Pacific Choirs
Brett Epperson, conductor
Monica Adams, piano
Wednesday, February 4, 2026
7:30 pm
Faye Spanos Concert Hall
FEBRUARY 4, 2026, 7:30 PM
University Chorus
At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners (1968)
A Red, Red Rose from Four Robert Burns Ballads (1980)
Jake Frye, piano
Williametta Spencer (b. 1927)
James Mulholland (b. 1935)
Aloha ‘Oe (1878/2022)
Lydia Lili’u Loloku Walania Kamaka’eha Pākī, Lili’uokalani, Queen of Hawaii (1838–1917)
arr. Jordan Sramek, Kim Sueoka, David Burk, and Wade Oden
Siry Smith, soprano
Bella Andino, Elizabeth Ledesma, and Arianna Pereyra, vocal trio
Tommy Galvin and Siry Smith, ukelele
Nathalie Garibay, guitar
Emiko Hernandez, string bass
FEBRUARY 4, 2026, 7:30 PM
Pacific Singers
O Frondens Virga (2025) (SATB Premiere) 3′
Autumn Song (2025) (Premiere)
San Joaquin (2008)
For You I Will Be an Island (2022)
In the Still of the Night (1937/1977) and the swallow (2017)
Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179)
arr. Chris Foss
Miranda Duarte (b. 2004)
Gabriela Lena Frank (b. 1972)
Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)
Jennifer Lucy Cook (b. 1988)
Cole Porter (1891–1964)
arr. Roy Ringwald
Elizabeth Neumeyer, mezzo-soprano
Monica Adams and Pat Grimm, piano
Henrie Notley, flute
Mitchell Amos, clarinet
Emiko Hernandez, string bass
PROGRAM NOTES
Program notes by Brett Epperson
Williametta Spencer’s At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners opens this program and serves as a loose thread of connection tying our selections together. The more one travels the world, the more one learns that there is beauty to be found everywhere—both in the grand, sweeping vistas and in the small, modest “imagined corners” of everyday life. From flowers to oceans, from day to night, wonder abounds—and music can be heard in all of it.
"A Red, Red Rose" is the first in a set of Four Robert Burns Ballads set by James Mulholland. This iconic poem by “Scotland’s Bard” has been set by many American composers. In the text, natural elements—and music played in tune—serve as metaphors for the simplicity, beauty, and intensity of the readers’ love.
Aloha ‘Oe may be a well-known tune, but its origins might be less familiar. The last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, Queen Lili’uokalani, and her siblings had a significant impact on the musical culture of the islands in the latter half of the 1800s. This particular song of farewell was inspired when the then-Princess was traveling from the windward (eastern) coast of O’ahu back to Honolulu. Traveling the trail on horseback, the queen turned to admire the view of Kaneohe Bay when she witnessed a particularly fond embrace between a military member of her traveling party and a local girl. Legend says Princess Lili’u began humming this melody as she turned up the trail towards home.
In the early and uncertain days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Minnesota-based professional tenor-bass ensemble Cantus gathered in a parking garage to sing and record music, as the Centers for Disease Control had recently issued guidelines limiting gathering sizes and recommending social distancing. Cantus member and Council Bluffs, Iowa native Chris Foss had recently arranged the chant O Frondens Virga by the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen, which the ensemble recorded in the cold and dark of March in Minnesota. Tonight’s performance is the first of the SATB (soprano-altotenor-bass) edition of Foss’s arrangement.
In the fall of 2025, in coordination with Pacific's music composition faculty, Pacific Singers rehearsed and made demonstration recordings of two student works. Senior Miranda Duarte’s Autumn Song was one of those pieces, a setting of a text by Indian political activist and poet Sarojini Naidu. Tonight is the premiere public performance.
PROGRAM NOTES
Musical America’s 2026 Composer of the Year, Gabriela Lena Frank, is University of the Pacific’s Artist-in-Residence for 2025–26. A Latin Grammy winner and Guggenheim Fellow, Frank is a northern California native. Written “for the citizens of Modesto, California past and present,” Frank’s composition from 2008 sets text by poet William Everson, also a northern Californian. San Joaquin celebrates the beauty of California’s Central Valley—a beauty that is sometimes overlooked. Pacific Singers will reprise San Joaquin as part of the Presidential Speaker Series with Gabriela Lena Frank on February 5 at Long Theatre, Stockton.
Caroline Shaw’s eclectic career has led to her being the recipient of Grammy Awards and the youngest-in-history recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. A founding member of “choral rock band” Roomful of Teeth, her compositions have been performed by some of the world’s finest ensembles. and the swallow (psalm 84) was commissioned by the Nederland Kammerkoor (Netherlands Chamber Choir) and received its first performance at Union Theological Seminary in New York as part of a festival in association with Lincoln Center. Melodic and harmonic figures are repeated, modified rhythmically, and offset temporally throughout, communicating Shaw’s distinct and expressive brand of contemporary minimalism.
Californian composer and lyricist Jennifer Lucy Cook’s educational background in media music and musical theater writing may explain her success in writing music for a variety of performance contexts. She has found success in having her pop songs, music for the screen, and choral works presented frequently in recent years. For You I Will Be an Island was written during the quarantine period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Serving as a metaphor for the self-imposed isolation many of us experienced—a gesture of love and care for protecting others—an island hears wordless waves undulate, waiting until it is once again safe to be in a loved one’s embrace.
Originally written for the film Rosalie in 1937, In the Still of the Night is a beloved American classic by notable 20th-century songsmith Cole Porter. Roy Ringwald’s indulgent arrangement heightens the song’s romanticism through its lavish expressivity and sheer excess. Rich harmonic exploration and rhythmic flourishes contrasted with a sense of walking or wandering from the four-hand piano, flute, clarinet, and string bass, all help paint a vivid picture of a young person feeling restless at night—tussling internally with the question “Do you love me . . . as I love you?”
Spencer: At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners
At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise From death, you numberless infinities Of souls, and to your scatter'd bodies go; All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow, All whom war, dearth, age, agues, tyrannies, Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you whose eyes Shall behold God and never taste death's woe. But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a space, For if above all these my sins abound, 'Tis late to ask abundance of thy grace When we are there; here on this lowly ground Teach me how to repent; for that's as good As if thou'hadst seal'd my pardon with thy blood.
—John Donne
Mulholland: A Red, Red Rose
O my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June; O my Luve’s like the melody That’s sweetly played in tune.
So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run.
And I will come again, my luve, Though it were ten thousand mile.
—Robert Burns
Lili’uokalani/Sramek et al:
Aloha ‘Oe
Haʻaheo ka ua i nā pali
Ke nihi aʻela i ka nahele
E hahai (uhai) ana paha i ka liko
Pua ʻāhihi lehua o uka
Hui:
Aloha ʻoe, aloha ʻoe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace, A hoʻi aʻe au
Until we meet again
ʻO ka haliʻa aloha i hiki mai
Ke hone aʻe nei i kuʻu manawa
ʻO ʻoe nō kaʻu ipo aloha
A loko e hana nei
Maopopo kuʻu ʻike i ka nani
Nā pua rose o Maunawili
I laila hiaʻai nā manu
Mikiʻala i ka nani o ka lipo.
—Lili’uokalani
Bingen/Foss: O Frondens Virga
O frondens virga, in tua nobilitate stans sicut aurora procedit: nunc gaude et letare et nos debiles dignare a mala consuetudine liberare atque manum tuam porrige ad erigendum nos.
—Hildegard von Bingen
Lili’uokalani/Sramek et al:
Farewell to you
Proudly swept the rain by the cliffs
As it glided through the trees
Still following ever the bud
The ʻahihi lehua of the vale
Refrain:
Farewell to you, farewell to you
The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers
One fond embrace, 'Ere I depart
Until we meet again
Sweet memories come back to me
Bringing fresh remembrances of the past
Dearest one, yes, you are mine own
From you, true love shall never depart
I have seen and watched your loveliness
The sweet rose of Maunawili
And 'tis there the birds of love dwell
And sip the honey from your lips.
—trans. unknown
Bingen/Foss: O Leafy Branch
O leafy branch, in your nobility stand firm as sunrise proceeds. Now be glad and rejoice, and find our weakness worthy. Free us from evil ways, and stretch out your hand to lift us.
—trans. unknown
Duarte: Autumn Song
Like a joy on the heart of a sorrow, The sunset hangs on a cloud; A golden storm of glittering sheaves, Of fair and frail and fluttering leaves, The wild wind blows in a cloud.
Hark to a voice that is calling To my heart in the voice of the wind: My heart is weary and sad and alone, For its dreams like the fluttering leaves have gone, And why should I stay behind?
—Sarojini Naidu
Frank: San Joaquin
This valley after the storms can be beautiful beyond the telling, Though our cityfolk scorn it, cursing heat in the summer and drabness in winter, And flee it: Yosemite and the sea. They seek splendor; who would teach them must stun them; The nerve that is dying needs thunder to rouse it.
I in the vineyard, in green-time and dead-time, come to it dearly, And take nature neither freaked nor amazing, But the secret shining, the soft indeterminate wonder. I watch it morning and noon, the unutterable sundowns, And love as the leaf does the bough. This valley… beautiful… beyond… the telling…
—William Everson
Shaw: and the swallow
how beloved is your dwelling place, o lord of hosts
my soul yearns, faints my heart and my flesh cry the sparrow found a house, and the swallow, her nest where she may raise her young they pass through the valley of bakka they make it a place of springs the autumn rains also cover it with pools
Cook: For You I Will Be an Island
For you I will be an island
A solo shelter
For you I will be an island
Miles away
For you I will be surrounded
With only water
For you I will be surrounded
By blue and gray
And when the coast is clear
Come let me know
Find me where love collides
With letting go
For you I will be uncharted
Except by starlight
For you I will be uncharted
Come what may
And when the coast is clear
Come let me know
Find me where love collides
With letting go
Now we divide to conquer
Only the waves for comfort
For you I will be an island
A solo shelter
For you, I will be an island
Miles away
Miles away
—Jennifer Lucy Cook
Porter/Ringwald:
In the Still of the Night
In the still of the night
As I gaze from my window
At the moon in its flight
My thoughts all stray to you
In the still of the night
All the world is in slumber
All the times without number
Darling when I say to you
Do you love me, as I love you
Are you my life to be, my dream come true
Or will this dream of mine fade out of sight
Like the moon growing dim, on the rim of the hill
In the chill, still, of the night
Like the moon growing dim, on the rim of the hill
In the chill, still, of the night
—Cole Porter
Brett D. Epperson is assistant professor of music–choral conducting at University of the Pacific where he teaches courses in conducting, music education, and functional voice, in addition to guiding Pacific’s two concert choral ensembles, University Chorus and Pacific Singers.
Previously, Epperson was assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Hastings College as well as the Chancel Choir director and director of the Langenberg Music Series at First Presbyterian Church of Hastings, Nebraska. As of January, Epperson is artistic director-designate of the Sacramento Master Singers. He will begin his role as artistic director of the ensemble in July 2026.
Prior to academia, Epperson was a public school music educator and church musician, leading large high school and sacred choral programs in the Midwest for nearly a decade. He composes new music for choirs and performs professionally as a vocalist, including with Grammy-nominated choral ensembles such as the South Dakota Chorale and Seraphic Fire (Miami). Choral music has led him to traveling, singing, and conducting throughout Europe, the Caribbean, Kenya, Mexico, and Japan. Outside of teaching and music-making, Epperson enjoys cooking, reading, biking, and connecting with friends and family.
Epperson earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from Luther College (Decorah, IA), a Master of Music in choral conducting from Michigan State University, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in music education–choral conducting from Florida State University.
Monica Adams has worked at University of the Pacific as a collaborative pianist and professor of practice since 1995. From 2005 to 2024 Adams taught the voice class for music therapy and music education majors. In 2024–25, she conducted the University Chorus. Currently, she is a collaborative pianist for voice majors and the Pacific Choirs.
Adams holds a Bachelor of Music in music performance, voice, from University of the Pacific, where she studied piano with Frank Wiens, voice with William Whitesides, George Buckbee and John DeHaan, and conducting with William Dehning and Robert Halseth.
Adams has performed as a pianist with the Stockton Symphony Orchestra and sang the roles of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro and Old Maid in Old Maid and the Thief. She has served as musical director and conductor at Pacific for Pajama Game (Fallon House), Paint Your Wagon (Fallon House), You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Apple Tree, Falsettoland, Assassins and 1940's Radio Hour. She has also music-directed Oliver, La Cage aux Folles, Babes in Arms, Footloose (conducted, too), Beauty and the Beast, The Full Monty and Godspell for various theaters.
In 2004 Adams participated in the summer SongFest program, which included coaching with Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, D'Anna Fortunato, John Hall, Judith Kellock and John Harbison, as well as performing in multiple recitals.
University Chorus
University Chorus is a large, mixed chorus that performs both a cappella and choral- orchestral works in a wide variety of genres, often collaborating with other ensembles at Pacific.
Sopranos
Bella Andino
Rachael Cross
Kiersten Hogue
Anna Kazimi
Elizabeth Ledesma
Siry Smith
Courtney Wieland
Altos
Evelyn Aburto
Jade Anderson
Angela Arroyo
Yaretzi Clarissa Castro Rios
Maggie Chen
Mackenzie Deems
Nathalie Garibay
Zahara Herd
Emiko Hernandez
Rain Jia
Shengrui Li
Arianna Pereyra
Kaitlyn Tamondong
Snowy Tan
Nadege Tenorio
Sylvia Valverde
Xi Zhang
Tenors
Marcelo Contreras
Davis Robinson
Kyle Saelee
Snowden Snyder
Ves Turk
Matthew Young
Basses
Mitchell Amos
Walker Austin
Edwin Contreras
Jake Frye
Tommy Galvin
Michael Gibson
Connor Hsu
Severyn Kurach
Celestino Mederos
Michael Shove
Jason Wu
Pacific Singers
Pacific Singers is a select, mixed-voice chamber choir who collaborates with the University Chorus for two choral concerts each semester and perform at major university events and ceremonies. They also work with the University Symphony Orchestra and the Stockton Symphony to perform major choral and orchestral pieces.
Sopranos
Magdalena Bowen
Rose Krueger
Amara Lin
Margaret Lomova
Katie Pelletier
Olivhea Ross
Shannon Sheperd
Altos
Elleanor Cooper
Jennifer Lopez
Zoie Macapanpan
Elizabeth Neumeyer
Caroline Poso
Sara Wolfe
Tenors
Miranda Duarte
Danny Guerrero
Kwaeku Harris
Leo Hogan
Ian Orejana
Phu Phan
Basses
Daniel Campbell
Michael Gibson
Jordan Reece Guitang
Landon Horstman
Ernesto Pena
Pacific Voice and Choral Faculty
Daniel Ebbers, program director
Brett Epperson
Eric Dudley
James Haffner
Heidi Moss Erickson
Jonathan Latta, ensembles program director
Breanna Daley, ensembles librarian
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