SSAATTBB a cappella
Second Eve is the first composition by Ola Gjeilo to be published by Edition Peters.
Composer Notes:
In some of my pieces, the text is somewhat more the servant of the music than the other way around, and Second Eve is one of those works. The music is mainly inspired by a breathtaking photograph taken by one of my favorite photographers, Jake Rajs, featured in the book These United States (Rizzoli). It is a picture of Alaska's Mount McKinley, the highest mountain peak in the US, and I was looking at this photo throughout the writing process, making sure that the energy and atmosphere of the music corresponded with the feeling I got from looking at the picture.
The Sancta Maria text seemed to kind of fit into what I was looking for in this piece, expressing something mystical, and kind of regal, which Mt. McKinley is in every possible way.
Second Eve was commissioned by, dedicated to, and later premiered by the Riverside City College Chamber Choir and conductor John Byun in Riverside, California, October 2008.01 to begin his composition studies at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Ola's concert works are performed all over the world, and his debut recording as a pianist-composer, the lyrical crossover album Stone Rose, was released in 2007, followed by its 2012 sequel, Piano Improvisations. Many of Ola's choral works are featured on Phoenix Chorale/Charles Bruffy's CD on the Chandos label, Northern Lights (2012), which is devoted entirely to his music for choir.
He especially enjoys writing music for choir, orchestra/symphonic winds, and the piano, while as a pianist, his main passion is improvisation, either solo or over his own ensemble works.
Presently a full-time composer based in the US, Ola is also very interested in film, and his music draws a lot of inspiration from movies and cinematic music.
