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Mark Graham, piano technician and accompanist, is now Mark Graham, composer, as a series of choral works, two decades in the making, comes to life at an April concert at Baldwin Wallace University's Conservatory of Music.
Graham says "The Songs of Ascents" are based on a mysterious group of psalms, thousands of years old that, according to tradition, were sung by pilgrims on their way up to Jerusalem for their yearly festivals.
"I
started
looking
at
these
15
pieces
as
a
group,
and
there
is
a
unity
and
structure
to
them,"
Graham
says.
"I
have
sung
in
choirs
all
my
life
and
started
hearing
possibilities
for
them.
I
think
I
started
composing
them
in
the
1980s."
"I looked at them last summer, and all but two were completed, so I just finished the set, not wanting to die someday with an unfinished set for someone to throw away," he explains. "It took a long time because it's just a sideline; I've been raising a family and paying for college, life in general."
After
finishing
the
final
two
pieces
last
summer,
Graham
shared
the
completed
series
with
various
choral
directors
"for
advice
and
critique."
BW
conductor
Marc
Weagraff
liked
what
he
saw
and
programmed
the
works
into
the
current
repertoire
of
the
BW
Singers.
"I'm of course delighted, as this will be the first time I've heard them," Graham says. "It's a bit unusual to perform a work by the piano technician, but once the students were over their initial shock they started to enjoy it and are doing a great job learning the music."
BW Singers will perform "The Songs of Ascents," described as "a joyful, turbulent, uplifting and melodic collection of songs from the heart," on Sunday, April 15 at 6 p.m. at Gamble Auditorium, Kulas Musical Arts Building, 96 Front Street, Berea.
The concert is free and open to the public.
"The music is challenging, but I'm hearing good things at rehearsals," Graham shares. "The songs are better than I thought they were."
