Furman music professor Kilstofte’s “Peace” to be featured on NPR
Furman University professor Dr. Mark Kilstofte is a two-time recipient of the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Individual Artist Fellowship for music composition.
From Furman University:
A musical work by Furman University professor Dr. Mark Kilstofte will be aired on National Public Radio’s “From the Top” Monday, Dec. 22.
The composition, “Peace,” was performed by the Cantus Chamber Choir from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities Nov. 6 at the Peace Center before a live audience.
“Peace,” conceived during the aftermath of 9/11, was selected by the ensemble’s director, David Rhyne, for its powerful interpretation of Gerald Manley Hopkins’ poetry and its modern-day relevance.
“From the Top,” with host Christopher O’Riley, is distributed by National Public Radio and taped before live audiences across the United States. The show celebrates the accomplishments and stories of extraordinary young classical musicians. “From the Top” is carried by 250 public radio stations across the country and is estimated to reach 700,000 listeners around the world.
The Cantus Chamber Choir was honored as one of five performers to be featured on the show. Twenty vocalists from the Governor’s School took part in the November taping. In addition to participating in the elite choral ensemble, students work weekly in private studio voice lessons and perform each semester in opera scenes and recitals.
Kilstofte, Furman University Professor of Music Composition and Theory, is admired as a composer of lyrical line, engaging harmony, strong, dramatic gesture and keen sensitivity to sound, shape and event. Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as “exciting and beautiful, consistently gripping,” his music has garnered a number of awards and honors including the Rome Prize, the Guggenheim Fellowship, ASCAP’s Rudolf Nissim Award, the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship and Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Aaron Copland Award (three times) and the Gardner Read and Francis & William Schuman Fellowships from the MacDowell Colony.
A Greenville resident, Kilstofte has also earned commissions from the Dale Warland Singers and the Fromm Foundation. His music, performed regularly throughout the United States and Canada, has been featured on NPR’s “Performance Today” and is heard in concert halls from Moscow to Bangkok. His music is published by Newmatic Press. More information about Kilstofte may be found at this link.