Phoenix Boys Choir chorister and composer P. Elias Pauley will debut a new composition at the world premier of “True North,” March 16 (submitted photo).
Phoenix Boys Choir (PBC) launched its New Works Rising Choral Composition Competition in May 2022 with modest expectations: a dozen submissions would be a good start, and two dozen would be a resounding success. But when the submission period closed three months later, 94 composers from around the world had shared their creative work for consideration.
Now approaching its fourth year, the competition has attracted nearly 300 submissions and led to 12 world-premiere performances by PBC ensembles. The 2024 New Works competition was particularly exciting, said Shara-Dawn Chambers, creator of New Works Rising, as two budding composers and current PBC choristers, P. Elias Pauley and Noah Benjamin, submitted their own work for adjudication. Although “True North” was not a winning selection, Chambers and PBC Artistic Director Herbert Washington were so impressed with 14-year-old Pauley’s original text that they began planning a fresh musical setting for it.
Dr. Raphael Fusco, the 2023 New Works Rising winner and internationally known composer, collaborated on a new commission. The result is a stunning and energetic choral composition, featuring text by Pauley and music by Fusco.
“It has been a privilege to work with this impressive text and to create something special for my dear friends at the Phoenix Boys Choir,” Fusco said. “Elias’s words are deeply wise, moving and powerful, full of lyricism and brimming with vivid imagery, all of which I’ve tried to capture in my musical setting.”
Community members can experience the world premiere of “True North” at PBC’s free Classics Concert on March 16 at the Franciscan Renewal Center. For more information, visit www.boyschoir.org.
