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| Spring 1999 issue | . | Topping the Renaissance charts | |
LINKS: Acclaim for Notre Dame's Department of Music |
He's not as widely known as Sting or Madonna or even the
Squirrel Nut Zippers, but Alexander Blachly has joined the ranks of the musical elite.
Earlier this year the Notre Dame associate professor of music was nominated for the music
industry's most treasured prize, a Grammy award. As conductor of Pomerium, a 15-voice a capella ensemble he founded in 1972, Blachly competed for the Best Small Ensemble Performance award for his group's CD Creator of the Stars -- Christmas Music From Earlier Times (Archiv Produktion). At the February 24, 1999, ceremony, the Grammy went to minimalist composer Steve Reich for Reich: Music for 18 Musicians. Like Pomerium's earlier recordings, Creator of the Stars features music composed for the chapel choirs of the Renaissance. Blachly says most of the pieces on the CD would be unfamiliar to listeners. They were chosen to emphasize "the mystery and the splendor" of the Renaissance period, he said. Blachly has studied and performed early music for 27 years and has been recognized by the American Musicological Society for his historical performance work. He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1993 as director of choral music and is known locally for his annual performances of Handel's Messiah with the Notre Dame Chorale. Blachly said he was pleasantly surprised but not overwhelmed by the Grammy nomination. "[It] came out of the blue," he said. "It's our eighth CD. I don't know why [they chose] this one." -- Liz Nagle
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