In this Musical Moment, VocalEssence artistic director and founder Philip Brunelle shares insider information and beautiful music by the composer Chris DeBlasio.This episode features Soprano Maria Jette.
Chris DeBlasio
1959-1993
The American composer Chris DeBlasio was a pioneer composer in musical theatre, art songs, and sacred music. He studied theatre arts at New York University and composition at the Manhattan School of Music, where his principal teachers included John Corigliano. Among his works are two complete musicals, Instant Lives and A Murder is Foretold, scores for several plays, the song cycles All the Way Through Evening and In Endless Assent, and commissions from Union Theological Seminary, Central Synagogue and Trinity Church in New York. His style combined idiomatic writing for the voice (whether in a popular idiom or in solemn Biblical settings) with a sure and haunting melodic gift; his few non-vocal works, such as God is our Righteousness, are equally adept. His choral works are known for their strong tonal counterpoint and accessibility. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Plymouth Congregational Church Choir have sung movements from his work, The Best Beloved.