A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad

True Concord’s newest album, A Dream So Bright, features two world premiere recordings of works by Jake Runestad. His EMMY®­-winning choral/orchestral work, Earth Symphony, with poetry of Todd Boss, was commissioned and premiered by True Concord in 2022. Dreams of the Fallen, Runestad’s prize­-winning work for solo piano, chorus & orchestra, features pianist Jeffrey Biegel and includes texts of the poet Brian Turner, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan war. Turner states: When the music lifts to its peak, when the choir sings into the high cathedral of the human experience—the hairs on the back of my neck take notice, my own heart takes notice, and I am moved once again by the fusion of sound and story. “Dreams of the Fallen” is a compassionate, emotionally­ layered, elegant, and poignant work of art that I am proud to be a part of.

A Dream So Bright was recorded, edited and mixed by Steven Kaplan, mastered by John Polito, and produced by GRAMMY®­-award winner Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles. Recorded May 24–26, 2023 at Camelback Bible Church, Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Founded in 2004 by music director and conductor Eric Holtan, Tucson, Arizona­-based TRUE CONCORD VOICES & ORCHESTRA made its New York City debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in September 2015 with Mozart’s Requiem and Stephen Paulus’s Prayers and Remembrances. That same year, True Concord debuted on the international stage with its first album on Reference Recordings®, Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus, which received a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Choral Performance, while the late Stephen Paulus won the GRAMMY® for Best Classical Contemporary Composition posthumously.

Considered “one of the best of the younger American composers” (Chicago Tribune), EMMY®­-winning and GRAMMY®­-nominated composer and conductor Jake Runestad has received commissions and performances from many leading ensembles and organizations. Dubbed a “choral rockstar” by American Public Media, Jake is one of the most frequently performed composers of concert music. His thoughtful and compelling works “that speak to some of the most pressing and moving issues of our time” (Star Tribune), have been heard in thousands of performances across the globe. Jake Runestad holds a Master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize­winning composer Kevin Puts.