IU Jacobs School of Music choral ensemble NOTUS releases second album

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music new music chamber chorus NOTUS recently released its second album, “What Is Ours: Music for an America in Progress,” on Navona Records. The recording is available on numerous digital platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

Featuring more than 90 student performers from across three years, the album also includes Jacobs faculty Dominick DiOrio, composer and director; Roger Roe, English horn; and D. James Tagg, audio engineer. Alumni composers are Leigha Amick, John William Griffith II and Moira Smiley.

“When I originally envisioned this program, it was to be performed on our tour to New Zealand as part of the 12th World Symposium on Choral Music in July 2020,” said DiOrio. “We were to be ambassadors for our country on the international stage, singing music written by a diverse array of American composers. While we were ultimately unable to travel around the globe, we did get to present this music in February 2022 at the American Choral Directors Association Midwestern Conference in Chicago after we had returned to in-person singing.

“While this program was conceived in many ways for an earlier time that no longer exists, it still resonates in this new era, our next normal. To really think about ‘what is ours’ and what we can claim, we must reflect not only on our collective histories, but also on our shared individual stories of suffering, resilience, catharsis and joy.”

An album highlight is the world premiere of “A Chain is Broken” by DiOrio and Iranian American writer and poet Khashayar Tonekaboni. DiOrio commissioned Tonekaboni’s poem “Earth’s Anthem” with support from the Jacobs School of Music and an IU New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities Extraordinary Opportunity Grant. 

Additional funding for “What is Ours: Music for an America in Progress” was provided by an Individual Research Award from the IU Institute for Advanced Study, with support from Jacobs.

“This is ‘music for an America in progress,’ yes, as America has always been—and will continue to be—in progress,” said DiOrio. “The work of governing ourselves is never done and never to be taken for granted. America is still being built, and we celebrate this glorious, multifarious and joyful building with each and every song, and each and every story.”

Winner of the 2019 American Prize in Choral Performance, NOTUS is one of the country’s most unique collegiate vocal ensembles, with a singular commitment to championing living composers through the commissioning, programming and recording of new works.

NOTUS has performed across the nation, including at Carnegie Hall, and released its first album, “Of Radiance and Refraction” (Innova), in 2018. It was one of only 24 choirs invited to perform at the 12th World Symposium on Choral Music before it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. NOTUS was named an International Federation for Choral Music Ambassador in 2022.