Concert Chorale

About the Program

The requiem genre is home to some of the most significant music in the choral repertory. A requiem, or funeral mass, is typically written in celebration of an individual who has died and meant as a repose for the soul of the deceased into the afterlife. Composers throughout history have set requiems in dramatically different ways: early works focused on simple chant and polyphony while more recent composers opened up the scope of the genre considerably by scoring them for a variety of different orchestrations, texts, and languages. For this program, we celebrate the vastness of the genre by creating a "patchwork requiem" featuring movements from the requiems of Gabriel Faure, Marice Durufle, Zdeněk Lukáš, and Eleanor Daley, plus two movements from Eric Whitacre's "The Sacred Veil."

If you've ever heard the largescale requiems by Verdi or Berlioz, then you’ll undoubtedly recall their lengthy and intimidating settings of the Dies Irae text, which boldly highlights the fearsome judgement day and ensuing condemnation. 20th century Czech composer Zdeněk Lukáš set his Dies Irae with a similar fire and passion. For other composers, like 19th century French composer Gabriel Faure, the Dies Irae is much less the focus. He included the text only for a moment within the "Libera Me" movement, setting his requiem with an eye towards those yet living. Referred to as a “lullaby of death,” Fauré’s requiem offered comfort to the loved ones who affectionately remember the dead. Half of a century later, Maurice Duruflé modeled his requiem after Faurè’s — paying homage to French soldiers lost in World War 2 while heavily referencing the original chant melodies of the texts. Very apparent in the movements featured today, Duruflé was a virtuosic organist throughout his life. His requiem stands as an impressive feat for organists even today.

​The Sacred Veil, though not titled as a requiem, fits the mold in many ways and tells the true story of a mother who loses her life to cancer. Throughout the work, diary entries leading up to her passing are used as text for the piece and describe her personal and familial journey during that time. The first and last movements of the work, featured here in the same positions, describe the image of the sacred veil — the veil representing the thin boundary between life and death. At the moments of birth and death, the veil “grows thin and opens slightly up, just long enough for love to slip, silent either in or out of this our fragile, fleeting world…and our beloved ones draw near.”  Musically the veil is represented by a constant middle C by voices and cello. Tonight, the veil will also be represented physically and accompanied by dancers performing literal and emotive representations of souls “just on the other side of eternity.” 
 

– Stevie Dugdale and Adrienne Pedrotti Bingamon

About the Artists

Nicole Dugdale 

Nicole Dugdale is an experienced dancer, choreographer, and teacher. She began her movement journey as a competitive gymnast before discovering her passion for dance. In 2014, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Dance Performance at Brigham Young University, where she trained in ballet and contemporary. Nicole went on to perform professionally with Wasatch Contemporary Dance Company and Creators Dance Project, collaborating with both local and international choreographers and performing in a variety of traditional and site-specific works. Nicole choreographed and presented three original works with these Utah-based companies including a setting of Eric Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil. In 2024, Nicole joined Austin-based Spaces of Fontana and has enjoyed her time with them as an active performer and collaborator. As an educator, Nicole brings over 14 years of experience teaching dance, acro, and gymnastics to students of all ages. Nicole values dance as a space to explore and embody both humanity and spirituality, and she brings that intention into her performance and teaching.

Evelyn Joy Hoelscher 

Evelyn Joy Hoelscher is an Austin-based artist, choreographer, and movement educator. She holds a degree in Dance Kinesiology from Texas A&M University. She spent six years in New York City developing her dance and fitness career. In 2016, Evelyn founded her own contemporary dance company, Spaces of Fontana. As Founder and Artistic Director, Evelyn has created original works and led over 30 performances at venues across New York City and Austin, TX. Since 2020, she has been an active contributor to the Austin dance community—teaching, choreographing, and presenting new works. She recently premiered a full-length work, Becoming and a 10-year anniversary show, Re:Imagined. Evelyn is also a certified yoga and Pilates instructor and brings a holistic, community-centered approach to her artistic practice. She believes in creating art that is rooted in hope and human connection.
 

Vincent Pham

Known as an exciting and energetic performer, Vincent Pham is currently the Associate Director of Music and Organist at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Austin. Vincent was formerly the graduate assistant of the Organ Department at Baylor University, where he graduated in 2023 with a MM in organ performance. He formerly graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was Organist at First Baptist Church of Austin. In demand as a concert performer, he has performed at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego, Stanford University’s Memorial Chapel, Christ Church Cathedral in Houston and locally in Austin. Known also as a vocalist, he has been with the Oberlin College Choir, Oberlin’s Collegium Musicum, the Baylor A-Capella Choir and led a college a-capella group. In his spare time, Vincent loves to disc golf, cook and bake!

Stevie Dugdale 

Stevie Dugdale, a Missouri native, is pursuing a D.M.A. in choral conducting. Prior to UT, Dugdale earned  bachelor’s and master’s degrees from BYU. He has directed several community, church, and collegiate ensembles, including serving as the interim conductor of the 180-voice BYU Women’s Chorus, and co-founding Mountain West Voices, an award-winning barbershop chorus. Additionally, Dugdale actively sings professionally in a variety of projects and over many genres. Recently, he was the tenor soloist with Conspirare Symphony Chorus’ performance of Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil. Some of his more memorable experiences as a singer include Penderecki’s Credo with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles with Brevitas Choir, recording the soundtrack to the video game Guild Wars 2, Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Victoria Bach Festival, and singing in Ireland with BYU singers in competition at the Cork International Choral Festival. He is passionate about vocal pedagogy and has taught private voice for 15 years and counting. He lives in Austin with his wife and three children. 

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Concert Chorale

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