HILLSBORO, Kan. – Tabor College professor of music and director of choral activities Bradley Vogel is premiering five new compositions this spring.
The compositions are the fruits of Vogel’s partial sabbatical this year.
“I applied for a sabbatical with the idea of doing some composing,” Vogel said. “I had some teachers ask if I’d be interested in writing some stuff for their choirs.”
Vogel picked twenty choirs and sent an email to the directors asking if they would like him to write something for their choir. He was expecting to get four or five responses.
“Within a day, I had 18 responses,” Vogel said. “I had to pick and choose who I would go with. I made my decisions based on what types of special events they were doing.”
In February, “A Dream is like an Angel” premiered at the Kansas Music Educators Association State Convention. The composition includes treble choir, piano, English horn and cello, and Vogel wrote original text for the piece. It was written for former Tabor faculty Janie Brokenicky and the Flint Hills Children’s Chorus.
Vogel’s second composition, “The Trumpet Shall Sound,” was performed by the Concordia High School choir and also debuted at KMEA. The piece is written for mixed chorus, piano and trumpet, and includes text from 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians.
The Hillsboro High School mixed chorus gave the first performance of “Lord, Hear My Voice” in March. This piece, based on text from Psalm 102, 130, 51 and 36, includes a mixture of English and Latin.
Two more of Vogel’s compositions will premiere later this spring.
McPherson High School women’s chorus debuted “Untamed,” which is based on text written by McPherson High School student Emma Ellet.
“When in Our Music God is Glorified,” based on the hymn by Fred Pratt Green, will be performed by the Garden City High School mixed choir in celebration of the choir director’s retirement. Vogel wrote a third stanza for special commemoration.
In addition, Vogel is finishing an arrangement of “Bound for the Promised Land,” which is dedicated to this year’s Tabor College Concert Choir and will be performed at commencement.
Vogel started composing in the last week of August 2016 and finished during the last week of January 2017. Vogel said he compares his composing process to “trying to capture air in a bottle.”
“I think through the text and the rhythmic flow of the words,” Vogel said. “I think about how it moves and the emotion, then I find the melodies that make sense. To me, it’s problem solving and its patience.”