Utah composer writes 'Ave Maria' for choral group

Intermountain Catholic

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Melanie Melinka, Madeleine Choir School music director (back left), prepares children in the fourth through eighth grade who attended the Salt Lake City Choral Artists Music Camp, to perform the "Ave Maria" composed by Alfonso Tenreiro (back second from right). The summer camp for families was under the direction of Brady Allred (back right), a University of Utah professor, who worked with the children's parents and other adults.IC photo by Chris Young

SALT LAKE CITY — Alfonso Tenreiro has been busy this summer writing and recording. He wrote an "Ave Maria" for the Salt Lake City Choral Artist children to perform and also recorded his "Requiem" on a Latin American CD.

"It was such a beautiful experience recording with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra in June," said Tenreiro, composer, band and ninth grade theology teacher at Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary and High Schools. "I received an e-mail from Parma Recordings because they heard my "Requiem" on my web page that the Madeleine Choir School Choristers performed about 10 years ago. They were very interested in recording one of my symphonic works on a Latin American CD, which will be released this October by Navona Records recording label, and distributed by Naxos.

"They were very eager because the CD is all Latin American composers, and I am from Venezuela. I moved to the United States in 1981," said Tenreiro. "I finished high school and college in the United States.

"All these companies are very well known within the Classical Music industry," said Tenreiro. "They are anticipating the Latin American Grammy Award with this CD.

"I went to Moravia in the Czech Republic to record with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, and it was amazing," said Tenreiro. "I was able to have full control of the music during the recording. The piece was such a success. The conductor, musicians, producers and other composers loved it. The fun thing was when I got to the Czech Republic, the composers chosen were people I already knew. I also got to take my son Stephen with me and we toured Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic. He also got to see the composition aspect of my career.

"It was wonderful to hear the "Meditación," which means meditation, played by a full symphony orchestra," said Tenreiro. "Everybody was pleased with the music. I received a lot of compliments from the conductor and the producer.

"Then when I returned from the Czech Republic, I received an e-mail from Melanie Malinka director of Music at the Madeleine Choir School, asking me to compose a piece for students to sing for the Salt Lake City Choral Artists Music Camp. Melinka put together the camp under the direction of Brady Allred from the University of Utah. She said I could compose something folk or something sacred that they could use during the Masses throughout the year. Of course I wanted to write something sacred they could use all year.

"I was commissioned by the Madeleine Choir School and the Salt Lake City Choral Artists for their camp to write a short work for treble voices, which means soprano and alto," said Tenreiro. "So I wrote an "Ave Maria."

Tenreiro said they performed it beautifully. They performed Tenreiro’s "Ave Maria," at a Salt Lake City Choral Artists Concert at the University of Utah Libby Gardner Concert Hall July 18, and during the 6 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine July 19. The children also performed Tenreiro’s "Lamb of God."

"I chose the Ave Maria because it is one of the most beautiful prayers," said Tenreiro. "I relate very much to Our Lady. I not only wrote the sacred text, but prayed it while I was writing. When it is in your heart, the music flows easily. To me it needs to be a prayer first. I wrote it the way I would pray it and felt the prayer inside me."

"The Salt Lake City Choral Artists also performed a piece by Miguel Chuaqui, who is from Chile, and also a parishioner of the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Both of his children graduated from the Choir School," said Melinka.

"The theme for this camp was ‘Utah Composers,’ so I contacted Alfonso and told him about this camp," said Melinka. "I thought it would be wonderful if he had a piece for treble voices we could perform or if he could write something for us. He came in and rehearsed with the students.

"The students really like this piece even though it was hard for them," said Melinka. "The majority of the children we have in this camp are not choristers yet at the Choir School. There were only two of the 20 students enrolled in the camp who were Madeleine Choir Choristers. The rest are fifth graders, so they are just starting, or they are from Roland Hall, or from other schools throughout the Salt Lake Valley.

"Tenreiro’s music is always so beautiful, and his Ave Maria is perfect for children’s voices," said Melinka. "The words he wrote as he heard them in his head and how it all worked out in the end, was gorgeous.

"The camp was a summer music day camp in conjunction with the Salt Lake Choral Artists under the direction of Brady Allred," said Melinka. "Allred is a professor at the University of Utah and this is his community choir. During the summer they put on a program called the Summer Choral Institute. Our children’s camp is part of the Summer Choral Institute.

"This session is actually for families," said Melinka. "The kids come to work with us and our staff at the Choir School, while their parents are at the University of Utah with Allred. The children do a few pieces together with the adults, as well as a few pieces on their own."

The adults performed their works and the children performed what they had been working on during the camp at the concert at Libby Gardner Concert Hall. All of the pieces performed were composed by Utah composers Tenreiro and Chuaqui. Chuaqui arranged some folk songs from Chile for the choral artists. He also composed a Psalm for the adults called "Salmo 139," which was performed at the 6 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral July 19.

"We had two camps going on from July 13-17, said Melinka. "In the morning we had a camp for second and third graders. They were doing music exploration, which included singing, playing music games, a violin class, and a dance class with a teacher from the Children’s Dance Theater. They were at the school from 9 a.m. to noon. The younger students worked with Julie Maughan, the Madeleine Choir Elementary School music teacher.

"The older student camp included students in fourth through eighth grade," said Melinka. "The older children, who also met from 9 a.m. to noon, were part of a choir. They had sectionals and music games with Joan Brinton, a private music teacher and University of Utah graduate student. After lunch the students were able to play outside."

The students also had the option of extending the day until 4 p.m. to participate in different electives. This included hand bells, conducting, composition, voice lessons, and keyboard improvisation. The students who were doing keyboard improvisation were able to try out their skills on the Cathedral of the Madeleine organ on the last day of the camp.

Melinka said this is only the second year the camp has been held, and the first year it was held for the younger students. Melinka is looking forward to next year and to more students attending the camp from throughout the Valley.