On Oct. 3 Chamber Choir performed Considering Matthew Shepard at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin, TX. The choir joined students from other high schools, Texas State, and Austin Community College to produce additional vocals for Conspirare. Through this opportunity, the students reflect on the significance of the piece of music and what it means to them.
“We performed with Conspirare, they are a very well known choir in Austin and it is led by the composer of Considering Matthew Shepard,” senior Abby Brooks said. “He invited a bunch of different choirs from around Texas totalling around 700 people.”
Conspirare is a Grammy award-winning choral ensemble located in Austin, TX and led by conductor Craig Hella Johnson. The group first performed Considering Matthew Shepard in 2016 and since then the piece has been performed by hundreds of choirs across the world. The piece was created as a compassionate and powerful response to Johnson’s moved reaction to the death of Matthew Shepard.
“The piece is about a boy, Matthew Shepard who was murdered in 1998,” Brooks said. “It was a very brutal death and it inspired him to write this story to unite us together as a community, because nobody should have to face such a horrible end to their life.”
Considering Matthew Shepard was written in remembrance of the 1998 death of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard. Shepard’s death shocked the nation and enabled new legislation on discriminatory hate crimes. To help give the piece a bold sound, choir students from high schools and universities across Texas were invited to perform alongside Conspirare.
”We sang in the balconies and all in the audience,” Brooks said. “In the audience it was like all of the sound surrounding you. This was a complete surprise to the people watching.”
The piece is a three part oratorio that combines many different elements of vocal music, including interviews from Shepard’s parents and clippings from his own journal for emotional effect. Brooks and Viper Choir President senior Elli Mendoza had the opportunity to previously perform different songs from Considering Matthew Shepard.
“I performed a couple of pieces from Considering Matthew Shepard in general,” senior Elli Mendoza said. “It was just one of those pieces that sticks with you.”
At the 2023 National American Choral Directors Association (NACDA) conference, Chamber Choir was selected as an honor choir and performed “All Of Us” from Considering Matthew Shepard. This year, a new group of people were able to perform the song and discover their own meaning for the song. For Brooks and Mendoza however, they had the opportunity of performing “All Of Us” as sophomores and now as leaders in the program.
“The significance of this song for me is that I performed it as a sophomore in Cincinnati as an honor choir at NACDA,” Brooks said. “But for the choir, this song was significant because it is about making a better world for not just yourself but for everyone.”
Through performing Considering Matthew Shepard, Chamber Choir was able to reflect on making the world more harmonious and fine tune for their upcoming performances later this year. For Mendoza, this performance serves as a full circle moment to her high school choir career as she transitions from an underclassman to a senior.
“‘All of Us’ speaks on how love is needed throughout any part of the world and it’s our job to keep that going. I remember being a sophomore in varsity and being so scared,” Mendoza said. “But after learning the meaning of the song I was like ‘wait I’m not that different from the other people here’ and now I’m an upperclassman it’s special.”
