Editor: Keith Davis Writers: Alex Dippold, Dave Maley Publisher: Office of Public Information Volume 22, No. 6   November 1, 1999

Ithaca High School Choir to Premiere Local Composer's Work The Ithaca High School Choir will perform the world premiere of local composer Elizabeth Alexander’s "A Palette to Paint Us as We Are," a song promoting racial harmony, at Ithaca College’s 20th Choral Composition Contest and Festival on Saturday, November 13. Designed to encourage the creation and performance of new choral music, the competition will involve Ithaca High School and five other area schools singing newly composed works. The Ithaca College Choir, Chorus, and Women’s Chorale will also perform at the free event, which begins at 7:00 p.m. in Ford Hall in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. Arthur Loomis, director of the Ithaca High School Choir, has been working with his 90-member group for several weeks, learning notes and rhythms and discovering the inner meaning of "A Palette to Paint Us as We Are." The song, he says, encourages listeners to look beyond black, white, red, yellow — the skin colors of the people they meet — and focus on people’s unique inner qualities, represented in the song by references to mahogany, almond, pale rose, and saffron. In performing the piece, the choir will display their unique inner colors by putting away their traditional black and white tuxedos and formal wear in favor of more colorful suits and dresses. The foreign exchange students will wear traditional clothing from their native lands. The text of "A Palette to Paint Us as We Are" is based on a work of the same name by New Jersey poet Gerald Rich. "When I was composing the music to this piece, I envisioned a musical language that would contain as much harmonic and melodic color as the poem," Alexander says. "I am very excited to have my work premiered in the town where I live by the local high school choir, which includes some students I’ve taught at church school." Alexander earned a doctorate in composition from Cornell University and studied with Steven Stucky, Jack Gallagher, and Karel Husa. She has received grants, awards, and fellowships from a number of agencies, including the National Orchestral Association, the Wisconsin Arts Board, the International League of Women Composers, and the National Federation of Music Clubs. Her works have been performed by the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Wooster Symphony Orchestra, the Gregg Smith Singers, the Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, the Louisville Youth Repertory Choir, and music ensembles such as the Music Fix and Sounds New.