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Student composition is 'harmony' of Jewish, Christian faiths

By Mara Kumagai Fink '11
April 27, 2010
Eric Sayre '10 conducted his piece, In Paradisum, as part of April's "Oratorio" performance.

Growing up in a family of multiple faiths, Eric Sayre ’10 says he completed his composition In Paradisum as a harmony between his Jewish and Christian backgrounds after his father died last year.

The piece has lately been gaining traction around the region. One of the premiere vocal groups in the Twin Cities area, VocalEssence, has programmed the piece for their April 30 performance at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

Artistic Director Philip Brunelle says his piece is perfect for the cathedral. “With the eight-second reverberation in the cathedral you must program music whose sound will 'roll around' in the cathedral — music that is expansive and filled with dynamic contrasts," he says. "Those qualities are in Eric's piece."

The St. Olaf Chapel Choir gave the first performance of the work in October and did an encore performance conducted by Sayre in April (listen to In Paradisum starting at minute 49). The Twin Cities chamber choir Magnum Chorum also performed the piece last fall.

Sayre, a music education major, is excited about the opportunity to have another choir performing his work. “I am an amateur composer at best, so it is an unbelievably great honor to have such a high caliber group perform something I wrote. This piece has become a wonderful way of honoring my father’s life, and for that I am very grateful,” he says.

The piece is currently under review by Walton Music for their 2011 catalog.

Next year Sayre plans to student teach in the Minneapolis public schools before heading to Guyana, where he will teach music through the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Guyana and pilot a program that will involve future St. Olaf students in the region.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.