In the past decade, Whitacre has become a prominent composer for concert band, and he is arguably the most performed composer of choral music of his generation.Whitacre premiered his first work for stage, Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings, in 2004 at California State University, Northridge, one year after premiering the work's musical suite in Berlin, Germany in the summer of 2003. The show is only distantly related to Milton's Paradise Lost. The music of this opera is a mixture of many different styles of music including trance, classical, electronica, and traditional opera. Paradise Lost premiered at the Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena in July and August 2007 with full cast, taiko drums, DJ, anime, and flying rigs.
Musical Style
Whitacre is probably best known for his choral works, however both his choral and instrumental styles are immediately recognizable, namely by his signature "Whitacre chords." These are often seventh or ninth chords, with or without suspended seconds and fourths. Perhaps his most famous chord is a root-position major triad with a suspended major second and/or perfect fourth. Whitacre makes frequent use of quartal, quintal and secondal harmonies, and is also known for his use of unconventional chord progressions. Rhythm is also an important aspect in many of his pieces, especially his pieces for wind band, utilizing mixed, complex, and/or compound meters. His pieces are also known to include frequent meter changes and unusual rhythmic patterns. Another trademark of Whitacre's pieces is the use of aleatoric and indeterminate sections, as well as unusual score instructions involving, in some cases, hand actions and/or props. His style is often compared to that of Morten Lauridsen, albeit a bit more modern.
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