The Esoterics

For Immediate Release: May 10, 2008

SEATTLE — As The Esoterics celebrates its 15th anniversary season, the group has released its 8th CD. With songs that explore spiritual traditions from around the world, MANDALA redefines the concepts of sacred music and choral traditions.

Loosely translated, the Sanskrit word mandala means "circle." In Buddhist tradition, monks create mandalas, or visually stunning symmetrical and circular patterns, to aid them with meditation. In a broader context, these circles are common to several world religions, including Hinduism, Sufism, Confucianism, and Taoism — the well-known “yin-yang” symbol is an example of a mandala.

As the theme of MANDALA suggests, The Esoterics' newest CD cycles through a set of diverse religions. The timelessness of Hinduism is represented by the mysterious verses from the Bhagavad Gita (Roger Nelson's Attaining immortality) and the shimmering Sanskrit of the Mundaka Upanishad (Diane Thome's All this). New York composer Mark Adamo's vigorous Supreme virtue and Minneapolis composer Stephen Paulus' tranquil Meditations on Li Po bring balance to the Taoist portion of the recording, while Donald Skirvin's luminous Songs of enlightenment will be featured with John Muehleisen's resplendent Watching the moon go down, based on verse by the 12th-century Buddhist monk, Myoe Shonin, The Esoterics' MANDALA also includes the iridescent Guang by Linda Waterfall and Javdani, Eric Banks' aquatic homage to the afterlife, an a cappella palindrome that sets two quatrains by the Persian mystic Rumi.

The pieces on this CD represent audience and chorus-member favorites from the 2005 season, which featured concerts that focused on different non-Western faiths. Three pieces from MANDALA (Waterfall's Guang, Paulus' Meditations on Li Po, and Adamo's Supreme virtue) were reprised in QUINDECIMA, the group's 15th Anniversary concert (12 13 19 20 April). For information about dates and tickets for upcoming concerts, please visit http://www.theesoterics.org.

The Esoterics recorded MANDALA thanks to grants from The National Endowment for the Arts and The Seattle Foundation. During the recording session, members of the chorus sang in a circle, creating a unique sound on this CD. “Everything is in surround-sound: with soloists standing at different places in the circle, hand-bells scattered along the circumference, and no one the back row.” says Eric Banks, founding director. “This CD is an important way for us to honor both contemporary choral music and sacred traditions that are virtually unknown to Western audiences.”

The Esoterics has presented dozens of local and international premieres, and has tackled the most challenging works of 20th and 21st century choral repertoire. Now celebrating its fifteenth anniversary season with founding director Eric Banks, the ensemble has drawn national and international praise for presenting the many styles that comprise contemporary choral music. In 2001, 2003, and 2006, The Esoterics' commitment to innovative concert repertoire was nationally recognized when ASCAP and Chorus America granted the ensemble its coveted Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. The ensemble was also honored to be selected as the only North American chorus to compete at the 2000 International Choral Festival in Cork, Ireland, the 2001 International Choral Festival in Tolosa, Spain, and the 2006 Harald Andersén International Choir Competition in Helsinki, Finland.

If you have additional questions about The Esoterics (media contact only), please contact Bayta Maring ()