dominickdiorio
conductor composer
two letter D inside a blue circle

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass

Choral Music

chorus with solo instrument

work detail

instrumentation: SATB (divisi), soprano, and marimba

completion date: june 2010

duration: 17 minutes

texts: Amy Lowell (1874-1925) from A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass

events

5

LOVE FOR LIFE: CHICAGO CHORAL ARTISTS

Chicago Choral Artists - Michael D. Costello, conductor

Grace Lutheran Church - 7300 Division Street - River Forest, Illinois

3:00 pm

Michael Costello and the Chicago Choral Artists perform my cantata-concerto for chorus and marimba, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass as part of their Spring program. With Tina Laughlin, marimbist. More information here.

4

LOVE FOR LIFE: CHICAGO CHORAL ARTISTS

Chicago Choral Artists - Michael D. Costello, conductor

Grace Lutheran Church - 7300 Division Street, River Forest, Illinois

7:30 pm

Michael Costello and the Chicago Choral Artists perform my cantata-concerto for chorus and marimba, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass as part of their Spring program. With Tina Laughlin, marimbist. More information here.

audio

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass

Houston Chamber Choir

Scott Simpson, marimba
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos
Robert Simpson and Dominick DiOrio, conductors
(click to purchase)

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - I: Listening

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - II: At Night

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - III: Hora Stellatrix

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - IV: A Winter Ride

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - I. Listening

CCM Chamber Choir

Michael Barnes, marimba
Earl Rivers, conductor

videos

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass

ACDA National Conference - Movement 4 "A Winter Ride" with Houston Chamber Choir

Behind the Music Interview

Arts and culture expert St. John Flynn chats with conductor, composer and educator Dominick DiOrio. Deemed a "triple threat", Dominick is a former member, guest composer and guest conductor of the Houston Chamber Choir.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - I. Listening

The Gustavus Adolphus Choir
Virtual Choir Tour - 2021

image gallery

Conducting Houston Chamber Choir in a performance of A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass on tour at Yale's Marquand Chapel
April 2012

performances

march 24, 2012 (Premiere)

“A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass”
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
St. John the Divine – Houston, TX

march 25, 2012

“A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass”
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
St. Luke's Episcopal Church - Beaumont, TX

april 13, 2012

New England Tour
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
Trinity Wall Street – New York, NY

april 14, 2012

New England Tour
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
St. Luke's Parish – Darien, CT

april 15, 2012

New England Tour
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
Yale University - Marquand Chapel – New Haven, CT

october 09, 2012

"Vox Battuta: Voices, Percussion, and Combinations"
Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble
Sean M. Gill, marimba; Dominick DiOrio, director
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music - Auer Hall - Bloomington, IN

november 04, 2012

Depauw University Chamber Singers
Gregory Ristow, director
Depauw University - Green Center for the Performing Arts - Greencastle, IN

march 15, 2013

Houston Chamber Choir
Stephen Tobin, marimba; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Meyerson Symphony Center - 4:30pm
ACDA National Convention Performance - Dallas, TX

march 15, 2013

Houston Chamber Choir
Stephen Tobin, marimba; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Winspear Opera House - 8:00pm
ACDA National Convention Performance - Dallas, TX

march 17, 2013

Depauw University Chamber Singers
Gregory Ristow, director
Indianapolis, IN

june 07, 2014

Houston Chamber Choir
Robert Simpson, artistic director; Scott Simpson, marimba
The Church of St. John the Divine - Houston, TX

november 15, 2014

Pacific Lutheran University Choral Union
Richard Nance, conductor; Miho Takekawa, marimba
Pacific Lutheran University - Lagerquist Concert Hall - Tacoma, WA

december 14, 2014

Yale Recital Chorus
Max Holman, conductor; Garrett Arney, marimba
St. Thomas Episcopal Church - New Haven, CT

may 09, 2015

Chicago Choral Artists
Michael Costello, artistic director
Ebenezer Lutheran Church - Chicago, IL

may 10, 2015

Chicago Choral Artists
Michael Costello, artistic director
Grace Lutheran Church - River Forest, IL

december 06, 2015

Ithaca College Choir
Janet Galván, conductor; Gordon Stout, marimba
Ford Hall - Ithaca College School of Music - Ithaca, NY

may 01, 2016

University of Maryland Chamber Singers
Dominick DiOrio, guest conductor
UMD School of Music - College Park, MD

february 12, 2017

CCM Choral Showcase
CCM Chamber Choir
Earl Rivers, conductor
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music - Cincinnati, OH

march 22, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Bangor Area High School - Bangor, PA

march 23, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Holy Family Catholic Community, Middletown, MD

march 24, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, PA

march 25, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Rocky Hill Congregational Church, Rocky Hill, CT

march 26, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
St. Andrews UMC, Cherry Hill, NJ

april 28, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Cathedral of the Incarnation - Garden City, NY

april 21, 2018

University of Wisconsin-Madison Concert Choir
Beverly Taylor, conductor
Mills Concert Hall - University of Wisconsin-Madison - Madison, WI

november 17, 2019

molto cantabile
Andreas Felber, conductor
Pfarrei St. Johannes - Lucerne, Switzerland

october 30, 2020

musica intima
Digital Performance

scores

recordings

soft blink of amber light
MSR Classics
Released September 22, 2015
soft blink of amber light album cover Houston Chamber Choir - Robert Simpson, artistic director

Buy the album on Amazon. Released September 22, 2015.

Featuring music of Jocelyn Hagen, David Ashley White, Christopher Theofanidis, Wayne Oquin, and Dominick DiOrio (A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass).

purchase

publisher: G. Schirmer

Purchase

reviews from the dallas acda convention!

From "Musical Mayhem Blog": "The same was true of the Houston Chamber Choir directed by Robert Simpson They sang a quite difficult program with great skill and a very broad dynamic range. The focus of their program was Dominick DiOrio's kaleidoscopic "A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass" for SATB and marimba. Those of you looking for a fine choral piece with percussion by a rising young composer should definitely look at this piece." 

From “The Tenor Diaries Blog: “Robert Simpson led his professional chamber choir from Houston in an exciting performance, one that I sadly had to hear in the acoustically bereft Opera House. Of particular merit were the movements from Dominick DiOrio’s ‘A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass.’ Not only is this a very exciting work, I don’t think that these ears have ever heard a marimba played so amazingly. Stephen Tobin’s virtuosity was quite breathtaking.”

From “Music and the Sacred Blog“The late afternoon saw performances of the Houston Chamber Choir under the direction of Robert Simpson, an advocate for new music by Texas composers. The concert featured music about weather and included compositions by Parry and emerging conductor-composer Dominick DiOrio whose ‘A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass’ contained beautiful choral writing and a dynamic part for virtuoso marimba.”

program note

I first encountered the work of poet Amy Lowell in a song cycle by the composer Zachary Wadsworth. Immediately taken by the vivid images and inherently musical nature of the text— to say nothing of Zach’s poignant and evocative musical setting—, I immersed myself in the writings of this turn-of-the-20th-century poet. I was ecstatic to find that Lowell held Milton in high regard and wrote with a transcendentalist bent reminiscent of Whitman— two artists for whom I have a great affinity. This cantata-concerto is the culmination of a love affair with her word, at once both youthfully vivacious and elegantly burnished.

The music makes virtuosic use of the marimba, hence the use of the term cantata-concerto. While always in service to the spirit and emotion evoked by the text, it requires a percussionist of professional caliber. The choral parts and the soprano solo also demand singers of the highest level—able to produce a stark pianissimo and a flexible and powerful fortissimo—all with exceptional tonal clarity and expressive declamation of the poetry. The Houston Chamber Choir is ideally suited to these challenges, and the work has been written with their particular agility, intelligence, and interpretational zeal in mind. This work is a gift to them and to their artistic director, Robert Simpson, in thanks for the opportunity to sing regularly with such a world-class ensemble of musicians.

movements

  1. Listening
  2. At Night
  3. Hora Stellatrix
  4. A Winter Ride

information

events

5

LOVE FOR LIFE: CHICAGO CHORAL ARTISTS

Chicago Choral Artists - Michael D. Costello, conductor

Grace Lutheran Church - 7300 Division Street - River Forest, Illinois

3:00 pm

Michael Costello and the Chicago Choral Artists perform my cantata-concerto for chorus and marimba, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass as part of their Spring program. With Tina Laughlin, marimbist. More information here.

4

LOVE FOR LIFE: CHICAGO CHORAL ARTISTS

Chicago Choral Artists - Michael D. Costello, conductor

Grace Lutheran Church - 7300 Division Street, River Forest, Illinois

7:30 pm

Michael Costello and the Chicago Choral Artists perform my cantata-concerto for chorus and marimba, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass as part of their Spring program. With Tina Laughlin, marimbist. More information here.


audio

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass

Houston Chamber Choir

Scott Simpson, marimba
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos
Robert Simpson and Dominick DiOrio, conductors
(click to purchase)

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - I: Listening

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - II: At Night

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - III: Hora Stellatrix

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - IV: A Winter Ride

Houston Chamber Choir

Live performance in the Yale Divinity School Marquand Chapel, April 2012. Brian Shircliffe, audio engineer.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - I. Listening

CCM Chamber Choir

Michael Barnes, marimba
Earl Rivers, conductor


videos

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass

ACDA National Conference - Movement 4 "A Winter Ride" with Houston Chamber Choir

Behind the Music Interview

Arts and culture expert St. John Flynn chats with conductor, composer and educator Dominick DiOrio. Deemed a "triple threat", Dominick is a former member, guest composer and guest conductor of the Houston Chamber Choir.

A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass - I. Listening

The Gustavus Adolphus Choir
Virtual Choir Tour - 2021


image gallery

Conducting Houston Chamber Choir in a performance of A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass on tour at Yale's Marquand Chapel
April 2012


performances

march 24, 2012 (Premiere)

“A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass”
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
St. John the Divine – Houston, TX

march 25, 2012

“A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass”
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
St. Luke's Episcopal Church - Beaumont, TX

april 13, 2012

New England Tour
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
Trinity Wall Street – New York, NY

april 14, 2012

New England Tour
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
St. Luke's Parish – Darien, CT

april 15, 2012

New England Tour
Houston Chamber Choir; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Stacey Weber and Stephanie Handal, sopranos; Scott Simpson, marimba
Yale University - Marquand Chapel – New Haven, CT

october 09, 2012

"Vox Battuta: Voices, Percussion, and Combinations"
Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble
Sean M. Gill, marimba; Dominick DiOrio, director
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music - Auer Hall - Bloomington, IN

november 04, 2012

Depauw University Chamber Singers
Gregory Ristow, director
Depauw University - Green Center for the Performing Arts - Greencastle, IN

march 15, 2013

Houston Chamber Choir
Stephen Tobin, marimba; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Meyerson Symphony Center - 4:30pm
ACDA National Convention Performance - Dallas, TX

march 15, 2013

Houston Chamber Choir
Stephen Tobin, marimba; Robert Simpson, artistic director
Winspear Opera House - 8:00pm
ACDA National Convention Performance - Dallas, TX

march 17, 2013

Depauw University Chamber Singers
Gregory Ristow, director
Indianapolis, IN

june 07, 2014

Houston Chamber Choir
Robert Simpson, artistic director; Scott Simpson, marimba
The Church of St. John the Divine - Houston, TX

november 15, 2014

Pacific Lutheran University Choral Union
Richard Nance, conductor; Miho Takekawa, marimba
Pacific Lutheran University - Lagerquist Concert Hall - Tacoma, WA

december 14, 2014

Yale Recital Chorus
Max Holman, conductor; Garrett Arney, marimba
St. Thomas Episcopal Church - New Haven, CT

may 09, 2015

Chicago Choral Artists
Michael Costello, artistic director
Ebenezer Lutheran Church - Chicago, IL

may 10, 2015

Chicago Choral Artists
Michael Costello, artistic director
Grace Lutheran Church - River Forest, IL

december 06, 2015

Ithaca College Choir
Janet Galván, conductor; Gordon Stout, marimba
Ford Hall - Ithaca College School of Music - Ithaca, NY

may 01, 2016

University of Maryland Chamber Singers
Dominick DiOrio, guest conductor
UMD School of Music - College Park, MD

february 12, 2017

CCM Choral Showcase
CCM Chamber Choir
Earl Rivers, conductor
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music - Cincinnati, OH

march 22, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Bangor Area High School - Bangor, PA

march 23, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Holy Family Catholic Community, Middletown, MD

march 24, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Trinity Episcopal Church, Solebury, PA

march 25, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Rocky Hill Congregational Church, Rocky Hill, CT

march 26, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
St. Andrews UMC, Cherry Hill, NJ

april 28, 2017

Hofstra University Chamber Choir
David Fryling, conductor; Bryan Wysocki, marimba
Cathedral of the Incarnation - Garden City, NY

april 21, 2018

University of Wisconsin-Madison Concert Choir
Beverly Taylor, conductor
Mills Concert Hall - University of Wisconsin-Madison - Madison, WI

november 17, 2019

molto cantabile
Andreas Felber, conductor
Pfarrei St. Johannes - Lucerne, Switzerland

october 30, 2020

musica intima
Digital Performance


scores


press


recordings

soft blink of amber light
MSR Classics
Released September 22, 2015
soft blink of amber light album cover Houston Chamber Choir - Robert Simpson, artistic director

Buy the album on Amazon. Released September 22, 2015.

Featuring music of Jocelyn Hagen, David Ashley White, Christopher Theofanidis, Wayne Oquin, and Dominick DiOrio (A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass).


published


reviews from the dallas acda convention!

From "Musical Mayhem Blog": "The same was true of the Houston Chamber Choir directed by Robert Simpson They sang a quite difficult program with great skill and a very broad dynamic range. The focus of their program was Dominick DiOrio's kaleidoscopic "A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass" for SATB and marimba. Those of you looking for a fine choral piece with percussion by a rising young composer should definitely look at this piece." 

From “The Tenor Diaries Blog: “Robert Simpson led his professional chamber choir from Houston in an exciting performance, one that I sadly had to hear in the acoustically bereft Opera House. Of particular merit were the movements from Dominick DiOrio’s ‘A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass.’ Not only is this a very exciting work, I don’t think that these ears have ever heard a marimba played so amazingly. Stephen Tobin’s virtuosity was quite breathtaking.”

From “Music and the Sacred Blog“The late afternoon saw performances of the Houston Chamber Choir under the direction of Robert Simpson, an advocate for new music by Texas composers. The concert featured music about weather and included compositions by Parry and emerging conductor-composer Dominick DiOrio whose ‘A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass’ contained beautiful choral writing and a dynamic part for virtuoso marimba.”


program note

I first encountered the work of poet Amy Lowell in a song cycle by the composer Zachary Wadsworth. Immediately taken by the vivid images and inherently musical nature of the text— to say nothing of Zach’s poignant and evocative musical setting—, I immersed myself in the writings of this turn-of-the-20th-century poet. I was ecstatic to find that Lowell held Milton in high regard and wrote with a transcendentalist bent reminiscent of Whitman— two artists for whom I have a great affinity. This cantata-concerto is the culmination of a love affair with her word, at once both youthfully vivacious and elegantly burnished.

The music makes virtuosic use of the marimba, hence the use of the term cantata-concerto. While always in service to the spirit and emotion evoked by the text, it requires a percussionist of professional caliber. The choral parts and the soprano solo also demand singers of the highest level—able to produce a stark pianissimo and a flexible and powerful fortissimo—all with exceptional tonal clarity and expressive declamation of the poetry. The Houston Chamber Choir is ideally suited to these challenges, and the work has been written with their particular agility, intelligence, and interpretational zeal in mind. This work is a gift to them and to their artistic director, Robert Simpson, in thanks for the opportunity to sing regularly with such a world-class ensemble of musicians.


movements

  1. Listening
  2. At Night
  3. Hora Stellatrix
  4. A Winter Ride

dominick smiling and looking out