The music reflects the powerful and electric quality of the northern lights, which must have seemed both mesmerising and terrifying to people in the past when no one knew what they were, and superstition prevailed. In contrast, Northern Lights takes its inspiration from Gjeilo’s homeland, Norway, and the ‘terrible beauty’ of the natural phenomenon that may be observed there. He describes Phoenix as ‘symphonic in nature… one of those pieces where the text is very much the servant of the music, not the other way around’. When Gjeilo first visited the choir in Arizona, he had never been to the desert before, and the ‘quiet beauty and barrenness of the landscape’ moved him deeply. Phoenix, a setting of the Agnus Dei, is dedicated to Charles Bruffy and the Phoenix Chorale in honour of its fiftieth anniversary. Soon after, Gjeilo was invited to be the Chorale’s first Composer-in-Residence. Bruffy brought Gjeilo’s music to the Chorale and its audiences, and the response was immediate. When he first heard Gjeilo’s Ubi caritas, Charles Bruffy was instantly hooked, finding the music ‘refreshing and magnetic’. On this album the Choir performs choral works, and settings of sacred texts by the Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo.
Visit Ola Gjeilo’s website follow him on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.The critically acclaimed, Arizona-based Phoenix Chorale (formerly Phoenix Bach Choir) originally focused on music of the Renaissance and baroque periods, but today is equally dedicated to the creation and performance of new music. He especially enjoys writing music for choir, orchestra/symphonic winds, and the piano, while as a pianist, his main passion is improvisation, either solo or over his own ensemble works. Presently a full-time composer based in the US, Ola is also very interested in film, and his music draws a lot of inspiration from movies and cinematic music. Ola Gjeilo was the Phoenix Chorale’s first composer-in-residence during the 2009-10 Season. Gjeilo’s first solo piano recording, Stone Rose, was released in 2007 and his latest solo piano recording, Piano Improvisations, are available on and iTunes. Walton Music became the exclusive publisher of his choral music in 2007 and his scores are distributed by Hal Leonard. His publishers include Walton Music (US), Gehrmans (Sweden), and Musikk-Huset (Norway). After studying for his Bachelor’s Degree at the Norwegian Academy College of Music in Oslo, the Royal College of Music in London, and the Juilliard School in New York, he completed his Master’s Degree in composition at Juilliard in 2006. His choral music has also been performed by elite choirs including the Kansas City Chorale, Conspirare, World Youth Choir, VocalEssence, Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir, BYU Singers, Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, and the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation’s Radiokoren. Olaf College, Luther College, Ensemble Mendelssohn, and Chorale Arts Ensemble. Gjeilo (pronounced Yay-lo) has been commissioned by several ensembles, musicians and others worldwide, including Barbara Bonney, Solveig Kringelborn, Atle Sponberg, Philip Brunelle, the Edvard Grieg Society, St. Click here for more information about this CD. Northern Lights includes five world premiere recordings and three pieces which were either commissioned, composed, or dedicated to the Phoenix Chorale. The recording was released in 2012 and features the Phoenix Chorale under the direction of Artistic Director Charles Bruffy along with special guests The Harrington String Quartet, saxophonist Ted Belledin, and the composer himself, Ola, on piano.
Many of Ola’s choral works are featured on the Phoenix Chorale’s CD titled Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo which is the first recording devoted entirely to his music for choir. Ola Gjeilo (pronounced Yay-lo) was born in Norway in 1978, and moved to the United States in 2001 to begin his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City. Ola’s concert works are performed all over the world, and his debut recording as a pianist-composer, the lyrical crossover album Stone Rose, was released in 2007, followed by its 2012 sequel, Piano Improvisations, both on the 2L label.