Twilight of the Goddess by Joshua Shank, poem by John Grantham - recorded live May 3, 2026 - MCC

Twilight of the Goddess is our 2nd premiered consortium work sponsored by Graphite Publishing. Program notes from Joshua Shank: “As a kid, Athena was always my favorite in the Greek pantheon, and I think this was largely because she combined extraordinary strength with keen judgement about when to use it. Because she is the goddess of battle tactics and purposeful war (unlike her half-brother, Ares, who represents the chaos and brutality of war), she is often depicted carrying a spear. However, her gifts are also deeply intellectual—she is the goddess of wisdom. In Grantham’s poem, she is contrasted by her half-brother, Apollo, pulling focus as he rides through the sky in his golden chariot of the sun. Athena needs none of that flash herself but, rather, is content to wait quietly for when her enlightened warrior goddess nature might be needed. That combination of her regal bearing, her profound sense of justice, and her capacity for ferocity is something I tried to capture in my setting (with a bit of the sun god’s galloping coursers thrown in for good measure).” Joshua Shank (b. 1980) has been commissioned by organizations such as the Lorelei Ensemble, the Choral Project, the American Choral Directors Association, and the Association for Music in International Schools. From 2004-2014, he served as Composer-In-Residence for the Minneapolis-based professional choir, The Singers, and in 2002, he became the youngest recipient ever of the Raymond W. Brock Composition Award from the American Choral Directors Association. A native of Minnesota, his music was recently featured in a documentary about the extensive choral tradition in the upper Midwest, Never Stop Singing, and his published works have sold over 150,000 copies worldwide. "Twilight of the Goddess" should be available soon at https://graphitepublishing.com/compos... Recorded by: E&E Media Services https://eemediaservices.com/