Michael John Trotta joins Mark Lawson in conversation on his Lenten work, Seven Last Words. They are joined by worship leaders Larry Bach and Laurel Sanders who share how they planned and presented this work this work to their congregations and communities. Trotta also shares resources to help enhance the programming of the work as well.
Michael John Trotta
May 09 2018For a Breath of Ecstasy - Gramophone Review
Michael John Trotta's For a Breath of Ecstasy was just recorded by the Northwestern State University Chamber Choir, under the direction of Nicholaus B. Cummins.
We were so excited to find out that J. W. Pepper created a short video series on composer Michael John Trotta. Trotta has been a MorningStar composer for several years, and more recently has come out with pieces more suited to the Galaxy catalog. This spring, we're releasing his new work For a Breath of Ecstasy, heard throughout the video series.
Categories: E. C. Schirmer Classical , Instrumental , Michael John Trotta , Piano , Recordings , Sacred Choral , Su Lian Tan , 70-390 , 7662 , 7664 , 8420
Since 1923, Gramophone Magazine continues to devote itself to reviewing classical music, particularly recordings. The August 2017 issue featured two albums in the ECS Publishing Group catalog: Seven Last Words by Michael John Trotta and Revelations by Su Lian Tan.
Seven Last Words, review excerpt
By Guy Rickards
"Trotta’s musical style is fairly straightforward....not unlike that of Eric Whitacre or Ēriks Ešenvalds. The performance is more than
Michael John Trotta
Scene4, an international magazine of arts and culture, featured Michael John Trotta in the July 2017 edition of the magazine.
The article begins with Rainer Maria Rilke's quote, "The work of art is good if it has arisen out of necessity." Trotta notes this quote defines the current season of his career. "Everything is a tradeoff," he writes. "I have traded one classroom in one location for many classrooms in many locations. There is so much fine music being made...across the country. I now have more time to work with many groups from all over America and to take on the larger works when the need arises."
Later in the article, Trotta examines what his music offers both the performers and the audience. "As I have searched
In his famous Poetics of Music of 1939, Stravinsky observes, “A real tradition is not the relic of a past that is irretrievably gone; it is a living force that animates and informs the present.” Michael J. Trotta’s Seven Last Words is a work solidly grounded in tradition, yet incorporates a musical language that, in George Gershwin’s words, “informs the thoughts and aspirations of the people and the time.”
Musical settings for the Seven Last Words date from at least the early 16th century, and composers of many style periods have contributed, including de Lassus (16th century), Schütz (1645), Haydn (1787), Frank (1859), Dubois (1867), and MacMillan (1993), and many others. (Although, as Trotta points out, settings in English are relatively rare.) Trotta adheres to the tradition, sometimes incorporating
"Michael John Trotta is an award-winning composer of choral music whose latest work, Seven Last Words, will be given its NY premiere in Carnegie Hall on May 27, 2017 as part of MidAmerica Productions’ 34th concert season. This will be the first time that Trotta will conduct his own composition in a MidAmerica Productions Carnegie Hall concert. We spoke with him to learn more about the piece and how he approaches his compositions."
Read Manhattan Concert Production's interview with Michael John Trotta, an award-winning composer whose latest work will be given its NY premiere in Carnegie Hall on May 27, 2017.
Source: Modern Classics: Michael Trotta's Seven Last Words - MidAmerica Productions