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980 Briarcliff Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
phone 404-873-3365
fax 404-873-0756
www.aysc.org
info@aysc.org
MEDIA CONTACT:
Carrie Christie
Office & Communications Coordinator
404-873-3365
info@aysc.org
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RUN THROUGH 1 MARCH
AYS CELEBRATES FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA WITH
LA LUNA ASOMA: INSPIRED BY LORCA
ATLANTA YOUNG SINGERS of Callanwolde (AYS) and Music Director Paige F. Mathis proudly present LA
LUNA ASOMA: Inspired by Lorca. This performance, sponsored in part by the Department of World
Languages and Literature at Spelman College, takes place March 1 at 8:00pm in Sisters Chapel (350
Spelman Lane, SW, Atlanta 30314). The AYS Youth Chorale and Treble Concert Choir will perform pieces
inspired by the works of Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca as well as the world premiere of
CIUDAD SIN SUEÑO: THREE IMAGES, a commissioned piece by local composer David Marcus. Guest artists
include Ann McPhail, Spelman College; J. Robert Adams, Clark Atlanta University; Mel Foster, Morehouse
College and Jerry Fields and Vecinos del Mundo Flamenco. Tickets $15, $12 students/seniors/children. For
more information or to order tickets, please call 404-873-3365 or visit www.aysc.org.
The youngest AYS members will perform their SPRING TRAINING RECITAL on Saturday, March 29 at 11am at
Callanwolde Fine Arts Center (980 Briarcliff Road, NE / Atlanta, GA 30306). The Junior Company of Atlanta’s
Moving in the Spirit will join the AYS Introduction to Music Making and Training Choirs.
Dr. Diana Glad, Associate Professor of Spanish in the World Language and Literature Department of Spelman
College, refers to Federico García Lorca as “the Spanish poet of the 20th Century.” More than 70 years after
Lorca’s death by a Franquist firing squad, his poems and plays continue to inspire artists, activists and scholars. A
short jaunt though cyberspace reveals a wellspring of recent nods to Lorca. The New York Times published Dale
Fuchs’ article, Chasing a Shadowy Imp, García Lorca’s Muse, featuring the 30-artist Lorca-inspired exhibition
Everstill, at the Lorca family’s Andalusian summer home La Huerta de San Vicente on January 1 of this year.
Yet, according to Dr. Glad, Lorca’s body of work remains difficult to popularize, which may come as a surprise to
the artists involved in LA LUNA ASOMA: Inspired by Lorca. The poetic genius of Lorca has attracted the
attention of a host of modern composers the world over: Eric Whitacre, US; Einojuhani Rautavaara, Finland;
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italy; Eran Dinur, Israel; David Marcus, Mexico and US; Alberto Grau and Cristian Grases
from Venezuela.
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How will the audience experience Lorca through music, perhaps for the first time? With the help of well-versed
composer David Marcus and flamenco artists Jerry Fields and Vecinos del Mundo Flamenco, both the
audience and Singers are infused with the delicious imagery of Lorca’s texts. Music Director Paige F. Mathis
describes the marriage of music with Lorca’s poetry, “Musical expression was an integral part of Lorca’s character.
To have music in tandem with the poet’s words adds a deeper dimension of expression.” LA LUNA ASOMA:
Inspired by Lorca also features Tres Morillas de Jaen, a 15th-century madrigal presented in its original state and
on guitar as arranged by Lorca for his collection Cantiones Populares Antiguas.
Composer David Marcus has created a multifaceted dramatic cantata based on Lorca’s poem Ciudad Sin Sueño
(Nocturno del Brooklyn Bridge)/City That Never Sleeps [City With no Dreams] (A Nocturne at the Brooklyn
Bridge). Lorca’s surrealist poem appears as part of Poeta en Nueva York (1927-1928), written during and after
his time at Columbia University. Through this work we see a man in the midst of a personal crisis. Lorca’s words
are a reaction to modern life – a caution to a city where there are no dreams, life, or poetry. “I felt that was a big
part of Lorca’s poem – that modern life prevents dreaming, and nowadays, our dreams are often dictated by
television and movies,” Marcus states. For his piece CIUDAD SIN SUEÑO: THREE IMAGES, Marcus has divided
portions of Lorca’s text into three movements. In the first, No Duerme Nadie por el Cielo (Nobody Sleeps In the
Sky), he uses the influence of the swing jazz era to create a bustling cityscape – juxtaposing it to Lorca’s yearning
for sueño (sleep). In response to this chaos, the soulful sounds of cante jondo (deep song) flamenco color the
second movement, Carne Viva (Living Flesh), with sensual images of the present. Lorca then shifts to a somber
tone with reflections on death, eternity and the pain of living life. Marcus employs these verses for the final
movement, Al que le Duele su Dolor (He who is in Pain) [How his Pain Hurts Him], in the style of a sacred
chorus reminiscent of Handel. Marcus explains, “The intent is to dramatize Lorca’s surreal mélange of images and
attitudes by melding unlikely musical neighbors. The music mirrors, as much as possible, the flow and changing
tone of Lorca’s language, while also hinting at the cultural mélange of a big city like New York.” Marcus holds
various degrees from UC Berkeley, Georgetown University, and Georgia State University, and is now completing a
PhD in music at the University of Georgia with his thesis on the music of Claude Debussy. A former Arabic
instructor at Middlebury College and Emory University, Marcus now teaches music analysis and composition at
Clark Atlanta University.
Guest artists for LA LUNA ASOMA: Inspired by Lorca include Jerry Fields and Vecinos del Mundo Flamenco.
Under the direction of Jerry Fields, guitarist Otto Stoy, vocalist Carmen Delgado Deal and dancer Melissa
Stiers form an ensemble of Atlanta’s finest flamenco artists. An accomplished percussionist, Jerry Fields earned
a Bachelor of Music degree from Kennesaw State University and performed as principal timpanist with the Cobb
Symphony Orchestra for over a decade. He has performed with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra, Atlanta Chamber
Players, Thamyris, the Kokopelli Consort, Consonare, and the Atlanta BrassWorks on timpani, marimba, drumset,
and percussion. Fields has accompanied and collaborated with flamenco artists Antonio Vargas, Arturo Martinez,
Ricardo Diaz, Antonio Hildago, Maria Temo, Alfonso Cid and Ulrika Frank.
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Fields currently serves as the Director of Percussion Studies at the Dunwoody School for the Arts and is an
associate professor of applied drumset at LaGrange College. A guitarist since the age of 12, Otto Stoy has
studied at the University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University and in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In addition to his work
with Vecinos del Mundo Flamenco, Stoy has continued his education with John Lawrence and Arturo Martinez.
Melissa Stiers has performed with Atlanta Flamenco Productions and was a member of the Perla Flamenca
Dance Company under the direction of Ulrika Frank. When she first began studying flamenco with Frank in 2000,
she brought a background of modern, jazz and ballet. Carmen Delgado Deal, in her debut performance with
Vecinos del Mundo Flamenco, was born in Sevilla, Spain where she performed with Manuel Cabreras, who
composed songs for famous Spanish vocalists. Since moving to Atlanta, she has performed flamenco singing at
Emory and Georgia State Universities, the University of Georgia, the Cathedral of Christ the King, Circulo Hispano-
Americano, the Atlanta History Center and the Atlanta Cuban Club. Carmen has performed in the Cafe Flamenco
show in the D.C. area and with Pasión Flamenca. Vecinos del Mundo Flamenco will perform guajiras, rumba,
martinete, sequirijas and farruca for LA LUNA ASOMA: Inspired by Lorca.
Sisters Chapel, one of Spelman College’s most admired architectural designs, was named for sisters, Laura S.
Rockefeller and Lucy Maria Spelman. Sisters Chapel earned the coveted Excellence in Restoration Award from
The Georgia Trust in 2006. The award recognizes the restoration of historic structures that depict accurate form,
features and character of the structure as it appeared at a particular period. This beautiful chapel, used for
religious services, lectures, assemblies, and center-wide convocations, ranks high with other chapels in this
country and abroad for its acoustical qualities.
Bringing Music to Life for over 30 seasons, AYS is Atlanta’s premier choir for children and youth. With the
cooperation of dedicated community leaders, schoolteachers, arts professionals, and Stephen J. Ortlip (Director
for 23 years), AYS was founded in 1975 when the idea of boys and girls singing together in a community choir
was rare in the United States. Under Music Director Paige F. Mathis (also an AYS alumna), the organization has
undergone many changes. AYS began as a single choir of 30 Singers ages 9 to 14. Currently, over 200 children
ages 7 to 18 are accepted each year into one of seven AYS choirs where they serve, grow, learn and sing
together. Singers come from over 100 public and private school environments covering a 50-mile radius of
Atlanta. A variety of social and economic backgrounds are represented, and AYS awards approximately 20% of
its Singers some level of financial assistance. Every year, AYS serves hundreds of Atlanta-area children and over
90,000 people around the world.
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Throughout the organization’s history AYS has reflected the high artistic capabilities of the young singer through
performances with Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, at the Closing Ceremonies of
the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, and at numerous events sponsored by nationally recognized organizations
such as the American Cancer Society and the Atlanta Braves. The Choir has traveled extensively receiving
invitations from prestigious choral festivals such as the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in Wales, Golden Gate
Children’s Choral Festival in California, and Festival Internacional de Música de Cantonigròs in Spain. In recent
years AYSC traveled to Australia and New Zealand to perform in the Presenting Sydney Choral Festival at the
Sydney Opera House. In July 2007, the Youth Chorale won an invitation to participate in FESTIVAL500 in
Newfoundland. The professional choir Anúna honored AYS and its Youth Chorale with an invitation to sing
Geantrai on stage at Atlanta’s Symphony Hall in November 2007. Most recently, the organization proudly sent its
Youth Chorale members to the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) In-Service Conference in
Savannah, Georgia. The AYS Treble Tour Choir will travel to the Pacific Rim Children’s Chorus Festival in
Honolulu, Hawaii this July.
In May of 1998, Paige F. Mathis was named Music Director of ATLANTA YOUNG SINGERS of Callanwolde and
the first holder of the Stephen J. Ortlip chair. Ms. Mathis received her undergraduate degree in Music Education
from Jacksonville State University and earned a Masters of Music degree in conducting from the Conservatory of
Music of the University of Missouri-Kansas City. She founded the Youth Chorale in 1994 as an expansion of AYS.
She is a long-standing member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Chorus where she sang
and recorded under the baton of the late Robert Shaw.
ATLANTA YOUNG SINGERS of Callanwolde: Bringing Music to Life for the next 30 Seasons.
This program is supported in part by the Georgia Council for the Arts (GCA) through the
appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. GCA also receives support from its partner agency,
the National Endowment for the Arts.
La Luna Asoma: Inspired by Lorca, is sponsored in part by the
Department of World Languages and Literature at Spelman College.
