Roger Towler
Composer
| Years at Source: | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Biography: | For Source Song Festival, Towler wears the composer hat. For decades he wore several musical hats including the professional singer hat, singing an extensive repertoire of oratorios, opera and art songs. He also sang duet recitals with his son, John. Recently he sang a recital premiering 5 of his compositions. Wearing his composer hat, he created many choral premieres for the MN Center Chorale who recently commissioned his When Music Sounds for choir and orchestra – a truly sonorous adventure. When Source song invited Towler to bring his song cycle to the 2015 Songfest, the audience enthusiastically responded to the delightful music in I Play Flute. Then the 2018 Source Songfest commissioned Towler to create The River Runs Near Us for contralto, tenor and baritone. This powerful song engendered praise for its portrayal of courageous Minneapolis leaders who fought for the city’s North Side Community in the late 1960s via The Way Community Center. Towler’s lyric is drawn from his connection to The Way Singers (he was co-founder) and Rolland Robinson’s book about The Way. The song vividly portrays the terror felt by communities of color because of ‘Jim Crow’ Laws and the subsequent pain of the people. |
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| Source Moment: | Seeing and hearing the importance of song throughout the world plus the singers/accompanists real dedication to song. I loved hearing the terrific performances of great songs, as well as hearing wonderful performances of my own compositions. It is truly ‘song heaven’. It validates both your own efforts and validates song, per se. I cannot thank Mark, Clara and so many others who helped create Source Song. |