A Few Plain Hints WEB COVER

Christopher J. Hoh Christopher J. Hoh hails from Pennsylvania and the Washington, DC area. He has participated in workshops with Jean Berger, Daniel Moe, Robert Page, and Mack Wilberg. He studied as a composition fellow with Alice Parker in 2014. Chris’s recent commissions include American folksong settings for Alexandria, VA middle school choruses & piano and anthems for choirs in Washington, DC. The U.S. State Department chorus premiered “Come Now and Celebrate” in December 2016, which is on the new Navona Recordings CD, “Dashing.” Navona also recorded his choral cycle “Remembering All” for its “Cadence” CD in time for for the Carl Sandburg semicentennial in 2017. The Stuttgart German-American chorus commissioned him to write an extended setting of the O Antiphons for choir & organ that premiered in 2014. PROJECT:ENCORE has endorsed several of his choral works. These include his “Three Latin Prayers” for SSATBB, a group of Shaker arrangements and and a setting of the early American “Come Away to the Skies,” which led to additional performances around the U.S. and commissions for more arrangements of American folk hymns. His cycle “I Breathed A Song” for mezzo-soprano, baritone saxophone and piano premiered at Vienna’s Musikverein in 2011. California's Meistersingers also requested new work from him, performing Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes" for SATB a cappella (2014) and an SSATBB treatment of the 16th-Century carol “Ein Kind Geborn In Bethlehem” (2013). Carnuntum Archaelogical Park commissioned “Ecumenical Meditation” for the 1700th Anniversary of the Edict of Nikomedia in 2011, premiering in Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral with members of the Vienna Singakademie and the Austrian Women’s Chamber Orchestra. The William & Mary College choir reprised on tour his six-part “Angele Dei” in 2014-15, while Shepherd University asked him to re-arrange “Dona Nobis Pacem” for six-part male chorus; both are from “Three Latin Prayers.” Its third piece, “Agimus Tibi Gratius” was premiered by Salto Vocale in Vienna Austria in 2011. The Montana-based ensemble Musikanten, for whom he was composer-in-residence in 2008, regularly performs his work on tour, including Berlin & Gdansk in 2016. The last few years have seen Colorado, Indiana, Massachusetts, and West Virginia premieres of Hoh’s compositions, as well as in Canada and Spain. His work has been published by Augsburg Fortress Press and Art of Sound Music in addition to his own venture, HohMade Music. Chris’s current projects include more part-songs on Shakespeare and old German texts, a symphony of Latin psalms for choir and orchestra, and flute/horn/piano arrangements of less-known Christmas carols, along with choral pieces for church and concert. He is editing neglected works from the European renaissance (e.g. Caurroy, Monte, Sweelinck) and the New World (Billings, Holyoke, Salazar) for current-day performance. In addition to recordings with Navona/PARMA, his compositions are found on ERM Media’s “Made in the Americas, Vol. 1” CD and Phoenix Classical’s “Undiscovered Choral Gems.” Chris Hoh graduated from Georgetown University in international affairs. He served in the U.S. Foreign Service for over 30 years and is now a Senior Adviser at the Department of State. Scores, audio and information about Chris’s compositions may be found on his website, www.HohMadeMusic.com and J.W. Pepper’s MyScore.