Transient Glory, the groundbreaking commissioning series for young voices, was created by YPC’s Artistic Director/Founder Francisco J. Núñez in 2001 to spotlight the children’s chorus as a serious and, indeed, glorious instrument during that fleeting period of time when a child’s voice imbues music with a particular poignancy and innocence.

The six works on this album are among over 80 pieces of music YPC has commissioned and premiered from many established and emerging composers of our time, most of whom had never before composed for children’s voices. Not only do these works greatly expand the repertoire for young voices, but they also make a significant contribution to the ever-evolving fabric of music in the 21st century. Equally important, YPC has changed the perception of the children’s chorus, dramatically heightening an awareness of the unlimited potential of a youth chorus to rise to unforeseen levels of artistry, and establishing it as a significant and often untapped instrument for making music.

The Kronos Quartet is featured on Terry Riley’s Another Secret eQuation, which was written for YPC and Kronos and recorded live. All pieces were recorded in the studio, in the presence of many of the composers.

Produced by Francisco J. NúñezEngineered and mixed by Bryan SmithRecorded at Avatar Studios, Kaufmann Hall at 92nd Street Y and Dubway Studios, New York City

Another Secret eQuation produced and engineered by Judith ShermanEngineering and editing assistant: Jeanne VelonisRecorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York City

Mastered by Paul Zinman

Assistant Producer: Elizabeth NúñezExecutive Producer: Nancy BloomProduction Coordinator: Lindsay BogatyPrincipal Pianist: Jon Holden Transient Glory compositions are published by Chester Novello, G. Schirmer and Boosey & Hawkes. Young People’s Chorus of New York City37 West 65th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10023ypc.org

Young People’s Chorus of New York CityFrancisco J. Núñez - Artistic Director/Founder

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City is a multicultural youth chorus internationally renowned for its superb virtuosity, brilliant showmanship, and as a model for an inclusive society that is being replicated globally. Founded by Artistic Director Francisco J. Núñez in 1988, this groundbreaking program harnesses the power of music to fulfill the potential of every child. Over 1,400 children from ages 7 to 18 participate annually through YPC’s core after-school program, its satellite program in New York City schools, national affiliates, and its after-school community programs. YPC collaborates with many of today’s most prominent artists, ensembles, and cultural institutions; receives invitations from countries on four continents; and has become among the world’s most celebrated and influential children’s choruses. In 2011, YPC was presented with a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award—the nation’s highest honor for youth programs—from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

Francisco J. Núñez, a MacArthur “genius” fellow, is a composer, conductor, visionary, leading figure in music education, and the artistic director/founder of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City. He is sought after nationwide as a guest conductor by professional orchestras and choirs, as a master teacher and advisor, and as a keynote speaker on the role of music in achieving equality and diversity among children in today’s society. Mr. Núñez composes countless compositions and arrangements in all musical formats and styles, from classical to pop, for choirs, orchestras, and solo instruments. Among his numerous awards are the ASCAP Victor Herbert Award, the New York Choral Society’s Choral Excellence Award, a Liberty Medal from the New York Post, and ABC-TV’s “Person of the Week.” Hispanic Business magazine named him one of 100 most influential Hispanics; General Motors Corporation has hailed him as an unsung Hispanic hero; and La Sociedad Coral Latinoamericana named him its 2009 Man of the Year.

Every Stop on the F TrainMusic (2007) by Michael GordonText from the F line of the New York City subway stations

Commissioned by the Young People’s Chorus of New York CityPremiered 2007 and 2008 (with film)

What’s more urban than the subway? When Francisco J. Núñez asked me to write a piece for Transient Glory, I immediately thought of all the stops that whiz by us as we sit on the train waiting to arrive at our destination. The A train has the longest route, but I think the F has the best sounding stops. I also like that the F starts in Jamaica, Queens, and ends in Coney Island, Brooklyn. I organized the piece in three sections corresponding to the boroughs the F Train travels through. Every Stop on the F Train starts with a single melody in Queens, splits into a 2-part canon (at the eighth note) when it arrives in Manhattan and then into a 4-part canon (at the quarter note) when it arrives in Brooklyn. New Yorkers will note that some of the stops actually have 2 names (42 Street/Times Square); in those cases, I chose only one. (Michael Gordon) 

Every Stop on the F Train film Created by Bill Morrison Premiered 2008The film can be found online at vimeo.com/107015665

The first film I made for a Michael Gordon composition was for a segment of the Bang on a Can production of Ben Katchor’s comic strip opera The Carbon Copy Building, which premiered at The Kitchen in 1999. The piece was called City Walk. Starting in the Rockaways, I drove north up Flatbush Ave. with a Super 8 camera wedged in the passenger window of my car, firing a black and white frame every second, until I crossed over the Manhattan Bridge and descended into Chinatown. This began a long and fruitful collaborative relationship with Michael.

I first heard Every Stop on the F Train quite by accident. In April 2007, I dropped by the WNYC studios to promote a benefit concert on John Schaefer’s Soundcheck. By coincidence I met Michael there, and learned that the Young People’s Chorus of New York City would be performing a new composition of his. I had the opportunity to listen to this piece for the first time completely surrounded by the chorus at point blank range, which was an astonishing acoustic experience.

When I was approached about making a film for the piece, I did not hesitate to accept. My initial idea was to create something akin to “City Walk”, capturing video from a moving subway car. But once production began, I soon realized there were several complications with shooting on the subway. Firstly, it was illegal. Secondly, there were other people on the subway who may or may not like being filmed. Thirdly, the subway did not provide a smooth ride. And fourthly, each and every inch of glass in the entire subway system is covered with scratches and scrawls. I found a tripod that clamped to the poles inside the car provided the stability a conventional tripod could not. I discovered that either New Yorkers didn’t mind being filmed, or they were just too darned polite to say so. And I learned to like all the scratches on the windows. I was not able to resolve the legality issue. So I tried clamping the camera between the subway cars, figuring at least my camera would be out of the way. In so doing, I found my protagonist: the spring connecting two cars, which moves with acceleration of the car ahead of it. As this flying coil navigated the city, I felt like each station pulled the next one through the frames of my film, just as the voices of the YPC pull Michael’s measures along. They were exhilarating rides from Queens to Brooklyn and back.  I was eventually collared by an MTA cop (and not by the two seen on the 42nd Street platform in the film). I explained to him that it was the camera that had been riding between the cars, not me. And furthermore, that the camera had only filmed the platforms lining the subway, not the subway itself. He gave me a ticket for riding between the cars, but not for filming on the subway. I thanked him for not busting my chops too bad. To my surprise, he thanked me for not busting his chops too bad as well. (Bill Morrison)

QUEENSJamaica

169th StreetParsons BoulevardSutphin Boulevard

BriarwoodKew Gardens75th AvenueForest Hills

Jackson HeightsQueensbridge

MANHATTANRoosevelt IslandLexington Avenue

57th StreetRockefeller Center

42nd Street34th Street23rd Street14th Street

West 4th StreetBroadway-Lafayette

Lower East SideDelancey

East Broadway

BROOKLYNYork StreetJay Street

Bergen StreetCarroll StreetSmith Street4th Avenue7th Avenue

Prospect ParkFort Hamilton Pkwy

Church AvenueDitmas Avenue18th Avenue

Avenue IBay Parkway

Avenue NAvenue P

Kings HighwayAvenue UAvenue X

Neptune AvenueNew York Aquarium

Coney Island

Semaphore Conductus Music (2008) by Bora Yoon Text comprised of new and old Latin proverbs For SSAA chorus, synthesizer, antiphonale (conch, gramophone, megaphone), walkie talkie trio, and tape  

Bora Yoon - synthesizer and Gramophone-assisted vocals

Commissioned by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City Premiered 2008   In 2007, I was approached by Francisco and the YPC to write a work for treble choir and cell phone, after ending up on the front-page of the Wall Street Journal, for using cell phones as musical instruments.   In order for this original idea to not become one that exotified technology in a world already overrun and accelerated by gadgets – I thought about what elements I could bring in, to make the piece more timeless. I studied the role that cell phones and technology played in our lives, and how phones were really just a tool and means of communication and expression over great distances, time, and place (strikingly similar to music). So I traced the evolution of the telephone, observing what served its function before modern technology.    

In primitive times, the call of the conch shell was used. In later eras, radio technology used frequencies to communicate across different wavelengths, which brought the language of Morse code, shortwave transmissions, various forms of signals. The gramophone and phonograph were utilized later, with the introduction of recording technology Later, more portable forms of amplification and communication evolved, like the megaphone, and walkie-talkies, and now cell phones. All these forms, being ways to “throw” one’s voice, or one’s idea from one place to another, across time and place.    I connected this idea of movement of sound and communication, with techniques found in early music: antiphonal choirs, calling from the balcony, in response to the choir down below, the use of hocket, which passes a phrase from one singer to another – and played with the double entendre of the sacred early song form ‘conductus’ with the idea of how ‘conduction’ works for electricity, energy, and transmission. So in this work, the conductor, or rather ‘conductionist’ is the central point of transmission (to the choristers, and electronics), using gestural movements (akin to semaphore), to blossom a soundfield of signals, harmonies, and music, from the air.    As a result, what has transpired is Semaphore Conductus, an electroacoustic choral work, sung in surround formation around the audience, inspired by the conduction of energy, the musical language of signals, and sound.

Performed within a sound design of shortwave radio number system transmissions, Morse code, cell phone sounds, and heartbeats – the live and playback components create a dimensional stereophonic performance piece, employing altered early music techniques and the evolving timbre history of communication devices (conch, gramophone, megaphone, walkie-talkies, cell phone).

The text is comprised of new and old Latin proverbs that allude to the cyclical nature of communication and technology: 

Sum quod eris, sum quod es  unda est ortus sepulchrum pluvia, festina lente in lumine tuo, videbimus lumen 

(translation)I am what you will be, I was what you are the water is rising gravity’s rainbow, make haste slowly in your light, we shall see light.

The spatial arrangement of the chorus embodies the vernacular of contemporary sonic geometry, found today in the visual language used by modern digital interfaces to signify signal strength, volume, and power – which are akin to venue acoustical structures, patterns of sonic resonance, and audience seating design. (Bora Yoon)

Semaphore Conductus speaks to the notion of music as a universal and timeless medium for communication, resonance, and expression – across distances, formats, and time.   

Things Heaven and Hell from Three Heavens and Hells                                            Music (2007) by Meredith MonkText by Tennessee Reed

Meredith Monk - voice

Commissioned by the Young People’s Chorus of New York CityPremiered April 13, 2009 at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York City

Since 1965, I have been composing music for the voice as an instrument. I’ve always believed that the voice itself is a language, which speaks more eloquently than words. Yet, before this piece, I had not set text to music. When my friend Carla Blank asked me to create music composed to children’s poetry, I became intrigued by the idea of setting music to Three Heavens and Hells, written by Tennessee Reed when she was 11, because it gave me space to work with my own rhythms and phonemes as well as an intriguing set of images to play with. I thought the poem was both whimsical and profound. For example, what would ‘things heaven and hell’ be like? I just let my imagination fly. 

When the Young People’s Chorus of New York City commissioned me to write a piece, I was excited by the idea of making a new form with the material. Working with Francisco Núñez and the young singers has given me the opportunity to create different colors and textures, expand my original conception and develop it into a new entity. This recording includes one movement from a larger 22-minute work. In this movement, I imagined inanimate objects ‘things’ having a life of their own, becoming more and more animated as the movement goes on. (Meredith Monk)

There                are        three     heavens                        and       hells.                        People                          Animal                          Things            heaven and                   heaven and                   heaven and            hell                               hell                               hell            What do the three heavens and hells look like?

            They are all the same.

Another Secret eQuationMusic and words (2010) by Terry RileyKronos Quartet:David Harrington - violinJohn Sherba - violinHank Dutt - violaJeffrey Zeigler - cello

Commissioned by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City and Kronos QuartetPremiered March 2010 at Carnegie Hall as part of Kronos Quartet’s Perspectives Series

I wrote the text keeping in mind that young people would be singing, and that the ideas expressed would gently address the actions of their elders and the overwhelmingly messy world the kids were being handed. The third section offers up some nonsense syllables as a possible antidote to the gobbledygook that poses as wisdom from some of our esteemed leaders. (Terry Riley)

Terry Riley wrote Another Secret eQuation in three sections, and dedicated it to the memory of prominent physicist Hans Siegmann—the project director at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The year before the piece premiered at Carnegie Hall, YPC was invited by Kronos Quartet to participate in the 45th anniversary performance of Riley’s In C extravaganza, also at Carnegie Hall.

We are lost and cannot find our way. A turn to the left, a turn to the right...Who made it dark?...Who turned out the light?

They never listen to us...No, never!

Can it be any other way? The Universe makes it up as it rolls along. Imagining night and day as it hums a song.Bora...bora bora.

Zla dee doo dha...doo dha day...zlee doo dhaDoo day zlee doo dha day doo day zlee doo dha day doo day zlee doo dhaBora...bora bora.A shaba dooba shaba dayShlot dot dilly ot dot dot ot dilly ot dot dilly ot dot dotWaih daih waih daih waih daih waih daih whai daih dilly dahCan it be any other way? The Universe makes it up as it rolls along. Unraveling night and day as it hums a song. The Universe makes it up. Ha!

One Sweet MorningMusic (2006) by John CoriglianoText by E.Y. (Yip) Harburg

Commissioned by the Young People’s Chorus of New York CityPremiered April 29, 2006 at the Society for Ethical Culture in New York City

This is my first work for a youth chorus. In searching for a text, I came across E.Y. (Yip) Harburg’s Rhymes for the Irreverent—two small volumes of poems by the lyricist of the film The Wizard of Oz, the musical Finian’s Rainbow, and many other timeless works. Harburg was a very political poet. He was most often very funny, but occasionally wrote poems of transcendental beauty like One Sweet Morning.This anti-war poem looks forward to ‘one sweet morning’ when, ‘out of the flags and the bones buried under the clover,’ ‘spring will bloom’…‘peace will come.’ It is an exalted prayer for the future and, when sung by young people who are the future, has special meaning. (John Corigliano)

Out of the fallen leaves the autumn world over,Out of the shattered rose that will smile no more,Out of the embers of blossoms and shades of cloverSpring will bloom – one sweet morning.

Out of the fallen lads the summer world over,Out of their flags plowed under a distant shore,Out of the dreams in their bones buried under the cloverPeace will come – one sweet morning.“One sweet morning The rose will rise

To wake the heartAnd make it wise!”

This is the cry of life the winter world over, “Sing me no sad amen, but a bright encore!”For out of the flags and the bones buried under the clover, Spring will bloom Peace will come One sweet morning – One sweet morning.

TembandumbaMusic (2009) by Paquito D’RiveraText by Luis Palés Matos, Pucho Escalante, and Paquito D’Rivera

Paquito D’Rivera - narrator

Commissioned by the Young People’s Chorus of New York CityPremiered June 12, 2010 at the 92nd Street Y in New York City

My vocal work Tembandumba was created for the magnificent Young People’s Chorus of New York City, as requested by its director Francisco Núñez. The title is inspired by Tembandumba de la Quimbamba, the main character the poem Majestad Negra (Black Majesty) by Puerto Rican poet Luis Pales Matos. Two soloists—soprano and alto—plus a pair of Cuban claves add contrast and color to the choir; and although I used some extra lyrics and onomatopoeic sounds for rhythmic effects, the beautiful poetry of the Puerto Rican maestro stays intact in all its grace and glory. This is my humble musical tribute to the master poet from Borinquen. (Paquito D’Rivera) Temdandumba de la Quimbamba, woww!Tembandumba, mulata de rumba, kitate kete tumba, maraki bongó.

Por la encendida calle antillana vaTembandumba de la Quimbamba.

Pakete sumba, mulata de rumba, kitate kete tumba, maraki bongó.Maraki bongó? Maraki bongó. Kochere kon koko. Konkón.Hmmmm!

Por la encendida calle antillana vaTembandumba de la Quimbamba-rumba, candombe, macumba, Bámbulaaaa!!!entre dos filas de negras caras.Ante ella un congo - bongo y maraca -a lo lejos repican los cuerosritma una conga bomba ke bamba.

Culipandeando la Reina avanza, y de suinmensa grupa resbalan meneos cachondosque el gongo cuaja en ríos de azúcar y de melaza.

Prieto trapiche de sensual zafra, el caderamen, masa con masa,Exprime ritmos, suda que sangra, y la molienda culmina en danza.

… kitate kete tumba, kochere konkó.… mulata de rumba, kitate kete tumba,Chebere konkó? Chebere konkon. Kochere kon koko. Konkón. Hmmm!!

Flor de Tortola, rosa de Uganda, por ticrepitan bombas y bámbulas;Por ti en calendas desenfrenades quema laAntilla su sangre ñáñiga.Haití te ofrece sus calabazas;fogosos rones te da Jamaica;Cube te dice: dale, mulata!Y Puerto Rico: melao, melamba!Son mis cocolos de negras caras!Sonar, tambores, batir, maracas.rumba, candombe, macumba, Bámbulaaaa!!!Dicen!… que hay una tierra donde castigan a la gente por trabajar,donde la miel es mas dulce y pa’lo negro…… e regalá.Vamano pallá!

Tembandumba, cutere cubamba, cutere comba kimba, cutere bongó.Chembo, Chembo, DAJALA PASAR!

(translation)Down the scorching Antillean streetGoes Tembandumba of the QuimbambaBetween two rows of black faces--Rumba, macumba, condambe, bámbula.Before her, a congo band thumpsA bombastic conga—gongos and maracas.Sinuously swaying, the Queen steps upAnd her lithe body with drums collideSo that seductive wiggles slideIn curdled rivers of sugar and molasses.Brown-skinned mill of sweet sensation,Her colossal hips, those massive mortars,Make rhythms ooze, sweat bleed like blood,And all this grinding ends in dance.Down the scorching Antillean streetGoes Tembandumba of the Quimbamba.Flower of Tórtola, Rose of Uganda,For you the bombs and bambulas crackle.For you these feverish nights go wildAnd set on fire Antilla’s ñáñiga blood.Haiti offers you its gourds;Jamaica pours its fiery rums;Cuba tells you, give us what you got, mulata!And Puerto Rico: melao, melamba!Get down, my black-faced love-crazed rascals.Jangle, drums, and jiggle, maracas.Down the scorching Antillean streetGoes Tembandumba of the Quimbamba—Rumba, macamba, candombe, bámbula.

YPC ChoristersSaji Abude

Blaize AdamNicholas Agar-Johnson

Clare AltmanTiffany AlulemaJoshua BatistaDylan BatistaBilly Beltran

Nicole BennetDanielle BennettNicole Bennett

Tommaso BernardiniAlexis BiegenLexi BiegenCorey Black

Chloe BoddenAdonis BodzwaLindsay BogatyBryanna Brown

Isaac BurgQuint Burke

Daniel CabanissWilliam Cabaniss

Melissa CabatEmily CarterKelli Carter

Argenis CastilloVictoria CeceSandra Cedillo

Jordan CentenoHannah ChinnNaomi Clark

Nadine ClementsJared ColonRemy Comp

Francis ConnollySofie CornelisBrianne CotterLaura CottrellKieran Coyne

Erin CraigTa’Sean CrandollVictoria CrearyDa’Sean Cruz

McKinny Danger-JamesAlex DeCastroPascal Diaz

Lindsey DiegoSofia DiGiandomenico

Justin Donaldson

Elizabeth DorovitsineStephan Douglas-Allen

Jamila Drecker-WaxmanNia DrummondMay El-Harazy

Leonardo EscuderoCatherine Estrada

Mia FarinelliJuliette FerdschneiderMary Joe Fernandez

Sydney FishmanAneesa FoldsZiani FrancoisJamil Fuller

Msmichella GambleSydni GanawayBryan Garcia

Mariah GilmoreSolveig Gold

Christopher GoodwinSpencer Gordon-Sand

Alexander GrantDevon HailstockChristopher Hall

Myles HallBreigh HammelEmma HigginsMaya HodgeMax HoffmanAda Huang

Marquis HughesSamantha Huynh

Izoduwa Idehen-AmadasunJubei Inoue

Gavin JablonskiAlexandra Jankousky

Vera KahnAnge KandoloNina Kapoor

Olivia KatzensteinRoss Kennedy

Alexandra KesslerLindsey KnappBethany KnappCaroline Kuhn

Camille LabarreRose Labarre

Celeste LejeuneJamie Lerner-Brecher

Nicholas LeungChristine Lim

Noah LipnickGregory Lipson

Greg LipsonRosa Loveszy

Reuben LoveszyCharles LovettKatie LovinsChristina LuDustin Lu

Ross MacatangayJohn MaldonadoClaudia MalpeliJamal MarcelinHadley MayaMaud Mayer

Joshua McCartneyRebecca McCartneyCatherine McGough

David MercadoRaphael Mercado

Madison MillerAlex Miller

Aubrey MillerJeremy MunozNoni Murphy

Nichole MusumeciMiki NakanoJames Nash

Ariana NathaniGabrielle Nesmith

Sophie NirKayla Norflus

Alex NouriVictoria PaganLluvia PerezRanya PerezAuguste Perl

Lucas PetrelloShereen Pimentel

Isaac PonceEddie RakowiczJordan Reynoso

Jacob RheeOlivia RiveraJonas Robin

Oona RodgersMarisel Rodriguez

Maggie RouenNathaniel Sabat

Sofia SalenIsabel Schaffzin

Tohar ScheiningerMitchell SchorIsaac Schultz

Evan SchweitzerVeronica Shclover

Naomi ShifrinBrittany Shoughi

Kalia SimmsMalaia SimmsOwen Smith

Caroline SmithGabrielle SmithCameron Smith

Jonah SmithJonah SotomayorMonica Soyemi

Nia SoyemiAlec Spector

Betina StennettJacqueline SternHannah StofferLouise SullivanBrian Sussman

Evan TatnallRebecca TeichIsabelle TeronJoan Terrado

Olivia ThompsonLewalys TorresLucy Tuchman

Julie UrenaErika UrgilesClark VaccaroSilvia ValentiniDianne Vasquez

Emily ViolaAndrew VogelDevon WadeBrian Ward

Audrey WeberSamuel WhiteLucy Whiteley

Lucien WhitmanChristian Williams

Sierra WilliamsTroy Wilson

Anthony WycheGalen Xing

Daniel ZuzworksyAugust Zuzworsky

Executive Producers: Michael Gordon, David Lang, Kenny Savelson and Julia WolfeLabel Manager: Bill MurphyCantaloupe sales manager: Adam CuthbertCover design: Donald GiordanoArt direction: John Brown @ cloud chamberPhotography: Stephanie Berger

Management for Kronos Quartet:Kronos Performing Arts Associationkronosquartet.org

For more about everything you hear on this CD, visit cantaloupemusic.com. To get specially priced advance copies of all our new releases, as well as catalog discounts and other perks, join the Cantaloupe Club at club.bangonacan.org, or join our digital subscription service at drip.com/cantaloupe.

UPC/EAN: 713746311322

1.  Every Stop on the F Train (7:26)     Michael Gordon

2.  Semaphore Conductus (7:13)     Bora Yoon

3.  Things Heaven and Hell from Three Heavens and Hells (5:44)     Meredith Monk

4.  Another Secret eQuation (16:17)     Terry Riley (featuring Kronos Quartet)

5.  One Sweet Morning (5:49)     John Corigliano

6.  Tembandumba (6:56)     Paquito D’Rivera (with Payton MacDonald, percussion)

CANTALOUPE MUSIC IS FROM THE CREATORS OF BANG ON A CAN.℗ & © 2015 Cantaloupe Music, LLC , under exclusive license from Young People’s Chorus of New York City.All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.Cantaloupe Music, 80 Hanson Place, Suite 301, Brooklyn, NY 11217www.cantaloupemusic.com | CA21113