Voiceless Mass by Raven Chacon

Online Bulletin: online.pubhtml...
RAVEN CHACON'S VOICELESS MASS TO BE PERFORMED AT CLAREMONT UCC
The 2022 Pulitzer Prize-winning composition will be featured at a special service next Sunday, October 30 at 10am, along with a homiletic solo performance by the composer. Free admission.
Earlier this year, Raven Chacon became the first Native American composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music, for his Voiceless Mass. The piece, which was premiered by Present Music in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on November 21, 2021, is a meditation on the meaning of voicelessness, both in the context of grand physical spaces (churches and cathedrals) and instruments (the pipe organ), as well the historic and ongoing silencing of oppressed peoples by those in positions of privilege. As the composer writes: “[Voiceless Mass] considers the futility of giving voice to the voiceless, when ceding space is never an option for those in power.”
Voiceless Mass, for pipe organ and chamber ensemble (solo strings, winds, percussion, recorded sine tones), will be presented as part of a special Sunday worship service at Claremont United Church of Christ. It will be the third public performance of the work (following the 2021 Milwaukee premiere and a performance in Toronto on September 30 of this year). The service will also include a solo homiletic performance, conceived for the occasion by the composer.
Claremont United Church of Christ (CUCC), lead producer of the event, invites all to attend this special service, which is open to the public and free of charge. Voiceless Mass will be co-conducted by CUCC co-Directors of Music and Fine Arts, Alexandra Grabarchuk and David Rentz.
Orchestra Collective of Orange County and the Scripps College Music Department have provided additional artistic and production support for the performance of Voiceless Mass.
Raven Chacon: spiderwebsinthe...
Pulitzer announcement: www.pulitzer.o...
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[@Baribrotzer]

Not sure whether this can be listened to as absolute music, or discussed as such. Its setting (played as surround-sound in a church) and intended meaning (a meditation upon colonialism and Native American history) are so central to the work that they can't be separated from the music. And Mr. Chacon is, perhaps, more a sound artist - a creator of installations and multimedia pieces shown in art museums and other spaces outside the concert hall - than either a formal notes-on-paper composer or an informal composer/performer.

[@RobRight-ng5gv]

Exactly as the title suggests.
voiceless mass. Very moving, extremely. And sudden percussion pulses, like birthing pains. My compliments to the composer, Maestro Chacon. Loved it! Robin

[@JohanaAndreaJimenezMende-ps7hp]

beautiful

[@sandiplivingandlife]

splendid composition.

[@Rl469]

An interesting idea and composition. Thanks for sharing. I wonder what attendees, who I’m sure are used to word is in worship, were thinking about and if they were able to clear their thoughts and just experience it.

[@CrankedUpReallyHigh1]

Fantastic.

[@kfcsa6452]

This won a Pulitzer prize by the way

[@bernadettemarie3075]

This is so pretentious wow