Morten Lauridsen, a renowned choral composer who is the subject of the 2012 award-winning documentary “Shining Night” and who was named an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts in 2006, is coming to Fairfax next week.
The Fairfax Choral Society is sponsoring a four-day residency for the 2007 National Medal of Arts recipient, which will include a variety of events, including a Morten Lauridsen Choral Festival at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, a screening of “Shining Night” at the Angelika Film Center, and an Afternoon with Morten Lauridsen, which includes a pre-concert lecture by Lauridsen as well as a concert in which Lauridsen will accompany the Fairfax Choral Society Symphonic Chorus and Master Singers at the piano at National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.
Lauridsen is a professor at the University of Southern California Thorton School of Music, where he has taught for over 40 years.
“What is most rewarding about teaching composition is to spark the student composers and to try to help them find their special gift as a composer, and to nurture that,” Lauridsen said.
Lauridsen worked as a firefighter for the Forest Service when he was younger, and spent ten weeks isolated on a lookout tower near Mt. St. Helens.
At that point, Lauridsen had not taken any music classes in college, although he was a trained pianist and trumpet player.
“I realized on that lookout, after a long period of introspection, that music had to play a larger role in my life,” Lauridsen said.
Lauridsen took as many music classes as possible at Whitman College, and then attended the University of Southern California. When he was a junior, he met with the head of composition and asked to take a class.
“I was virtually 20 years old. I had not written a note as a composer. I simply wanted to take a class to see what it was like,” Lauridsen said.
After that, Lauridsen said a brand new world had opened up before him.
Lauridsen’s works have been recorded on over 200 CDs. Michael Stillwater’s documentary “Shining Night,” a portrait of Lauridsen, has drawn in not only those interested in choral music, but the general public as well.
“It’s an insight into one man’s life and his love of nature, his quest for solitude, his love of poetry,” Lauridsen said.
Lauridsen seeks solitude for inspiration while composing. He spends his summers in a converted general store with no electricity or running water on Waldron Island in the San Juan Archipelago, located off the coast of Washington State.
“I do my best work as a creative artist when I am able to get to a very quiet place, where I am not distracted by unnecessary ambient sounds,” Lauridsen said.
Lauridsen has done over 100 residencies, and said they are one of his favorite things to do.
“To interact with students, the general public, the choristers, it’s a huge joy for me. It’s one of the great things that I am involved with now in my life,” Lauridsen said.
Several of Lauridsen’s works, including the famous “O Magnum Mysterium” (1994) and Lux Aeterna (1997), will be performed at the concert with the Fairfax Choral Society on March 23.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale, where Lauridsen was composer-in-residence from 1994-2001, is hosting a tribute to Lauridsen on March 16.
For a full schedule of Fairfax Choral Society and Morten Lauridsen events, visit www.fairfaxchoralsociety.org.