Larson wins in Missoula Community Choir contest

German poet Heinrich Heine once said, “Where words leave off, music begins.”

When the pandemic started last spring, it left the world staggered. But as musicians know best, it is often during the hardest seasons of life when inspiration for new music is born.

For St. Regis School music teacher Derek Larson, he took his quarantine experiences and created a new song for a composition contest put on by the Missoula Community Chorus. His work earned him a second-place award.

The concert theme for the Missoula Community Chorus’s shortened 2020 spring season was “The Way Through: Songs of Adversity and Resilience.”

When they chose that premise the community chorus had no idea that the world would be plunged into a new chapter of adversity in the midst of COVID-19. Given the renewed resonance of this repertoire, Missoula Community Chorus will plan to reprise the theme once performances are safe to resume.

In addition, they will complement their collection with new music, composed during the current global crisis. In April 2020, they announced a composition contest, to support and uplift composers during the challenges of the pandemic, and to also celebrate the community chorus’ 20th anniversary.

Larson’s composition piece was titled "Passages" and took roughly 24 hours of writing to complete. He explained, “The competition was supposed to be focused on themes surrounding the pandemic and the quarantine period. My inspirations often come from nature and so my idea, words and music are original, came from the idea that with everyone hunkered down inside nature was experiencing some time without a bunch of people interrupting the animals in their normal daytime pursuits.”

“In most post-apocalyptic literature and cinema, it seems to be quite popular to imagine the plants and animals taking over deserted cities and I imagined that this might have been an eerily similar experience for most people that normally look out their windows and see masses of people,” he said.

For the name of his piece Larson said, “It indicates the passage of winter to spring, the temporary passage of human overflow to natural silence and calm, the passage of life to death that overshadowed this forced period of separation, and the writing of texts to commemorate this event.”

Larson admitted he was quite surprised to place in the event.

"My musical style is not what many would consider to be innovative or pushing the boundaries in many ways, so my faring at competitions has not yielded many awards,” Larson said. “Also, I don't compose things that don't inspire me and so I pass by a lot of competitions for small ensemble pieces, which are more common composition competitions from my experience.”

To prevent any favoritism from happening in the contest, names were not included on the musical scores that are submitted to the competition. Entries were due June 30, 2020. Larson found out just before Christmas that he placed in the competition. Over the years he has written over 50 pieces of music over half of them for chorus.

Any compositions that won monetary or Honorable Mention awards will be performed during the 2020-2021 season, or the next season when rehearsal and performance in Missoula become safe and feasible.

The premiere date will be announced with at least eight weeks’ notice to the selected composers. Larson eagerly looked forward to when performances can recommence.

“I'm not sure what part I will play before the premiere of the piece, whether it is in the fall or later on.”