Jocelyn Hagen: Here I Am True Concord Voices & Orchestra & Eric Holtan

• Jocelyn Hagen (b. 1980): The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci:
• 1 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 1, Painting and Drawing 04:52
• 2 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 2, Practice 01:28
• 3 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 3, Ripples 04:50
• 4 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 4, The Greatest Good 02:16
• 5 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 5, The Vitruvian Man 05:01
• 6 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 6, Invention 04:44
• 7 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 7, Nature 04:11
• 8 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 8, Perception 02:38
• 9 Hagen: The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci: No. 9, Look at the Stars 04:53
• Here I Am:
• 10 Hagen: Here I Am: No. 1, There is a Girl 09:28
• 11 Hagen: Here I Am: No. 2, The Other Side 13:54
• 12 Hagen: Here I Am: No. 3, Voting for Ourselves 06:42
• 13 Hagen: Here I Am: No. 4, Write the Story 12:54
• Total Runtime 01:17:51

Info for Jocelyn Hagen: Here I Am

True Concord’s newest album features two world premiere recordings of works by Jocelyn Hagen. The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci has been performed more than 50 times around the world since 2019, incorporating visuals, sound, light and movement.

"Here I Am" was inspired by conductor Eric Holtan’s suggestion that Hagen should write a piece celebrating the women’s suffrage movement and the centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020. This piece is performed with live-concert projections of portraits of 47 inspiring women from across the world and across time, whose words form the libretto.

"Here I Am" was recorded in outstanding fidelity by engineer John Polito and produced by GRAMMY®-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles. Recorded May 28–31, 2024, at Camelback Bible Church, Paradise Valley, Arizona.

"I’ve had the good fortune of conducting most of the great choral orchestral masterworks, and Notebooks is undoubtedly one of the most creative works I’ve ever been around. Jocelyn’s setting of Da Vinci’s words is inspired, compelling, and at times very moving. Notebooks is surely one of the most important musical works of the 21st century and stands with many of the great masterworks in the choral canon. What’s really special about Notebooks is that it is accessible by ensembles and audiences of every kind, in large part because the music and words speak so powerfully to the creative capacity within all of us. I commend Jocelyn’s Notebooks to conductors everywhere. I promise. Your musicians and audiences will love it." (Eric Holtan)

Susanna Phillips, soprano
Tucson Girls Chorus
Marcela Molina, director
True Concord Voices & Orchestra
Eric Holtan, conductor

True Concord Voices & Orchestra
(our friends call us “True Concord”), was founded in 2004 as Tucson Chamber Artists. In 2015, the organization changed its name to True Concord. On the adoption of our new name, Music Director Eric Holtan explains, “The original 14th century meaning of ‘concord’ is ‘hearts together’. Shakespeare later described the emotional impact of music as ‘true concord’ — something we strive to achieve in our music-making between composer, performer and listener.”

True Concord draws upon the first rank of professional choral and instrumental musicians from around the United States in service of its artistic mission: to enrich lives through the transformational power of classical music. It accomplishes this primarily through the performance of masterworks and the diverse music of America. True Concord’s expanding repertoire includes Bach’s St. John Passion and Mass in B-Minor, Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C-Minor, Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem, and Haydn’s The Creation. Committed to regularly premiering new works by America’s leading and emerging composers, we have commissioned Paul Crabtree, Stephen Paulus, Gerald Near and Ola Gjeilo, and regularly has premiered new works by promising emerging composers.

On September 11, 2015, True Concord will make its New York debut at Lincoln Center performing the Prayers and Remembrances oratorio commissioned in 2011 from the late Stephen Paulus to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Coinciding with the performance will be the release of the CD recording of the Paulus work—and other previously unrecorded works by the beloved composer—entitled “Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus,” on the Reference Recordings label.

Now in its 12th season, True Concord has quickly become a rising star in the American cultural scene. True Concord’s meteoric rise in the current economic climate is due in part to its immensely popular and unique programming that fuses professional voices and instruments. It is also because of the generous support of our patrons and donors, for which we are thankful.

Eric Holtan
launched his professional music career at age 12 as a church organist. A native of Minnesota, he studied organ, voice and conducting at Gustavus Adolphus College. He earned a master’s degree in choral conducting at the University of Iowa, where he was assistant director of Camerata Singers, and the doctor of musical arts degree in choral and orchestra conducting at the University of Arizona, where he was the UA Opera Theater’s chorus master. His research focused on the role of the chorale form in Mendelssohn’s oratorios and symphonies as reflection of the musical and religious influences on Mendelssohn.

Eric has held several conducting positions in secondary and higher education, churches and community and professional organizations. He served as associate conductor of the Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, and for many years was the assistant director of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, where he assisted in the preparation of numerous works, including Verdi’s Requiem,Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa Solemnis, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Handel’s Messiah. Eric continues his work in church music as minister of music, art and liturgy at Dove of Peace Lutheran Church.…

Booklet for Jocelyn Hagen: Here I Am