Andrew Halladay, conductor and composer

Favorite Hymn Tunes

Andrew — Thu, 20 May 2010 07:30:38 +0000

This is an ever expanding list of my most favorite hymn tunes (and chant melodies). Hymns are very dear to my heart and I am insistent upon maintaining their relevancy in worship. Some of these move me as much as works of greater magnitude (like a Beethoven symphony). These are, however, in alphabetical order, not order of preference.

Abbot’s Leigh – Cyril V. Taylor
Beach Spring – attributed to B.F. White
Es Ist Ein Ros – Michael Praetorius
Lasst Uns Erfreuen – from Gestliche Kirchengesaenge
McKee – spiritual adapted by Harry T. Burleigh
Picardy – French Carol
Salve Festa Dies – Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ubi Caritas – chant melody
Wondrous Love – American Folk Tune

Ave Verum Corpus

Andrew — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:12:09 +0000

My chancel choir performed Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” in worship this morning. I really feel like we’ve turned a leaf in the repertory and artistry of our ensemble. Seems this choir is capable of making music out of anything I bring to them. As I understand, this is the first piece the choir has sung in Latin. I am very proud of what we have accomplished and I feel that this opens up a great new possibility of fine choral repertory. Bravo, Chancel Choir!

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel! Premier

Andrew — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:26:23 +0000

Westminster United Methodist Church premiered my latest composition, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel!” this morning. Brian Stone, the Chancel Choir Director, commissioned me to write a cantata for his ensemble for their annual “Cantata Sunday.” It was a smashing success. Another race to the finish process. Luckily, I work well under pressure. (Or rather, much to my demise!) Brian hired my wife, Rachel, and me to be ringers in the choir. It’s always a pleasure for me to be intimately involved with performances of my works. The choir finally was “sold” on the piece by the last rehearsal or so. It seems a common occurrence with my writing. Maybe because I lack a wide reputation. Perhaps because their is no prior expectation to a premier. I’d like to believe it is because I stretched the boundaries of the choir’s typical repertory, throwing in a bit more “modern” harmonies now and again (only tastefully, of course!). In any case, the choir seemed committed to the piece and I think we offered a wonderful performance to the congregation. It was exciting to work with a new ensemble. Each experience is a new set of lessons for me as a composer, and as a businessman. I am grateful for the collaboration, and I would be thrilled to be involved with the choir again.

Thanks, also, to the members of Good Shepherd who came to hear the premier. Your faithful support is greatly appreciated.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel!

Andrew — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:00:11 +0000

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel!
Christmas Cantata for SATB Choir and Organ

Movements
I. Hushed Were the Courts of Heav’n (text:The Nativity by John Bunker)
II. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel! (text: Luke 2:9-12 King James Version)
III. What Child Is This (arrangement of Greensleeves and Amazing Grace, text: William C. Dix)
IV. Hodie

Commissioned by Westminster United Methodist Church Westminster, Colorado for the Chancel Choir’s Cantata Sunday Performance.

Premiered by the Chancel Choir at Westminster United Methodist Church, December 20, 2009.

Perusal Score with Audio Recording flash required, fullscreen mode recommended
I. Hushed Were the Courts of Heav’n
II. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel!
III. What Child Is This
IV. Hodie

Recording of Westminster United Methodist Church Chancel Choir’s premier performance

Unsilent Night

Andrew — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:27:00 +0000

I’m sorry I missed Boulder’s rendition of “Unsilent Night.” This piece/installation is a wonderful experience, and I’ve enjoyed participating the last couple of years. Working at a church at Christmas time keeps me quite busy, however. Here’s a video from a couple years ago. I’m found showing off my toy guitar amp, which is what I used as my boombox.

Performance of "Five Nuances of a Mood"

Andrew — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:50:00 +0000

My colleagues at CU Boulder posted video of a recent concert we hosted. Here is a performance of a recent composition of mine. “Five Nuances of a Mood,” written for my good friend, Trevor Young. In this Pendulum New Music concert series performance, I had Renee Kershaw playing clarinet and Hsing-ay Hsu playing piano.

Children of God Performance

Andrew — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:57:00 +0000

This video is from the Sunday morning worship service on June 28, 2009 at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church. I am conducting the Westminster Choir through my own composition, “Children of God.”

Thank you, Westminster Choir, for a wonderful performance.

Post Concert Reflection

Andrew — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Wow. I am reminded of how much I enjoy the process of putting a large piece together. From composing to conducting the work, I really feel very passionately about the process. It’s a labor of love, no doubt. Considering that we missed a vital rehearsal with the orchestra due to snow, the performance could not have gone better. John Wollan sang wonderfully, the choir really held there own, and the orchestra really took an ownership in the performance. What a success! I am anxious to finish the piece and hopefully get a full performance someday. As always, I felt that I have grown a lot with this experience, and I am constantly learning more about instrumentation as I work with performers. All of them were very willing to try my suggested changes. I felt very connected to the ensemble as a community of musicians. As a whole, I have found that most of the musicians I’ve worked with are very friendly, generous, and wish to create successful performances in a collaborative manner. I look forward to finding new opportunities to work with musicians abroad.

Premier of "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Andrew — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:34:00 +0000

“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me” for baritone solo, choir, and orchestra, commissioned by Montview Church, will be premiered this weekend. John Wollan will be the baritone soloist. I would love to share my newest piece of music with all of you. I hope you all will be able to come and enjoy the concert.

Here are the details:

Montview Combined Choir with Orchestra
Spring Concert 2009
Durufle’s Requiem

Premier: Halladay’s My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me
John Kuzma, Conducting
with guest conductor Andrew Halladay

Free Admission

5:00 p.m. on Sunday, March 29, 2009

Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church
1980 Dahlia Street
Denver, CO 80220
303.355.1651
montview.org

The Daunting Task of Writing Parts

Andrew — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:46:00 +0000

Mercy! Finale notation software can be a very uncooperative partner to work with. I nearly lost my mind this weekend when I found out that my parts were all formatted too small after a good 3 days of work on them. I had to call in backup to make my deadline. With the help of my friends and my very patient fiancee, I was able to finish redoing the parts in eight hours. No small task. I think all is well now. I hope. I guess I will find out at the first rehearsal. It always amazes me how much work it takes to just notate the piece after I finished writing it. I still need to do a final revision for the score. I guess that can wait a little bit.

After so many mishaps with Finale, I am strongly considering switching to their competitor, Sibelius. My teacher, Carter Pann, uses Sibelius, and works with it at blazing speeds. I have to weigh my options, considering I would have to relearn how to notate with computer software.

Anyway, another huge step done, now I must approach this piece as a conductor.