Famed Composer Collaborates with WHS Concert Choir, Debuts Original Piece Wednesday

The Wilton High School Concert Choir is proud to announce its debut this Wednesday, March 29, of an original piece created in collaboration with acclaimed choral composer and conductor Michael John Trotta.

Trotta was commissioned by the Wilton High School music department to compose one original choral piece plus a lead a series of workshops for the students. Trotta also worked into the composition extra layers of music specifically for a select few 8th grade chorus students from Middlebrook. Funding for the commissioning was made available through a grant from the Wilton Education Foundation.

The premiere performance of this collaborative Trotta composition will be held next Wednesday at the Clune Center at 7:30 p.m.. A reception will be held for Trotta following the concert.

Recognized as an “an artist of vision and power” by the classical music promoter Phoenix Classical, Trotta could also be described as prolific. In addition to his work as a composer, conductor, and educator, he is currently premiering three new choral works, releasing three new albums and will soon debut his feature-length work–Seven Last Words of Christ–at Carnegie Hall.

“Michael Trotta is one of the most dynamic composers of choral music of our day. It has been an incredible honor and inspiration for the students to collaborate with and be directed by an artist of his talent,” says Betsey de Groff, WHS’s choral director and instructional leader of fine and performing arts.

Trotta expressed a mutual appreciation for the Wilton students.

“One of the most intriguing parts of this project is that it is truly a collaboration,” he says. “Over a process of many months, the students have been involved with making suggestions for the text, coming up with ideas about mood, helping to select the level of difficulty, and being part of deciding what they wanted the piece to communicate.”

The collaboration began back in June when Trotta met with the WHS Concert Choir for the first time and listened to them perform one of their spring 2016 adjudication pieces. At that point, he assessed their vocal strengths and discussed their willingness to be challenged musically.

Trotta says the students impressed him with their confidence and work ethic.

“One of my favorite parts of working on the Wilton project was when the choir asked for something more difficult; they really wanted a signature piece that would let them shine.”

The next step in the collaboration was the selection of a text for the piece. The students chose a public domain poem by Walt Whitman, “A Clear Midnight.”

According to choir member and WHS junior Maggie Cummins, this poem had the right feeling for the composition. “The poem evokes a reflective mood. The students felt like we could create a lot of emotion with these words.”

Once the lyrics were agreed upon, Trotta began the process of putting music to the words. “My job as the composer is to help the students visualize their ideas and put them into a form that they can then use to communicate these ideas to others,” he explains.

The end result was a choral composition nineteen pages in length.

“The piece is really a group of pieces, as there were more than a dozen drafts of the work from the very beginning sketches to the final piece that will have its world premiere in Wilton,” Trotta says. “It is wonderful for the students to learn that creativity is a process.”

The students were delighted with the composition when it was finished. According to WHS choral president Carolyn Yee, getting to know and work with the renowned composer motivated the students to perform the piece according to his vision. “To have someone write a beautiful yet challenging piece specifically for our choir is really special,” Yee notes.

For de Groff, this project has been a dream-come-true. “It has long been an aspiration of mine to have a choral piece commissioned for our students,” she says.

It was a chance encounter with the famous composer that set that dream in motion. While attending a Carnegie Hall concert of a Trotta piece last spring, de Groff discovered that seated next to her was the composer himself. A spontaneous conversation between the two led to the discussion of a formal collaboration.

From there the process of fundraising began. “The students and I are incredibly grateful to the Wilton Education Foundation for their support of this collaboration,” de Groff says, adding, “We’d also like to thank the Music Boosters for their financial support as well.”

Trotta says the Wilton community should be proud. “Not only is the Wilton High School Concert Choir a top-notch vocal ensemble that can literally sing anything you give them, but their ability to collaborate in creating the mood of this work is a tribute to their community.”