PNW Vocal Company

05/27/2021

05/27/2021

Furusato - Japanese Folk Song

Emila did a solo song to honors Asian Pacific Heritage Month by singing a Japanese Folk Song - "Furusato."

05/27/2021

Arirang - Korean Folk Song

PNW's Vocal Company honors Asian Pacific Heritage Month by singing a Korean folk song - "Arirang". This is our last song for the school year as well. Have a great summer, and see you next school semester.

05/27/2021

Jasmine Flower - Chinese Folk Song. Sung By University Choir

PNW's University Choir honors Asian Pacific Heritage Month by singing a Chinese folk song - "Jasmine Flower." This is our last song for the school year as well. Have a great summer, and see you next school semester.

05/12/2021

PNW's Vocal Company Choir celebrates Diversity Month, which was in April.

05/01/2021

April was Celebrate Diversity Month! This month we acknowledged the similarities and differences of different composers. So the PNW Choir decided for our upcoming virtual performance to recognize people with disabilities. Check out our two honored composers:

Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
-A Russian pianist and conductor in the Romantic era. Rachmaninoff became successful as a teenager and had written operas and composed works with his idol Piotr Tchaikovsky. But he dealt with many hardships that influenced his music to be more dark and melancholy than his audiences enjoyed. In the end, his first symphony premiere was so horrifically conducted drunk by Alexander Glazunov that Rachmaninoff fell into a severe depression. He did not compose again for three years until he decided to write his second symphony in dedication to his psychologist that helped him recover. His Piano Concerto No.2 is today arguably the most beloved concerto in western music.

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
-A British organist, violinist, and violist. Williams' work was so impactful that almost every genre got influenced by it. His music career began by traveling the countryside and notating some of the most popular British folk songs and carols, passed down through generations. Only three years later, he volunteered to join the army during World War I. There Williams commissioned the Royal Garrison Artillery where the weapons would cause him to have severe hearing damage that would only worsen throughout his life. No matter, he kept composing and having a successful career until he passed in his late 80s.

03/31/2021

PNW University Choir celebrates Women's History Month by singing Wandl'ich.

03/31/2021

PNW Vocal Company celebrates Women's History Month with the song Through the House.

03/29/2021

Amy Beach (1867-1944)
Get to know our other honored female composer!
Amy Marcy Beach was an American pianist and composer in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Beach had a great musical talent when she was only a toddler and, by the age of four, she had already started composing. While she was away for the summer at her grandfather’s, she memorized simple waltzes she made up in her head without a piano. After her family moved, she was able to study with some of the leading pianists in Boston. Amy's compositions, Mass in E-flat major and Gaelic Symphony, attracted the attention of many critics. Although many praised her talents, critics used their platform to bring down her works and comment against getting her a music education in Europe because of her s*x. Unfortunately, she would keep facing adversity as a female musician even within her own marriage. Although her husband supported her career as a composer, he requested that she limited herself to no longer teaching piano lessons and restricting the number of her public performances. Arguably she was very disappointed but instead took it upon herself to start an independent study with any books on music she could find. Amy hit her turning point after her husband and mother died just a few months apart and decided going to Europe would help her recover. There she would establish herself as a serious pianist and composer and encouraged female contributions to music. Ultimately she made achievements, such as becoming the first American woman to publish a symphony, founding the Society of American Women Composers, and becoming one of the best-known American composers in history.

03/23/2021

F***y Mendelson (1805-1847)
Get to know our first honored female composer!!
F***y Mendelssohn was a German pianist and composer in the early Romantic era. At a young age, she and her younger brother, Felix Mendelssohn, studied music together and developed a close relationship consulting one another about their music. Although her skills may have surpassed her more famous brother, it was only acceptable for her to perform for small audiences while Felix held public concerts. Although this meant she could arguably write her music with more expression than Felix ultimately, due to social norms at the time, most of her compositions were published under his name until later in her life. On the other hand, Felix gave credit to F***y for writing Queen Victoria’s favorite song, Italien, when he performed the piece for her majesty at Buckingham Palace. Although Felix is more famous for the genre, F***y is also accredited to pioneering the classical music form called Songs Without Words. Later in her life, she had a supportive relationship and married the famous Prussian painter Wilhelm Hensel. After passing away suddenly from a stroke at 41, Felix mourned his beloved sister and died only six months later.

03/15/2021

Happy Women's History Month from PNW Choir!!!
To celebrate this month's virtual performance will include the works of two of some of the most famous female composers in history. See later posts for who we will be featuring. Meanwhile, check out these notable composers:

Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Pauline Viardot (1821-1910)
Amy Beach (1867-1944)
Vítězslava Kaprálová (1915-1940)
Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989)