Artefact Ensemble Makes Louisville Concert Debut

[LOUISVILLE, Kentucky—February 14, 2022]. Fresh from its critically acclaimed concert debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Artefact Ensemble will perform live in its hometown of Louisville, Kentucky for the first time on March 19 at 8pm at the Cathedral of the Assumption. Founded in 2021 by two-time GRAMMY® Nominee Benedict Sheehan and Louisville native Stephen Jacobs, Artefact Ensemble brings together leading vocal artists from around the country to create immersive concert experiences inspired by the rhythms and patterns of ritual.

About the Concert

The 90-minute program, entitled In The Beginning, will feature choral works by Arvo Pärt, Francis Poulenc, Alfred Schnittke, and Benedict Sheehan, and will culminate in Aaron Copland’s rarely-heard setting of the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis with GRAMMY® Award winning soloist Tynan Davis (mezzo-soprano). The program will also include organ music of Jean Langlais, a reading from the works of Louisville’s own Thomas Merton, and a hymn-sing in which the audience will be invited to take part. “Starting softly and mysteriously and then rising gradually towards Copland’s exuberant setting of the story of creation,” says conductor Benedict Sheehan, “In The Beginning will invite everyone into an experience of life as something that, even as it ends, is also always beginning, always being renewed.” The concert will conclude with the last movement of Alfred Schnittke’s Choir Concerto (1984), which fades away in its final moments into a series of softly-repeated “Amens” in a dense 25-part choral texture.

About Aaron Copland’s In The Beginning

Written in 1947 for Harvard University’s Symposium on Music Criticism and first performed by legendary American conductor Robert Shaw, Aaron Copland’s In The Beginning presents the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis in a luminous setting for a cappella chorus and mezzo soprano solo. While a longtime favorite in the choral literature, the piece is not often performed, in great part because of the immense demands it places on the musicians. Irregular meters and surprising harmonic shifts abound, and the work as a whole is suffused with an intense rhythmic energy and drive. In The Beginning is Copland’s most extensive choral work by far, and it is widely acknowledged as a masterpiece of the genre, invoking a deep sense of wonder at the glory of creation.

About Artefact Ensemble

Bringing together leading vocal artists from around the country, Artefact Ensemble combines world-class choral performances with curated, designed environments to create one-of-a-kind immersive concert experiences inspired by the rhythms and patterns of ritual. Partnering with schools, community organizations, and religious institutions, Artefact Ensemble also offers workshops, masterclasses, and co-operative music-making experiences free of charge to students, teachers of music, music ministers, and underprivileged audiences who might not otherwise have access to high-level ensemble music. Artefact’s 2021-2022 concert season included the world premiere performances of Arvo Pärt’s O Holy Father Nicholas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, hailed as “seamlessly rendered… laudable” and “technically flawless” (Musical America), and will continue in Louisville with In The Beginning, featuring choral works by Copland, Pärt, Poulenc, Schnittke, and Sheehan. Learn more at artefactensemble.org

About Benedict Sheehan

Two-time GRAMMY® nominee Benedict Sheehan has been called “a choral conductor and composer to watch in the 21st century” (Linda Holt, ConcertoNet) and “a remarkable musician” (Choral Journal). His Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, on which he conducts the Saint Tikhon Choir, received a 2022 GRAMMY® nomination for “Best Choral Performance,” the 2021 American Prize in Choral Conducting (2nd Place overall) and Composition (Best Use of Traditional Elements), and has been hailed as “simply beyond praise for excellence” (Fanfare), “radiant…superb…a masterstroke” (MusicWeb International), and “a new standard for excellence in the American choral landscape” (The Living Church Magazine). His recently released Vespers has been further acclaimed as “a masterpiece…a tapestry of sound that is nothing short of transcendent” (ConcertoNet). Benedict is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Artefact Ensemble, Director of Music at Saint Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary in Pennsylvania, and Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the GRAMMY®-nominated Saint Tikhon Choir. He lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, vocalist and music educator Talia Sheehan, and their seven daughters, and spends much of his time working in a tiny office that he calls his “cupboard under the stairs.”

Louisville-Based Artefact Ensemble to Debut at Met Museum in NY

[Louisville, KY] - Artefact Ensemble, a new Louisville-based professional choir, is pleased to announce its New York debut on October 31 and November 1 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Artefact Ensemble and artistic director Benedict Sheehan will join the GRAMMY® Award-winning Experiential Orchestra and conductor James Blachly in “Celebrating Arvo Pärt at the Met”, a program of masterpieces from the revered Estonian composer’s seven-decade career.

The program will include the world premiere of Pärt’s O Holy Father Nicholas (2021), performed by Artefact Ensemble under the direction of Benedict Sheehan. Co-commissioned by Nektarios S. Antoniou and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the new a cappella choral work commemorates the rededication of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Other highlights of the program featuring Artefact Ensemble include performances of The Deer’s Cry, Salve Regina, Da Pacem Domine, and Vater Unser, with Eric S. Brenner, countertenor.

Benedict Sheehan is Director of Music at St. Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, and artistic director of the Saint Tikhon Choir. He has been called “a remarkable musician… one of the most important voices in American Orthodox choral music” (Choral Journal) and his work has received widespread acclaim, including a GRAMMY® Nomination for “Best Choral Performance.”

Artefact Ensemble is a new collaborative project from Benedict Sheehan and Stephen Jacobs, Music Director at St. Michael Orthodox Church and Immaculata Classical Academy in Louisville, Kentucky. Bringing together leading vocal artists from around the country, Artefact Ensemble combines world-class choral performances with curated, designed environments to create one-of-a-kind immersive concert experiences.

Partnering with schools, community organizations, and religious institutions, Artefact Ensemble also offers workshops, masterclasses, and co-operative music-making experiences free of charge to students, teachers of music, music ministers, and underprivileged audiences who might not otherwise have access to high-level ensemble music. Learn more at artefactensemble.org.