Photo by Troy Freund/Present Music - Facebook
Present Music Thanksgiving Concert 2019
Present Music Thanksgiving Concert 2019
Earlier this week, the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Music was given to Raven Chacon, the first Native American so honored. The award-winning work, “Voiceless Mass,” was commissioned by Milwaukee’s Present Music and premiered last November at the ensemble’s annual Thanksgiving concert.
“Raven has a national and international reputation, not only as a composer of chamber music, but as a noise artist and installation designer,” says Present Music Co-Artistic Director Eric Segnitz. “I first heard of him through his work with the Kronos Quartet.” When discussing composers to commission for PM’s 40th season with Co-Artistic Director David Bloom, “Raven represented the more abstract end of the spectrum,” he recalls. “So it’s fantastic that some mainstream recognition comes his way. I think this piece came from a deep well, after two years of his voice being silenced.”
Chacon composed “Voiceless Mass” for the pipe organ at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, where it premiered at the Thanksgiving concert. The music was described as a concerto whose instrumental voices were in dialogue with the spiritual resonance of the cathedral’s magnificent organ and acoustics. Chacon said it was meant to give voice to the voiceless.
The award has drawn national attention for Chacon and Present Music. “And for our organization, and the City of Milwaukee, we can take a moment to experience the satisfaction of a 40-year journey, and then get back to work!” Segnitz says.
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Voiceless Mass by Raven Chacon
