Utech Hymnody Symposium: Nov. 1, 2019

For the 2019 Symposium, the Utech Fund has supported both a newly commissioned hymn text by Dr. Carl P. Daw Jr., “Out of Silence Music Rises,” and a new tune composed for the text by Dr. Larry Visser, winner of the 2019 Utech Hymn Competition. This new hymn will have its first singing at Evensong for All Saints, to be held at Christ Church, Rochester. 

Preceding the service of Evensong is the Symposium, featuring talks by Dr. Carl P. Daw Jr. (“Why Create Hymns?”) and by Dr. Robin A. Leaver (“Why Study Hymns?”), followed by a discussion moderated by Dr. Crista Miller, who will also give an address at the 6:30 pm banquet.

Registration: While registration for the banquet is now closed, the lectures and Evensong portions of the Symposium are open to everyone. Please contact Chelsea Barton (cbarton3@u.rochester.edu) for more information.

Lodging: There is no official hotel for the 2019 Utech Hymnody Symposium. Registrants may book their own accommodations as is appropriate. Suggestions regarding accommodation in the Rochester are may be found here.

3:00 pm – 5:00 pm Symposium (Hatch Recital Hall, Eastman School of Music)

• Dr. Carl P. Daw Jr. (Boston University): “Why Create Hymns?”
• Dr. Robin A. Leaver (Emeritus, Westminster Choir College): “Why Study Hymns?”
• Discussion moderated by Dr. Crista Miller (Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Houston)
• Introduction of composer winning the tune/setting competition; brief remarks

5:30 pm Evensong (Christ Church)

• Evensong for All Saints led by Stephen Kennedy, Nathan Laube, William Porter, and David Higgs
• First singing of commissioned hymn text by Dr. Carl P. Daw Jr.: “Out of Silence Music Rises”

6:30 pm Banquet (Max of Eastman Place)

• Address by Dr. Crista Miller

The Rev. Dr. Carl P. Daw, Jr. served as Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada from 1996 to 2009, while based at Boston University School of Theology. He remained there to teach, retiring in May 2019 as Lecturer in Hymnology, but continuing as Curator of Hymnological Collections. In 2018 he was also appointed as Lecturer in Sacred Music at Yale Divinity School/Institute of Sacred Music, where he currently teaches. He began to write hymns while a consultant member of the Text Committee for The Hymnal 1982, and his texts now appear in the hymnals of most English-speaking countries and have been translated into six other languages. Six collections of his hymns and psalms have been published, and he is the author of nine other books on liturgical and musical topics.

Dr. Robin A. Leaver is Emeritus Professor of Sacred Music at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, NJ. He has also taught at the Juilliard School, Yale University, and Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Dr. Leaver has served on the executive committee of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, is a past president of the Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Hymnologie, member of the editorial committee (with Carl Daw) that produced the Episcopal Hymnal 1982 Companion (1991–1996), and currently is an editorial consultant for the Jahrbuch für Liturgik und Hymnologie. He is the author of numerous books, articles, and entries in reference works, in the cross-disciplinary areas of liturgy, church music, theology, hymnology, as well as in Bach studies.

Hailed by Gramophone Magazine for her “superlative artistry” and “effortless virtuosity and musical intelligence,” Dr. Crista Miller is the Director of Music and Organist at Houston’s Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, where she directs the adult and children’s choirs and the concert series. Her organ committee was responsible for Martin Pasi’s 2010 Opus 19 organ. Dr. Miller has performed in 11 countries and 25 states, and is a frequent conference presenter. Organist’s Review billed her recent double-CD Bonjour and Willkommen: A Franco-German Debut (Acis Productions) “ambitious, admirable and a very good advocate for the performer.” Her research on Middle Eastern elements in Naji Hakim’s music appears in the 2014 book Mystic Modern: The Music, Thought, and Legacy of Charles Tournemire and in ORGAN: Journal für die Orgel (December 2015). Crista earned the DMA from the Eastman School of Music in 2006, where she served on the EROI project.

The George W. Utech Congregational Hymnody Fund was established at the Eastman School of Music in 2011 through the generosity of Mrs. Krestie Utech in memory of her husband George, who was a published writer of hymn texts. Two of his hymns were included in the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship: the Easter hymn “Look, Now He Stands!” (coupled with Carl F. Schalk’s tune Parsons) and “Great God, Our Source” (coupled with a tune of the same name by Gerhard M. Cartford). From its inception the Utech Fund has been administered by the Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards Department at Eastman.

The Utech fund is intended to support “the writing, composition, and promotion of texts and music for Christian congregational singing” as well as “educational initiatives most closely aligned with the intended purpose of the funds as related to Christian hymns and congregational singing.” Mrs. Utech’s generosity enables the Department to engage in four initiatives relating to the study and performance of sacred music: commissions of hymn texts and settings, hymn text and/or tune competitions, the biennial Utech Hymnody Symposium and Festival, and the Utech Hymnody Fellowship.

Through a combination of commissions and competitions the Utech Fund fosters the creation of new hymns—poetic texts and musical settings. The first text commission went to Timothy Dudley-Smith, who, in 2012, provided three hymn texts based on Romans, chapter 8. Three composers were commissioned to set those texts: Carson Cooman, Scott Perkins, and Philip Stopford. Those three new hymns were premiered at a May 2014 hymn festival led by James E. Bobb, Assistant Professor of Organ and Church Music at St. Olaf College, the event held at Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester, which, not coincidentally, was George Utech’s home church.

The second set of commissions was part of Eastman’s 2016 EROI Festival (Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative), which focused on “Breath for Singing: The Organ and the Human Voice.” On commission from the Utech Fund, Thomas Troeger provided a new text “Lord, Keep Us Modest When We Claim,” and Nico Muhly composed a setting (subsequently published in 2016 by St. Rose Music Publishing Co. and Chester Music Limited).

The first text competition took place in 2017, specifying a text suitable for a hymnal category of “Gathering,” “Beginning of Service,” or “Morning Hymns,” the text to be sung to either of two Genevan Psalter tunes: Psalm 136 or Psalm 138. The panel of judges—Emily Brink, Carl Daw, Sister Delores Dufner, and Martin Jean—evaluated 28 text submissions anonymously and unanimously chose a text by Wayne Wold entitled “Voices Arise, Let Joy Be Heard,” sung to “Psalm 138” from the Genevan Psalter. The first singing of this hymn occurred at the 2017 Utech Hymnody Symposium and Festival.

The Utech Hymnody Symposium and Festival takes place in odd-numbered years (opposite the EROI Festival in even-numbered years). The first one occurred on November 17–18, 2017 and featured Paul Westermeyer, Emeritus Professor at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, providing the keynote address, and Bruce Neswick, Canon for Cathedral Music at Trinity Cathedral, Portland, Oregon leading a hymn festival and a master class in hymn playing and hymn-based improvisation.

The Utech Hymnody Fellowship within the Department of Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards allows a graduate student to assist with the commission and competition programs, and to complete a one–semester independent study related to hymnody, as defined by the student’s interests and in conversation with an Eastman faculty member supervising the independent study. The first Utech Fellow was Jacob Taylor, a DMA student in the studio of David Higgs. The second Utech Fellow is Isaac Drewes, a MMus student in the studio of David Higgs.

Through these four interrelated dimensions we aim to honor the interests and accomplishments of George W. Utech in the area of hymnody—by nurturing the writing and composition of new hymns, and by educating future generations of church musicians in this rich and vital area of sacred music.

The 2019 Utech Hymn Competition is now concluded. We are pleased to announce the winning submission and its composer:

PARADISE

Dr. Larry Visser
Minister of Music and Chancel Organist
LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church
Grand Rapids, MI

The 2019 Utech Hymn Competition called for a congregational hymn setting of a newly commissioned hymn text by Dr. Carl Daw, “Out of Silence Music Rises.” Entries were accepted through the month of July, and judging took place during August and September. The judges were:

• Dr. John Ferguson: Professor of Organ and Cantor Emeritus, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN.
• Mr. Peter DuBois: Director of Music and Organist, Third Presbyterian Church, Rochester, NY.
• Dr. Jennifer Pascual: Director of Music and Organist, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City.

 

PARADISE was selected from 131 individual entries. The composition will receive its first singing on November 1st, at the 2019 Utech Hymn Festival Evensong. Dr. Visser will also be the recipient of the $3,000 Utech Hymn Competition Prize.

 

The George W. Utech Congregational Hymnody Fund at the Eastman School of Music

The George W. Utech Congregational Hymnody Fund was established in 2011 through the generosity of Mrs. Krestie Utech in memory of her husband George, who was a published writer of hymn texts. From its inception this fund has been administered by the Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards Department at Eastman. The Utech fund is intended to support “the writing, composition, and promotion of texts and music for Christian congregational singing.”

Through a combination of commissions and competitions the Utech Fund fosters the creation of new hymns—poetic texts and musical settings. The first text commission went to Timothy Dudley-Smith, who, in 2012, provided three hymn texts based on Romans, chapter 8. Three composers were commissioned to set those texts: Carson Cooman, Scott Perkins, and Philip Stopford.

The second set of commissions was part of Eastman’s 2016 EROI Festival (Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative), which focused on “Breath for Singing: The Organ and the Human Voice.” On commission from the Utech Fund, Thomas Troeger provided a new text “Lord, Keep Us Modest When We Claim,” and Nico Muhly composed a setting (subsequently published in 2016 by St. Rose Music Publishing Co. and Chester Music Limited).

The first text competition took place in 2017, specifying a text suitable for a hymnal category of “Gathering,” “Beginning of Service,” or “Morning Hymns,” the text to be sung to either of two Genevan Psalter tunes: Psalm 136 or Psalm 138. The panel of judges—Emily Brink, Carl Daw, Sister Delores Dufner, and Martin Jean—evaluated 28 text submissions anonymously and unanimously chose a text by Wayne Wold entitled “Voices Arise, Let Joy Be Heard,” sung to “Psalm 138” from the Genevan Psalter. The first singing of this hymn occurred at the 2017 Utech Hymnody Symposium and Festival.

The 2019 Utech Hymnody Symposium and Festival (November 1, 2019) will feature the first singing of a newly commissioned text by Carl P. Daw, Jr.: “Out of Silence Music Rises.”