 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
||||
 |
•Stephen Mager's Missa Lucis is performed at the Saint Louis Cathedral-Basilica. •Stephen Mager conducted Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christ at Indiana University on April 20. •Cantilena by Stephen Mager has been selected for performance during the Living Composers Forum, dedicated to American Song, led by William Bolcom and Joan Morris at the Jacobs School of Music, Bloomington-Indiana, January 23-25, 2008. Read the review. (See pictures here...) •Lois Bliss Herbine records Saltarello, The Falcon (2005)
About Stephen Mager...For a list of works by Stephen Mager, please write to scmager@yahoo.com Saint Louis composer Stephen Mager has written music in a variety of genres, but particularly for chorus and orchestra. His first large-scale choral symphony, Sinfonia Pastorale, received its St. Louis premiere in 1997 with the Bach Society of Saint Louis. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch observed, "The music does indeed have a painterly quality to it. The orchestration is complex and colorful, and the music is inclined to linger over beautiful images...[Mager] writes gratefully for the voice..." His Christmas carol settings have also received critical attention: "Mager's settings...went well beyond mere arrangements; the 'Noël de la Vièrge' had a simple dignity and deft orchestral touch that set it above the usual holiday fare" [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]. In 1998, Stephen formed the Arcangeli Chamber Chorus and Orchestra and produced a compact disc recording featuring many of these carol settings. The disc won the praise of recording critic Robin Weatherall, host of Classic Tracks on KFUO Classic-99 in Saint Louis: "The arrangements are charming...bringing fresh and vibrant life to these timeless carols." Entitled Joy for Every Age, the CD is available from Oxford University Press. Stephen Mager 's compositions are receiving increasing acclaim. Current projects include performances of his carols by the Cleveland Orchestra and Choruses during the 2007 Christmas Season. He is also completing a Mass for Chorus and Chamber Orchestra for the Bach Society of Saint Louis; an orchesral song cycle for soprano Mary Wilson and the Savanna Sinfonietta; and new carol arrangements for First Presbyterian Church of Davenport, Iowa. Excellent reviews followed his premieres of Illuminations for soprano, piccolo, and harp, commissioned by St. Louis Symphony flautist and piccolo player Jan Gippo, (2001-2002) and his young people's opera commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, to commemorate the Louisiana Purchase bicentennial in 2004. Dream of the Pacific has been subsequently performed by Opera Omaha, Kansas City Lyric Opera (both in 2005,) and Washington's National Opera (2006), the latter by the young artists program sponsored by Plácido Domingo. Stephen Mager was honored as the Composer of the Year for 2001, by the American Guild of Organists, Saint Louis Chapter. The award acknowledges his service to the cause of sacred music. His publishers include Oxford University Press and MorningStar Music. An active conductor, Stephen conducted for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in their education outreach performances from 1997 to 2004. For them he conducted the Midwest premiere of Hans Krasà's Brundibàr. His contribution to that production included newly composed incidental music to poetry by young victims of the Holocaust, which he is now setting as a song cycle for high voices and piano, to be premiered at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Spring of 2008. He conducted the 1999 world premiere of Adolphus Hailstork's Joshua's Boots, to favorable critical attention from the Wall Street Journal, the Kansas City Star and others. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch remarked, "Mager kept the music moving... for a satisfying performance." The St. Louis Riverfront Times described the conductor as "sympathetic both toward his singers and toward [the] score," in a production that was "thoroughly enjoyable, exciting and touching." Other productions included Lukas Foss' The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (Fall 2000), and Cary John Franklin's The Thunder of Horses (Fall 2001). Also among his conducting credits are the Masterworks Children's Chorus of Belleville, Illinois (1989-2000); the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus; the Baden Chamber Orchestra; and the Providence Singers of Saint Louis. Also a pianist and organist, Stephen Mager has appeared in concert for the Saint Louis Art Museum, Christ Church Cathedral, Saint Louis Pro Musica, and elsewhere in the Midwest.
| 
|
|
|||
|
|
|||||
|
||||||