Under the Greenwood Tree
by William Shakespeare
Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn a merry note
Unto the sweet bird’s throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall we see
No enemy
But winter and rough weather.
Our winter concert (January 24 and January 25, 2009) features the world premiere of a commissioned piece Under the Greenwood Tree, by Robert Convery. This nine-movement cantata for choir and piano features text celebrating being human from the poetry of Langston Hughes, Amy Lowell, Walt Whitman, Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, Elinor Wylie, and William Shakespeare.
Since 2000, when LGCW first performed Convery’s cantata, Songs of Children, LGCW members have developed a strong connection to Bob and to his music. In 2005, we were privileged to perform (pre-publication) his suite, Not About Cheese. Bob is very generous with his time and we’ve had several special experiences working with him on his music.
Bob says “LGCW holds a warm place in my heart. … It is a family which embraces new family each time it makes music. This inches its way along to make the world an ever-improving and pleasant place to be. … Hearing my music sung by LGCW restoreth always my soul.”
About, Under the Greenwood Tree, Bob says,
“One of the cornerstones of LGCW’s creed (Every Voice Matters) is the daily celebration of being human. The sanctity of intimacy, human warmth, of being human without agenda, is intrinsic to this creed. Eleven poems and nine poets weave together in an odyssey about the gleam of being alive, about the unassailable choices made while searching to understand that which is intrinsic to being alive and human (trust, togetherness, being, giving and promising), as a way of celebrating LGCW’s 25-year commitment to this same search.“
The LGCW has previously commissioned Mark Adamo for its 10th Anniversary (1994) and with D.C.’s Different Drummers co-commissioned Robert Maggio for a 40-minute work for band and chorus about the AIDS Quilt (2003).
Support Under the Greenwood Tree
Commissioning is not for the faint-at-heart. The standard rate is $2,000 per minute. If you are interested in making a tax-deductible contribution, you can donate here, or mail a contribution payable to the LGCW at the address: LGCW, PO Box 65285, Washington, D.C. 20035.
Contact us for more information about the commission at 202-546-1549. We thank you in advance for your support.
More information about Robert Convery
Robert Convery is among the handful of composers writing effectively for the voice today. His music is expressed in a distinctly personal voice of lyricism, rhythmic vitality, a keen harmonic sense, and transparent textures. Convery has written five one-act operas, twenty-seven cantatas, Mass for choir and orchestra, choral works of every description, twelve song cycles, and more than two hundred songs for voice and piano. Convery’s fifth opera, Clara, based on the life of Clara Schumann, was commissioned by the University of Maryland and was produced in 2004 at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland. Convery’s song cycle, Five Settings of Robert Louis Stevenson, and a short comic opera, The Owl and the Nightingale, were premiered in February 2007 at Weill Recital Hall in New York City under the auspices of Center for Contemporary Opera.
A Brief Bio
ROBERT CONVERY is among the handful of composers today writing effectively for the voice. His music is expressed in a distinctly personal voice of lyricism, rhythmic vitality, a keen harmonic sense, and transparent textures. Mr. Convery has written five one-act operas, twenty-seven cantatas, Mass for choir and orchestra, choral works of every description, twelve song cycles, and more than two hundred songs for voice and piano. In the non-vocal repertory he has written Variations and Fugue for large orchestra, Lyric Essay, Elegy for Strings, Organ Concerto, a string quartet, various chamber works and piano solo works.
His operas have had performances with Spoleto Festival U.S.A., Festival Dei Due Mondi, Lake George Opera Festival, Glimmerglass Opera, Juilliard Opera Center, Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and The Curtis Institute of Music Opera Theater where Mr. Convery’s one-act opera Pyramus and Thisbe was staged and conducted by Boris Goldovsky. Performances of other works have been with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra del Teatro Verdi di Trieste, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Musica Sacra and New York Festival of Song. His music has been broadcast on Voice of America, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, and numerous radio stations across the United States.
Mr. Convery’s cantata Songs of Children received its Washington D.C. premiere in 1993 as part of the celebration of the opening of The United States Holocaust Museum. The cantata’s entire performance was filmed by ABC Television for inclusion in a documentary on the Holocaust Museum.
Making Art, an award-winning documentary for PBS Television on the creation and performance of Mr. Convery’s Christmas cantata The Nativity of Our Lord, was produced in 1993.
Mr. Convery’s fifth opera, Clara, based on the life of Clara Schumann, was commissioned by the University of Maryland and was produced in 2004 at The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Mr. Convery’s song cycle, Five Settings of Robert Louis Stevenson, and a short comic opera, The Owl and the Nightingale, were premiered in February 2007 at Weill Recital Hall under the auspices of Center for Contemporary Opera. Mr. Convery is currently composing a program of five song cycles.
Robert Convery holds degrees from The Curtis Institute of Music, Westminster Choir College and The Juilliard School where he received his doctorate. He has studied composition with David Diamond, Richard Hundley, Vincent Persichetti and Ned Rorem.
Mr. Convery has received commissioning grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Opera America, The New York State Council on the Arts, and The Reader’s Digest Fund. His awards include the Charles E. Ives Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Meet The Composer Awards, ASCAP Awards and The Samuel Barber Award. Mr. Convery has held artist residencies at YADDO and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Study Center in Bellagio, Italy. He has received composer residencies from many universities and colleges across the United States including Phillips Exeter Academy, Dickinson College, Ithaca College, Truman State University and Emory University. He has given master classes on his songs at The Juilliard School and a seminar on words and music at Columbia University. Mr. Convery’s works are published with E.C. Schirmer Publishing, Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. earthsongs, and National Music Publishers. He is included in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Mr. Convery was born in 1954 in Wichita, KS, was raised in San Francisco, CA, and currently resides in New York City.