The Sunnyvale Sun

Cover Story

Photograph courtesy of Aaron Blumenshine

Sunnyvale's Pamela Quist is an accomplished composer who lectures on music theory and composition at Santa Clara University, where she has worked since 1994.

'Requiem' Writer

Nature's own music inspires this Sunnyvale composer

By Carolyn Schuk

The opening of Pamela Layman Quist's Requiem for the People features the tinkle of gentle soprano wind chimes. Those first moments of Quist's recently premiered work for chorus and orchestra were inspired by the wind chimes in her Sunnyvale back yard. "I liked the pitches," the composer explains. "It's very magical when the air stirs them--there's a sense of the breath of God.

"I wrote a lot of the Requiem in the back yard among the flowers and vegetables and birds. It's an idyllic spot," Quist says of her Sunnyvale home of three years, where she has plenty of space to pursue her passion for gardening as well as music. "I feel very quickly connected to the land around here," she says. "I feel a similar way when I work in my garden as when I sit down and write a piece of music. This area is so abundant."

The Santa Clara Chorale commissioned Requiem for the People for chorus and orchestra following an invitation from the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra to perform in the Czech Republic for the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

The work premiered June 2 at Santa Clara University's Mission Church under the baton of Santa Clara Chorale director Thomas Collohan to a standing-room only audience. The chorale took the piece on tour in the Czech Republic and Vienna, Austria, where it received similar rave reviews from listeners, and a recording with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra was made during the tour.

The premiere's standing ovation attests to the power of Quist's music and her ability to reach listeners of every kind. "It's an emotional piece," the composer says. "All four performances of the piece, there have been people crying."

"I've heard every performance [starting with] the first one in the Mission Church, and it was amazingly beautiful," says chorale board member Stans Kleinjen, whose husband Joop sings in the chorale.

Although the Requiem is not an easy piece to sing, Joop Kleinjen says the effort was extremely rewarding. "It was a hard piece to 'get,' and I couldn't think how the different parts would come together," he explains. "When we saw the end result, it had very special meaning."

"Another technique Quist uses is the sounds of the chorus, who--through whispers and light percussive sounds--are able to create an image of nature: winds rustling through reeds, rain or whatever the listener imagines," says Nancy Wait-Kromm, an associate professor of music at Santa Clara. "This effect is one of the most magical in the work."

A lecturer in music theory and composition at Santa Clara University since 2001, Quist was born in Rhode Island. She moved a lot as a child, thanks to a father in the Navy. Music was an early love. "I always knew I was going to be a musician," she says. "I started playing the piano at age 7. I'd practice an hour a day on just two notes."

Strong credentials

Quist received her education at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and her Ph.D. in music composition from Johns Hopkins University. In 1972, she co-founded the Walden School, a highly rated summer music school and festival for young musicians noted for its holistic and community-based approach. In addition to teaching, Quist also raised two daughters.

She served as director of the Walden program until 1994. It was through her continued connection with the Walden School, through then-director Pat Plude, a former student of Quist's, that she applied for her current position at Santa Clara University to teach theory and composition.

Quist began her musical studies as a pianist but found composition was her real talent. She credits her music theory professor, the late Grace Newsom Cushman, with providing fertile ground for Quist's compositional talent to bloom.

"She made me into a theory teacher and a composer," says Quist, who has more than two dozen compositions to her credit. "She had a unique approach to teaching theory. We didn't just learn a theoretical concept--she had us compose using it. And I discovered a tremendous love in the process. I spent four hours a day on theory lessons and was sight-reading my way through my piano lessons," she says with a laugh.

Quist says that her goal is writing music that people can connect to, describing herself as a populist composer, similar to Aaron Copeland. "I think I got pinned as a 'neo-romantic' composer because I use traditional harmonies in a nontraditional way," Quist says. "I use chords and melodies through the lens of a 21st-century composer."

Genesis of a melody

The Requiem took shape over several years and was Quist's first composition for full chorus and orchestra. The work started with Quist's desire to write a piece after 9-11.

In the summer of 2002, she wrote the "Pie Jesu" soprano solo, sung at the premiere by Nancy Wait-Kromm. "It was a personal response to 9-11," explains Quist. "Throughout that year it became very much in vogue to write 9-11 pieces, but I wrote this for myself. I was happy with it as a piece--it was performed by several sopranos in recital--but I felt like it needed to be orchestrated. It was begging for more to go with it."

Over time, Quist added more to the piece, composing about half of the ambitious work. But it was Collohan who was instrumental in the June premiere of the composition.

"Tom Collohan heard me composing through the wall of his office," Quist recalls. "He was intrigued that I was composing choral music. About a year and a half ago we had been having a collegial discussion about the [European] tour: Wouldn't it be nice if we could present a new American piece alongside of Mozart?"

So Quist dug in during the summer of 2005 and wrote the last three movements in six months and did almost all of the work's orchestration during that period.

In fact, the final details were still being finished as the work was in performance. "Even on the tour," says Stans Kleinjen, "she added some music at the beginning. It's exciting to be part of this creative experience."

The experience of premiering the piece in Europe was unforgettable, Quist says. In honor of the Mozart anniversary, the tour visited places the great composer had lived and performed. The Requiem received equal acclaim from audiences in the Czech Republic.

"The Prague recognition is richly deserved, and speaks very well for Pam and for the school that supports her," says Hans Boepple, the university's music department chair.

"I was so touched by the music and the passion that came out of it, " Stans Kleinjen says. "Every performance was kind of unique depending on the placement of the choir and the acoustics of the space--it created a new and different effect. I totally enjoyed it every single time."

"The tour was a high point," adds Joop Kleinjen. "Two weeks of being together with people focused on singing this work in the best venues in the world."

Czech audiences were surprised by a woman composer, Quist reports. "I was interviewed by a writer for a music magazine, and she kept zeroing in on the fact that I was a woman. I pointed out to her that there are many female composers in the U.S."

And Quist was surprised by the level of respect and interest music commands in the Czech Republic from audience members of every age.

"Our first Czech performance in Zlonice--a little village of about 600 people--the church was packed," she says. "In the front row there were three teenage boys. My usual expectation was, 'They'll never last.' Then I saw one of the boys pull out a cell phone and I thought he would be text messaging. Instead, he pointed it to the front to record the concert. Not only was he there for this lengthy concert, he wanted to make sure he recorded it."

Future plans

So what's next for Quist?

With a new grandchild--appropriately named Aria--certainly family tops her list. And with a new school year starting, students are important as well.

But Quist is also busy on new compositions. Some of her new work will be performed at the school's Day of the Dead concert in November, and she has a piano concerto in the works. Quist also hopes to take the concerto on tour to Italy with fellow faculty member and pianist Theresa McCullough.

Meanwhile, Requiem is making an impression in the music world. "I have not so enjoyed a contemporary work of music in a long time," Boepple says. "I predict that it will get around in the world and become a much-performed and admired work."

For information about the Santa Clara Chorale, visit www.scc.org, call 408.369.1289 or email info@scc.org.