Triptych³—Where Once We Stood

featuring the JMU Choral, Dance, & Percussion Areas

March 19-23, 2025

Commitments due OCTOBER 10

Carnegie Hall Concert Program

Triptych³—Where Once We Stood

Shenandoah — traditional American folksong, arr. James Erb

Where Once We Stood — performed to Triptych by Tarik O'Regan (b. 1978)
I. Threnody
II. As We Remember Them
III. From Heaven Distilled A Clemency

Rubén Graciani is a high school graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts. He went on to study on scholarship at The Julliard School and several major New York dance companies, including the Martha Graham Dance Company and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Graciani graduated from the State University of New York, Purchase College, receiving a B.F.A. in Dance. After graduation, he joined the Mark Morris Dance Group as a contract performer. Additionally, he has performed as a guest artist with the CityDance Ensemble and Brian Brooks Moving Company, and has been a company member of the Kevin Wynn Collection, the Joe Goode Performance Group and Company Stefanie Batten Bland, among many others. He is an M.F.A. graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park.

In September 2005, Graciani joined the faculty at Ohio University. While there, he received two Arts for Ohio Choreographic Grants which resulted in the collaboration, Oyster, with composer John Orfe and the Grammy Award-winning new music ensemble, Alarm Will Sound.

Graciani joined the faculty of Skidmore College in September 2008. While at Skidmore, collaborated with renowned composer Richard Danielpour, premiered site-specific work at the Tang Museum, worked in collaboration with the Academy ACJW for a performance of L'Histoire du Soldat, and premiered three works for Saratoga ArtsFest. Rubén’s work on dance films with his Skidmore students was profiled in the November 2012 edition of Dance Magazine. 

His company, RG Dance Projects, has performed to acclaim in New York, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Shanghai, among others. He won the “Audience Favorite” Award at the Joe’s Pub DanceNow Festival in 2012. Mr. Graciani co-coordinated the National High School Dance Festival and was selected as an adjudicator for the American College Dance Association Northeast Conference. He is currently on the nominating committee for the National Dance Museum – Dance Hall of Fame.

Rubén joined Point Park University in July of 2014 as Chair of Dance and Associate Artistic Director of the Conservatory of Performing Arts. Recent commissions include, Broadway Dance Center's Pro Sem Showcase, the Great Lakes Dance Festival, and works for the Conservatory Dance Company at Point Park University. He premiered Tethers, Capsules and Collisions, in collaboration with composer Alex Marthaler and an evening length work, FIVE, in collaboration with choreographer Kiesha Lalama and the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Graciani joined the faculty of James Madison University in July of 2017 as the Director of the School of Theatre and Dance.

2022 CVPA Outstanding Student Mentor, and 2016 JMU Woman of Distinction, Dr. Jo-Anne van der Vat-Chromy brings to JMU a rich and diverse career of international performance and teaching. As JMU Director of Choral Activities, Dr. van der Vat-Chromy directs The Madison Singers, the JMU Chorale, the UCSA: University Chorus Soprano/Alto Ensemble, and coordinates the VMRC Generations Choir, an intergenerational choral practicum here in Harrisonburg. A certified Kodály music educator, Dr. V. is a proud faculty member of Kodály Institutes at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX, and JMU. The 2012-2014 Interim Music Director for the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir, currently Dr. V. is the JMU Vocal Arts Summer Camp director, has served for four years as Coordinator of the JMU Voice Area and is currently co-coordinator of the JMU Ensemble Area. . An active adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor, Dr. V’s research interests include the kinesthetic connections in conducting pedagogy, the integration of Kodály methodology into collegiate choral performance, and the sociological impact of choral cultures on student learning and the experience of flow. Recently dubbed by the renowned choral ensemble The King’s Singers ‘our collective fairy-godmother,’ Dr. van der Vat-Chromy was awarded the 2022 Shirley Hanson Roberts (’56) and Richard D. Roberts Endowment for Faculty Excellence, a university-wide endowed award for excellence in student engagement, collaborative learning, growth, and self-discovery.

Last fall 2023, Dr. van der Vat-Chromy was personally invited by MidAmerica Productions, Inc. to conduct at Carnegie Hall. Bringing our CVPA cross-disciplinary collaborative project Where Once We Stood to this world-renowned concert stage is a dream come true.

Casey Cangelosi is commonly hosted world-wide by educational institutions, music festivals, and educational seminars. Casey has been a visiting guest artist in Italy, Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico, Argentina, Croatia, Sweden, Taiwan, and widely across the U.S. at events including the The Midwest Clinic and PASIC Showcase Concerts. Casey is a regularly commissioned composer called the "Paganini of Percussion" and "The voice of a new generation". Casey holds music degrees from Rice University, The Boston Conservatory, and Utah State University. Casey is endorsed by Majestic, Mapex, Innovative Percussion, Zildjian, Grover Pro Percussion, Remo, and Beiner Bags.

Here are our performer requirements to ensure that we perform at our best. If you are an alum interested in this tour, click here.  In order to participate in this prestigious tour, you must participate in a JMU Choral Ensemble BOTH Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters.

Fall 2024

• Vocal Music Majors: Participation in any JMU choral ensemble; Chorale, Treble Chamber Choir, and The Madison Singers by audition as normal procedures. Students who are in University Choruses & wish to go to Carnegie Hall must contact Dr. van der Vat-Chromy and present a short audition within the first two weeks of classes.
• Interested Instrumental Music Majors are eligible to apply. You may either audition for the Choral Area in our fall ensemble audition cycle or register for MUS 490-0003 (Carnegie Hall Choir) and we will audition within this ensemble rehearsal cycle. Please note that registration for MUS 490-0003 does not guarantee participation; auditions will be held in the first two weeks of the semester, prior to the Add/Drop period.
• Non-Music majors (campus-wide): You are invited and most welcome to audition! Please either opt to audition for the Choral Area on August 20 & 21 or register for MUS 490-0003 (Carnegie Hall Choir) and we will audition within this ensemble rehearsal cycle. Please note that registration for MUS 490-0003 does not guarantee participation; auditions will be held in the first two weeks of the semester, prior to the Add/Drop period.

Spring 2025

• Vocal Music Majors: Required enrollment in either MUAP 340: JMU Chorale, MUAP 341: The Madison Singers, or MUAP 490-0003 (86211): Carnegie Hall Choir. Please note that Spring 2025 choral ensemble auditions will not be required for participants in the Carnegie Hall Tour, as participation commitment will be confirmed in October 2024. You will simply register for one of these choirs as assigned.

• Instrumental & Non-Music Majors (campus-wide): Required enrollment in either MUAP 340: JMU Chorale, MUAP 341: The Madison Singers, or MUAP 490-0003 (86211): Carnegie Hall Choir. You will register for one of these choirs after conferring with Dr. van der Vat-Chromy.

• JMU is generously contributing $1600.00 per student participant to cover transportation, lodging, meals, and Carnegie Hall participation fees.
• Student participants will be responsible for the remaining $200.00 fee paid to JMU.
• Students will also be responsible for ordering and buying a School of Music performance uniform (approx. $75.00-$100.00).
• Student participation commitment will be confirmed by October 10th.

We are excited to be able to invite alumni singers for this event! JMU alumni will be able to participate through a concert-only package through MidAmerica Productions, Inc. 

• $1,199.00 per participant (travel & hotel accommodations not included)*
• Price includes participation in all rehearsals, performance at Carnegie Hall, & after-performance dinner cruise with JMU student performers
• Alum participants will be required to purchase a School of Music performance uniform (approx. $75.00-$100.00)
• Payment schedule available on interest form; you will be contacted directly to complete your registration after filling out the interest form below.
• Commitment due October 10th

Interest Form

*If you are interested in traveling with the JMU student performers, please contact Dr. van der Vat-Chromy at vanderjx@jmu.edu.

Triptych - by Tarik O'Regan

The JMU College of Visual & Performing Arts continues to have a unique and personal relationship with our cross-disciplinary collaboration, "Where Once We Stood," set to the music of  Triptych by renowned British composer Tarik O'Regan. Our first cross-disciplinary collaboration was initially planned for Spring 2020; alas, COVID-19 interrupted our idea. Under the auspices of the 2023 "New Voices in Dance" Festival, the JMU CVPA Schools of Music, Theatre, & Dance combined for second time; "Where Once We Stood" was performed to great acclaim by the combined Madison Singers and JMU Chorale, eight mallet percussionists and eleven dancers with the composer-in-residence.

Combining dance with live music-making creates an archetypal experience intensified by mixing artistic media. In this portrayal of life, death, and resurrection, of mortality and immortality, the dancers portray the archetypal and emotional shapes and struggles of these themes as brough to life by the harmonic density, modal fluidity, and non-traditional falling chained suspensions of the choral singing, underscored by the nearly pop-music-influlenced accompaniment of O'Regan's mallet percussion writing. As such, this collaboration celebrate's  Triptych's messages of oneness through diversity, shared meaning through the intersectionality of artistic media, and the transformational power of divine clemency.

When the invitation to Carnegie Hall came forward, it was clear, no other work better represents our College mission of collaboration and agency through the performing arts. There is a joyous synchronicity in this third-time or  Triptych³ cross-disciplinary event. Join us, JMU choral singers, as we share the heart of JMU Performing Arts at Carnegie Hall this spring 2025!

Choreographic Vision for "Where Once We Stood" - Rubén Graciani

Tarik Hamilton O'Regan

Born in London in 1978, English composer Tarik Hamilton O'Regan's name discloses three significant characteristics of his musical and cultural influences. In Arabic, Tarik means "brightest star" or "nocturnal visitor." This given name reveals his mother's Algerian ancestry, while O'Regan comes from his British father, whose family is Anglo-Irish.  Triptych, a portrayal of life, death, and resurrection, or mortality and immortality, represents the merging of two of O'Regan's extant works. 

Triptych Program Notes

Triptych Movement I:  Threnody, conducted by Jeremy Summerly in Christ Church, Spitalfields, premiered on December 18, 2004; Movements II and III were premiered by the Portsmouth Grammar School Chamber Choir and the London Mozart Players in November 2005. The diversity of religious and spiritual traditions represented by the texts sources in  Triptych underpin a global sense of unity and understanding of the human journey. These sources include William Penn, William Blake, John Milton, the Psalms of David, William Wordsworth, Muhammad Rajab Al-Bayoumi, an Egyptian poet of the early 20th century, 13th-century Persian poet Jalalu-'d'Din Rumi, and a couplet from the medieval Zoroastrian texts, the Bundahis-Bahman Yast. The second movement is concluded with a line from Thomas Hardy's poem, 'And There Was a Great Calm,' written at the signing of the World War I Armistice on November 11, 1918. An additional couplet from this poem is set in a moment of tranquility in the final movement.

Triptych Text & Sourcing

John Milton (1608-1674) from  Paradise Lost, Book III (1667):

And the Heav'nly Quire stood mute, And silence was in Heav'n.

'Bundahis-Bahman Yast:' Indian Bundahishn (ninth century) [adapted]; from 'Sacred Books of the East,' Volume 5, translated by Edward W. West (1860):

Each shall arise in the place where their life [spirit] departs.

Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) from 'And There Was a Great Calm' on the signing of the WWI Armistice, 1918:

Calm fell. From heaven distilled a clemency.
There was peace on earth, and silence in the sky.

Masnavi i Ma 'navi:' Mathwani of Jalalu-'d'Din Rumi (thirteenth century) [adapted] from 'Masanavi i Ma 'navi,' Book III, translated by Edward H. Whinfield (1898):

[So] Why then should I be afraid? I shall die once again to rise an angel blest.

Carnegie Hall History

Undeniably one oft he most remarkable landmarks in New York City, Carnegie Hall is known for its rich history and unparalleled musical performances. With its stunning architecture, world-class acoustics, and iconic status, Carnegie Hall continues to captivate audiences from around the globe.

Located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets, Carnegie Hall was designed in a Revival architectural style developed first in the late 14th century in Florence, Italy, by architect William Burnet Tuthill (1855-1929). Built by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), it is one of the world's most prestigious venues for both classical and popular music. Carnegie Hall is known for its exceptional acoustics; the design of the hall ensures that every note played or sung is heard with clarity and richness, allowing for an extraordinary musical experience.

Carnegie Hall's mission is to present extraordinary music and musicians on the three stages of this legendary hall, to bring the profoundly transformative power of music to the widest possible audience, to provide visionary education programs, and to foster the future of music through the cultivation of new works, artists, and audiences. A Global Symbol of Excellence, Carnegie Hall stands as a beacon of artistic excellence and cultural prestige recognized and revered by music lovers worldwide.

We have been invited, and you, JMU choral singers, are invted to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime JMU arts experience!