Great Bend Chorale: Muehleisen's 'Borders'
$24 ($20 senior/military)
- Tess Altiveros, soprano
- Matthew Melendez, conductor
Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, this powerful work weaves together European, African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American folk songs with Meuhleisen's settings of the poetry of Emma Lazarus, Brian Bilston, and Alberto Ríos in a powerful and moving musical journey that explores the historical roots of immigration and the modern relevance of America's identity as the great melting pot.
Featuring beloved Seattle soprano Tess Altiveros along with the Great Bend Chorale and Youth Chorale in the stunning acoustic of the Bastyr Chapel, this one-night-only event is not to be missed!
About Great Bend Youth Chorale
The Great Bend Youth Chorale is a non-auditioned educational ensemble for youth 8-14 open to all regardless of skill level or training.
Led by Great Bend Center for Music’s founder, Matthew Melendez, the ensemble provides a performance-based educational experience that builds self-esteem and skills in a nurturing environment. Participating singers work to develop their literacy, ear training and vocal skills while learning masterwork repertoire usually performed in collaboration with the adult chorale in ticketed concerts.
https://greatbendmusic.org/youthchorale/About Tess Altiveros, soprano
About Matthew Melendez, conductor
Matthew’s passion is making music with people who don’t think of themselves as musicians.
Kids who have never sung in groups. Seniors who haven’t sung since high school. Tourists who had no idea they were walking into a Beer Choir.
Really, no one is safe from singing around him.
In addition to undergraduate degrees in the arts of persuasion (Advertising Copywriting and Social Psychology), he has a master’s degree in vocal performance and pedagogy (where his thesis research focused on the power of cultural tourism to revitalize rural communities) and a doctoral degree (ABD) in choral conducting. His current research is centered on the community development applications of community music, and the transformative power of early childhood music for communities and families. He’s part of the inaugural cohort of the Teaching Artist Training Institute, and is particularly passionate about the El Sistema approach to empowering children through music.
In 2019 he made his Carnegie Hall debut leading two non-auditioned youth and adult ensembles in a world-premiere choral cantata commissioned for the occasion. The Shelton, Washington performance of that work, 'Borders' by John Muehleisen, won second in the community division of the 2019-20 American Prize: Ernst Bacon Award for the Performance of American Music. But even before this, community ensembles he’s either led or managed have shown a strong propensity for getting Lincoln Center and White House invitations.
https://elsistemausa.org/staff-member/matthew-melendez/