(MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Harmonium Choral Society is pleased to announce their new emerging composer-in-residence Laurel Luke Christensen beginning January 2025, "what a great way to start the new year with an emerging talent," says Artistic Director Anne Matlack. She will join long-time composer-in-residence Mark Miller.

Laurel Luke Christensen composes choral music inspired by her history as a choral singer, conductor, and teacher. Her compositions have won the Virginia Chorale, Siena College, and ACDA-PA Choral Composition Competitions and her proposed work, Sanctuary, was selected as a runner-up for the ACDA Genesis Prize. Her work has been performed by school, community, and professional choirs around the United States, including the New Jersey and Maryland All State choirs.

Christensen holds a BM and an MM in music education and has conducted middle school, high school, and community choirs and taught Music Appreciation, AP Music Theory, and private voice and piano lessons to students of all ages. Her graduate research centered on the training of girl musicians at the charitable Ospedeli Grandi in 16th-18th century Venice, and the SSAA manuscripts written for their choirs.

At the age of 30, Christensen began writing music seriously when she entered her first composition competition. Having grown up in rural Colorado, she felt that she had some catching up to do in college and had spent her early years of teaching studying theory and composition on the side. Christensen is now seeing an abundance of opportunities with her works being performed by school, college, community, professional choirs.

She says, “So much of this is due to socially mindful conductors, and composers, who intentionally seek out new composers like me, and advocate for us. Because I spent so many years stuck in a compositional cocoon, a certain amount of longing comes through in my music. I tend to write music that exists in a place of irresolution, conflicting feelings, and sometimes darkness, and I aspire to write music that functions, in part, as a means of advocacy.”

“Aesthetically, I enjoy playing with extended harmonies, aleatory, mixed and asymmetric meters, quartal and quintal harmonies, and modes. I design each piece to have a moment that ‘pierces’ and a moment that ‘thuds.’ I love the musical crystallization of mixed emotions, the process of working out its mathematical puzzles, and the play inherent in its creation. Every hour that I spend in a ‘room of [my] own,’ culling my own brain for ideas, is a gift that I hope I never take for granted.”

“Dr. Matlack is among the type of supportive and forward-thinking conductors that have helped me see a light ahead for my career. She has created a choral community that pursues excellence as a means to amplify diverse and new voices, strengthen communal bonds, and respond with empathy to the events around them.”

“Harmonium Choral Society is skilled, warm, and forward thinking, and I hope I can aid in furthering their mission and writing music that will be satisfying and inspiring for their singers and audiences. As a part of this role, I will also have the opportunity to give feedback to young composers, and I look forward to assessing their work with the supportive spirit of those whose generous assessments have built me up over the years.  I cannot express enough gratitude for this opportunity, and I cannot wait to get started.”

Directed by Dr. Anne J. Matlack since 1987, Harmonium Choral Society is one of New Jersey's leading choral arts organizations. The 100-voice chorus has been recognized for its musical excellence and innovative programming and has commissioned over 30 works by contemporary composers to keep the choral arts vibrant and alive. In addition, the High School Student Choral Composition Contest has won the prestigious Chorus America Education and Outreach Award. Harmonium also sponsors musicianship workshops and an outreach chorus that performs in schools, retirement facilities, and other venues. The chorus tours internationally, most recently to the Balkans in the summer of 2022.

Funding has been made possible in part by Morris Arts through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner of the National Endowment for the Arts.