experience the unity within humankind, since it has the power to bring us together as peoples of all races, ethnicities and nationalities.

"At the beginning of the new millennium, humanity is faced with the global challenge of creating a just and sustainable peace," Kyr says. "From the Mideast to the Balkans to the Himalayas to Central Africa, the world is inflamed with terrorism and numerous local and regional conflicts.

"In this period of war, it is more urgent than ever to wage peace."

To that end, Kyr is heading up the festival's "Waging Peace Through Singing" program, which a year ago invited composers of all nationalities to create choral music on peace-related texts.

By the project's deadline on Feb. 1, composers in more than 30 countries had submitted some 7,000 works. The program's Internet site had received more than 25,000 hits.

Many of the entries were selected for awards (the decisions can be found at www.iwagepeace.com). Of those, a dozen were chosen to be performed in three festival concerts: at 8 p.m. Monday and at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday in Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave.

The project also has invited three internationally renowned composers to address the symposium:

Veljo Tormis of Estonia - Kyr describes him as "a national hero for his work; he has endeavored to preserve the ancient song traditions of the Estonians and many of the Baltic peoples through his compositions.

"During the period of severe Soviet oppression (in the late 1970s and '80s), he created works which affirmed the cultural heritage and very soul of the Estonian people. With great courage, he waged peace through the creation and performance of music during one of the darkest times in the history of his people."

Alberto Grau of Venezuela - "He is considered to be one of the greatest living choral composers today," Kyr says. "His works celebrate the unity of humankind, such as the vision espoused in `Sing, Choirs of the World,' " which took "highest honors" in the "Waging Peace" competition. It will be performed on Monday.

"He and his wife, renowned conductor Maria Guinand, have created several remarkable programs for youth music in their native Venezuela. They have created orchestras and choruses for `youth at risk' throughout the country, and these have inspired a virtual social and cultural transformation.

"Truly, their work embodies the spirit of `waging peace through music' - instrumental as well as vocal."

Murray Schafer of Canada - "He is considered one of the greatest living choral composers and a musical visionary, especially in the area of choral composition," Kyr says. "He is the founder of the remarkable World Soundscape Project, which united the social, scientific and artistic aspects of sound in a new concept - acoustic ecology - which he discusses in his most important book, `The Tuning of the World.' "

Those three will not be the only composers on hand for the symposium. An additional 38 composers will participate. Some of their new choral works will be sung by the Oregon Repertory Singers of Portland in Monday's and Saturday's concerts.

Monday's program will consist of music by composers from the 18th century to the present day, including William Billings ("Easter Anthem"), Stephen Foster ("Ah, May the Red Rose Live Always"), George Gershwin ("My Man's Gone Now"), Duke Ellington ("It Don't Mean a Thing") and Samuel Barber ("The Coolin").

In addition, Kyr has provided two of his own works: "A Vision of Peace," based on written comments from the high school chorus members on the tragic events of Sept. 11; and "O Jerusalem," a plea for peace in which Islamic, Judaic and Christian chant traditions are woven into a music that affirms the cultural and spiritual connection between the peoples of those faiths.

Also scheduled is a set of five works from the "Waging Peace Through Singing" project, pieces by Klaudia Pasternak (Poland), Elizabeth Alexander (Ithaca, N.Y.), Ann Millikan (Oakland, Calif.), Tormis and Grau.

On Saturday, the 11 a.m. concert will feature works by Charles Ives ("Sixty-Seventh Psalm") and composer-in-residence Schafer ("Snow Forms"), along with six works by symposium participants.

The 3 p.m. Saturday concert will include works by Aaron Copland ("Lark") and Schafer ("Gamelan"), as well as different set of six works by symposium participants.

Of the 12 symposium pieces, six are for chorus and will be sung by the Oregon Repertory Singers, under the direction of Gil Seeley. The remaining six are instrumental pieces that will be played by the Third Angle New Music Ensemble.

Tormis, Grau, Millikan and Alexander will be honored at a reception following Monday's concert; Schafer will be feted at a luncheon at 1 p.m. Saturday in the School of Music courtyard.

Tickets for the Monday and Saturday concerts are $12 for seniors and students and $15 for adults; Saturday luncheon tickets are included with admission to both of the July 6 concerts.

All tickets are available through the Hult Center box office, 682-5000.