For soloists, chorus & large ensemble. A commission from the Susquehanna Valley Chorale and in collaboration with 2012 Grammy Award winning opera librettist Herschel Garfein (Elmer Gantry) is based on recollections of chorus members and friends with relatives who've had the dreaded disease.

BRUCE ROGERS, CONDUCTOR

Professor Bruce Rogers is the Director of Choral Activities at Mt. San Antonio College. Choirs under his direction have achieved top ranking in national and international competitions throughout the world, including performances in Concert Halls throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, China, Europe, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. His choirs have had the honor of performing at eight California State Conventions, fourteen American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Regional and National Conventions as well as numerous performances at the International Association of Jazz Educators (IAJE) National Convention and the Jazz Education Network (JEN) Conference. Mr. Rogers has presented lectures, adjudicated, or conducted All-State and Collegiate Honor Choirs in twenty-eight states, Canada, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Australia, and the Netherlands.

For his many achievements, Mt. SAC presented Professor Rogers with its prestigious “Faculty Member of the Year” award, the Upland Community Foundation honored him as a recipient of their 2010 "Spotlight Award" for Outstanding Educator, in 2013 he was awarded the "CMEA Pearson-Silver Burdett Choral Educator Award" honoring excellence in choral education and performance, and in 2014 he received the California Music Educators Association’s “Outstanding Music Educator’s Award.”

HEATHER JOHNSON, MEZZO-SOPRANO

Mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson, hailed by Opera News as "a dramatic singer in the truest sense", has received critical acclaim for her work both on the opera and concert stage. Recent engagements include Jan Arnold in Everest with Austin Opera, Despina in Cosi fan Tutte with Mill City Summer Opera Dinah in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti with Boston Lyric Opera, Laura in Luisa Miller at the Metropolitan Opera, La Musica, La Messaggera and La Speranza in the U.S. stage premiere of Respighi’s realization of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo with Chautauqua Opera, Les nuits d’été with Minnesota Orchestra, the title role in Rossini’s Tancredi with Baltimore Concert Opera and Opera Southwest, Jo in Adamo’s Little Women with Madison Opera, Baba the Turk in The Rake’s Progress and the title role of Lizzie Borden both with Boston Lyric Opera. In 2013, Ms. Johnson made her house debut at the Metropolitan Opera as a Flower Maiden in Parsifal. Ms. Johnson performed in the world premieres of The Long Walk by Jeremy Howard Beck with Opera Saratoga, Mark Adamo’s Becoming Santa Claus with The Dallas Opera, and Fierce Grace: Jeannette Rankin, a song cycle commissioned by OPERA America and performed at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

KEITH PHARES, BARITONE

​​For over 20 years, in repertoire spanning from the Baroque through the present day, Keith Phares has appeared in leading roles with Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, São Paolo Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and elsewhere; in collaboration with Hal Prince, Francesca Zambello, Frank Corsaro, Richard Hickox, Marin Alsop, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Thomas Allen, among others; and in recital with the Marilyn Horne Foundation, WordSong, Illuminarts, LyricFest and Brooklyn Art Song Society.

An ardent exponent of contemporary American opera, Phares sang Kynaston on the Grammy-nominated recording of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players, Charlie in the premiere and recording of Heggie's and Scheer’s Three Decembers with Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera, the Father in the premiere and recording of Spears’s and Walat’s Paul's Case, Dr. Ludwig Binswanger in the premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's Ellen West, and the title role in the premiere and live, Grammy-winning recording of Aldridge's and Garfein’s Elmer Gantry.

Highlights from this season include Daddy Lowell/Mr. Floyd in Clint Borzoni’s and John de los Santos’s The Copper Queen film (premiere) and Fredrik in A Little Night Music with Arizona Opera. This summer he creates the role of Ty in the premiere of Kristen Kuster’s and Mark Campbell’s A Thousand Acres with Des Moines Metro Opera. Keith Phares is an Assistant Professor of Voice at Bowling Green State University.

ROBERT COHEN, COMPOSER

Robert S. Cohen has written music for chorus, orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance and theatre and has been the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, an American Music Center Grant, a Meet the Composer Award, New York Composer’s Circle Award, the 2011 New England String Quartet International Composition Competition and several grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. His works have been performed in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, Symphony Space, Bargemusic & the Sofia Opera House. Alzheimer’s Stories for soloists, chorus and large ensemble with a libretto by 2012 Grammy winner Herschel Garfein was commissioned and premiered by the Susquehanna Chorale in 2009 and has been performed in major cities throughout the U.S. and received its European premiere in Vienna June 2014; Of Eternity Considered as a Closed System for soloists, chorus and orchestra was premiered at Carnegie Hall by the Pro Arte Chorale & Westfield Symphony, and the Bulgarian National Opera Orchestra and Chorus. His monodrama Edison Invents for baritone and orchestra with a libretto also by Herschel Garfein was commissioned and premiered by the Westfield Symphony in 2007. Other works include String Quartet #2 (A Day in the Life), The Mysterious Transformation of Johann B., Five Nights in Sofia for violin & piano inspired by Bulgarian folk music, Dream Journal for brass quintet, Homeland Security Suite for percussion and a ballet, Tiktaalik and an extensive catalogue of choral works including: Genesis Part I: Creation for soloists, chorus, brass & percussion, Sleep, Little Baby, Sleep, Christmas Eve, Before, The Road Back, The Beauty of Life, Three Spirituals, Night Cadence, Sprig of Lilac, Sing with Me for chorus & small ensemble, Peter Quince at the Clavier, Sonnet 128, Stay in Time, Lullaby, Evening Star and God’s Whisper. He is published by Edition Peters, Hal Leonard, Shawnee Press, Absolute Brass, Dramatic Publishing, HoneyRock Music and his own Leapfrog Productions.

HERSCHEL GARFEIN, LIBRETTIST

HERSCHEL GARFEIN is a two-time GRAMMY® award winning composer, writer and stage director. He is the composer/librettist of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, the first-ever operatic adaptation of a play by Tom Stoppard. When excerpts were performed at Fort Worth Opera “Frontiers” in 2014, the Wall Street Journal wrote, “composer-librettist Herschel Garfein set the diamond-bright dialogue of the Tom Stoppard play with clarity and wit, heightening the comedy through skillful ensemble writing and characterization.”

Garfein conceived, wrote and directed the jazz theater piece My Coma Dreams for composer/pianist Fred Hersch, which has been seen in New York, San Francisco and Berlin and was released on dvd in 2014. (“Best of 2014” Boston Globe; “Brilliant...smart, honest and true” Downbeat). My Coma Dreams has been embraced by the medical community for its reflections on the patient’s experience of contemporary medical practice; in Berlin it was produced by the European Society for Intensive Care Medicine, its 2013 NYC premiere was produced by The Program in Narrative Medicine at Columbia University Medical School.

Participating Ensembles

Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus; Adam Luebke, Director; Buffalo, NY
Deer Creek Chorale; Martha Banghart, Artistic Director; White Hall, MD
Mountainside Master Chorale; Irene Messoloras, Director; Claremont, CA
Mt. San Antonio College Chamber Singers; Bruce Rogers, Director; Walnut, CA
University of La Verne Choirs; Irene Messoloras, Director; La Verne, CA
Individual Singers from New York and Illinois

ABOUT ALZHEIMER'S STORIES

The work is in three movements the arc of which loosely mimics the progression of the disease:

I. The Numbers – an objective description of the discovery of the disease by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1901 including the number of individuals currently afflicted, future projections and dramatized conversations between Dr. Alzheimer and his first patient, Auguste Dieter. The movement ends with an extended setting of a quote from his patient, "Ich hab mich verloren" (I have lost myself).

II. The Stories – a pastiche of a number of selected stories taken from the choir's blog. With a mixture of pathos, poignancy and humor, we meet a number of individuals afflicted with the disease, portrayed by the two soloists, as well as the recollections of family members. Two notables: a woman who still thinks she's on a boat to Panama with her father; and a WWII Navy veteran who repeats the same bawdy story of the war so many times that the chorus can recite it by heart.

III. For the Caregivers – The most difficult part of writing a work about such a terrible and ultimately hopeless disease was how to end the work with some semblance of hope. The clue came in a recollection by one of the chorus members about a visit to a nursing home where a patient asked them to sing. When asked what, the patient replied: "Sing anything." First referenced in the second movement, this idea became the centerpiece and focus of the last movement. The core of the brilliantly realized libretto is as follows:

Find those you love in the dark and light. Help them through the days and nights.

Keep faith. They sense what they cannot show. Love and music are the last things to go. Sing anything.

What critics have to say about Alzheimer's Stories:

"One of the greatest achievements a work of art can hope to reach is to bring us to our darkest places and show us a light. To illuminate our fears, ease our anxieties, and heal our pain. Whether or not you've struggled with this disease personally or as a caregiver, this is what makes Alzheimer's Stories a truly special experience." – Kody Wallace, Choral Journal (Oct. 2018)

"At times somber, jaunty and inspirational, this earnest exploration of a difficult theme, conducted with great insight by Anna Hamre, connected on both a cerebral and emotional level."
– The Fresno Bee

"Best Arts 2015" (Dec. 26, 2015) "In terms of getting the message out about this debilitating and devastating disease in a heartfelt and meaningful way through music, this reading of Cohen's innovative work could be deemed a total success." – Guytano Parks, Cleveland Classical (Nov. 18, 2012)

According to recent data provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services, these are the most recent statistics on the disease.

Approximately 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease (AD). Unless a cure or prevention is found, that number will increase to between 11 and 16 million by 2050.

Alzheimer's affects up to 10 percent of people 65 and over and increasing to 50 percent at 85 and older.

Direct and indirect costs of AD and other dementias amount to more than $172 billion annually.

Almost 11 million Americans are caring for a person with Alzheimer's disease or another dementia; in Texas, approximately 900,000 unpaid caregivers are providing care to the 340,000 individuals with the disease — this equates to 971 million hours of unpaid care at a cost of 11.1 billion dollars per year.

Texas ranks third in the number of Alzheimer's disease cases and second in the number of AD deaths.

A new person develops Alzheimer's disease every seventy seconds — this is projected to increase to every 33 seconds by 2050.

Between 2000 and 2006, deaths due to heart disease, stroke, and prostate cancer declined by 12 percent, 18 percent, and 14 percent, respectively, whereas deaths attributable to Alzheimer's disease increased by 47 percent.