The Fresno Master Chorale will make history Sunday with the California debut of Dan Forrest’s “Creation” at the Paul Shaghoian Concert Hall, located on the Clovis North High School campus.

“I follow the works of many composers. Dan Forrest is among the best, so I jumped on this composition when it was starting to be available,” Fresno Master Chorale conductor Anna Hamre said.

Forrest writes on his website about the oratorio: “I wanted to capture the beauty of life on this planet, and the wonder of its origin, in my own musical language. In a sense, it’s a score to my own mental ‘Planet Earth’ film — of beauty that I’ve encountered both at home and in my travels abroad. I hope this work overwhelms its listener with the wonder and joy that still shines through in our world.”

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Forrest’s Most Expansive Work

“Creation” is Forrest’s latest and most expansive work, and it’s inspired by Haydn’s masterpiece “The Creation.” Forrest even gives a nod to Haydn in his work’s 12th and final movement, “Boundless.” The choral concert will feature about 170 voices with orchestra.

“We are honored to be the first chorale to perform ‘Creation’ in California,” Hamre said. “This is a tremendous opportunity for the Valley to experience a contemporary symphony, and we look forward to this concert celebrating compassion and creativity.”

The chorale has performed other works by Forrest, but this piece stands out to Hamre because of the composer’s passion as well as its instrumentation.

“He exhibits superlative compositional techniques. For example, in his movement ‘Music of the Spheres,’ he creates a ‘mensuration canon’ to depict the movements of the planets. That canon actually has the same sequence of pitches occurring at four different rates of duration at the exact same time — and it all fits together,” Hamre said.

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Composer Dan Forrest’s Accolades

Forrest has received numerous awards and distinctions, including the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Award, the ACDA Raymond Brock Award, the ALCM Raabe Prize, and many others. His international invitations include major concerts with choirs from the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, Italy, and many others.

He has an extensive catalog, but he’s best known for “Requiem for the Living” (2013) that has been performed more than 1,000 times around the world. He currently serves as adjunct professor of composition at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.

Conductor Anna Hamre’s Achievements

Hamre, professor emerita and former director of choral activities at Fresno State, serves as artistic director of Fresno Community Chorus, Inc. where she conducts the Master Chorale, Coro Piccolo, and Coro Solare. She’s the author of “The High School/University Sight-Singer” (Masterworks Press).

She’s received numerous honors such as the California Choir Directors Association Howard Swan Award for Lifetime Achievement (2020), the California Association for Music Education (CMEA) President’s Award (2013), the CMEA Choral Conductor Award (2006), and Valley Music Hall of Fame (2024).

“Thanks to the community’s support, we are able to continue our legacy of bringing groundbreaking works like ‘Creation’ to the Central Valley and beyond,” Hamre said.

Tickets are on sale for $25 and can be purchased online at fresnocommunitychorus.org.