Michael McGaghie- Radiant Dawn

Radiant Dawn: A Choral Vigil

May, 2014

Singers in Accord and guest conductor Michael McGaghie present "Radiant Dawn," an array of choral works that journey through our daily cycle of light. Modeled after a traditional all-night vigil, the program travels an arc from sunset to sunrise. Vespers repertoire from across the ages will intertwine with nighttime music of wonder and dreams. The performance will feature Dominick Argento's "The Vision," a sumptuous setting of imagery from Dante's "Paradiso." The program will also include moving pieces by Barber, Lauridsen, and Chesnokov, closing with the joy of dawn's radiant arrival as heralded gloriously in the fireworks of J.S. Bach's "Cantata No. 79."

"Vigils have positive connotations for me," says Becky Pansch, SIA singer and music therapist for Fairview Hospice. "I think of them as a time to be attentive to something sacred and reflective to something all of humanity will experience, whether it be the birth of a child, the healing of someone ill, the passing of a loved one or honoring a sacred event."

When purchasing tickets, concertgoers will be invited to give a tribute to a loved one that they have kept or are keeping vigil for. The free-will donations collected from the tributes will directly benefit Fairview Hospice. The tributes will be printed in the concert program and celebrated by the music of the performance.

Michael McGaghie

Michael McGaghie

Michael McGaghie is Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Macalester College and conductor of the Harvard Glee Club Alumni Chorus. He conducts the Macalester Concert Choir and Chorale and teaches courses in music history and criticism. An active adjudicator and clinician, he has served as chorusmaster of the Minnesota Bach Ensemble and as regular guest conductor of the Twin Cities ensemble Singers in Accord. He sings tenor as a member of the Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorale.

The American Choral Directors Association has frequently recognized his work. Under his direction, the Macalester Concert Choir was chosen by a double-blind audition to perform at ACDA’s 2016 North Central Division Conference. He was one of seven American conductors selected for the ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program in China, where he conducted several student and professional choirs in greater Shanghai. His doctoral thesis on Minnesotan composer Dominick Argento received ACDA’s Julius Herford Prize, awarded annually for the nation’s most outstanding dissertation in choral music.