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Richard Sparks
Richard Sparks, Choral Conductor. Photo courtesy of Eagleton Photography.
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Choral conductor debuts at UNT performance
What: Debut concert for Richard Sparks, new choral conducting faculty member in the University of North Texas College of Music. For his debut, Sparks will lead UNT's Chamber Choir's performance of
• Giacomo Carissimi's Jephte
• Eric Whitacre's Five Hebrew Love Songs
• Lionel Daunais' Figures de danse When: 8 p.m. Nov. 10 (Tuesday) Where: Winspear Performance Hall, UNT Murchison Performing Arts Center, located on the north side of Interstate 35E at North Texas Boulevard Cost: Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for non-UNT students, seniors, children, UNT faculty and staff, groups of ten or more and free for College of Music faculty and staff and UNT students with ID. To purchase tickets, visit music.unt.edu/mpac/ or call 940-369-7802. Contact: Richard Sparks, choral conducting professor, at 940-369-7407 or richard.sparks@unt.edu DENTON (UNT), Texas -- After an eight-year hiatus from the academic world, Richard Sparks returns to the university setting with a concert featuring a Biblical story, love poems and a humorous set of French Canadian pieces about the world of dance. His UNT conducting debut with the Chamber Choir at the University of North Texas will take place at 8 p.m. Nov. 10 (Tuesday). The performance will be in the Winspear Performance Hall of UNT's Murchison Performing Arts Center, located on the north side of Interstate 35E at North Texas Boulevard. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for non-UNT students, seniors, children, UNT faculty and staff, groups of ten or more and free for College of Music faculty and staff and UNT students with ID. To purchase tickets, visit music.unt.edu/mpac/ or call 940-369-7802. The Chamber Choir, formerly known as the Canticum novum, will sing Giacomo Carissimi's Jephte, Eric Whitacre's Five Hebrew Love Songs, Lionel Daunais' Figures de danse, and other works. Jephte tells the Biblical story of Jephthah, who promises the Lord that if he is victorious in battle against his enemies, he will sacrifice the first person or creature he sees upon his return home. When the victorious Jephthah is met on his return by his daughter and only child, he and his daughter must deal with the consequences of Jephthah's vow. The early oratorio ends with an extraordinarily expressive lament for the daughter, who agrees to be sacrificed. It is accompanied by theorbo, harpsichord and organ. Five Hebrew Love Songs is the result of an attempt by Hila Plitmann to help her husband, Whitacre, learn Hebrew. Plitmann wrote love poems for him, and Whitacre later used the poems as the basis for his composition of Five Hebrew Love Songs. Originally written for piano, violin and soprano in 1996, the songs were then adapted for chorus in 2002. Figures de danse features six comic dance situations – like the story of Fatima. An Indian Dancer, Fatima comes out every evening on the back of a panther, until one night when only the panther appears onstage. In a type of "Little Red Riding Hood" twist, the audience if left wondering where Fatima is – that is until it's realized that she is in the panther, having been eaten by the animal earlier. The comic texts, also written by Daunais, stand against beautiful music. Sparks joined UNT this fall as its newest choral conducting professor after nearly three decades in academic and professional music roles. He is currently artistic director and conductor of Pro Coro Canada, a professional chamber choir, and a freelance conductor and clinician. In his new position, Sparks will conduct UNT's Chamber Choir and the Collegium Singers and teach several music courses. From 1980 to 1983, Sparks was assistant choral director at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts; from 1983 to 2001 he was director of choral activities and led the Choir of the West at Pacific Lutheran University in Washington. During his time away from the university setting, he conducted and guest conducted numerous ensembles, including the Portland Symphonic Choir, the Swedish Radio Choir and Choral Arts, which he founded and conducted from 1993-2006, and of which he is a conductor emeritus. Sparks was also the first non-Canadian conductor to direct the National Youth Choir of Canada in 2006. In 2008, he was music director and conductor for a production of Monteverdi's opera Orfeo in Canada. In 1973, while working on his undergraduate degree, Sparks founded Seattle Pro Musica, a group known for authentic performances of Baroque music. He received his master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Washington. Sparks received his doctoral degree from Ohio's University of Cincinnati, and his dissertation on postwar Swedish choral music won the American Choral Directors Association's Julius Herford award in 1997 and was later published as "The Swedish Choral Miracle: Swedish A Cappella Music Since 1945."
UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Ellen Rossetti (940) 369-7912
Email: erossetti@unt.edu
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