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Jessica Rivera unveils Mark Grey’s Fire Angels at Zankel Hall, WQXR's Opera Blog, March 29, 2011
"Rivera explains that the collective goal for the work is to create a 'common ground for us to begin conversations about what it means to be different and yet what it means to have our own identities and yet encounter one another and understand one another.'"
Poignant Songs for a People Divided, Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2011
"(Grey)
says that pursuing such themes gives him an opportunity to explore the American fabric. 'I wanted to look at the home base—what this land was built upon,' he explains. 'I come from European stock. It's a way to educate myself about the wider world in which I live. After all, we're all children of migration. Every time you pass someone on the street, there is a hidden history there. I hope my work affords people who are not from these cultures a moment of real connection.'"
Mugung-what?, LA Weekly, March 3, 2011
"Written for violin virtuoso Jennifer Koh and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Mugunghwa is 'a story of courage and passion' that blends Korean and Western cultural and musical traditions into a unique soundscape, and is based on Korean author Namsoo Kim's chronicle of one man's spiritual path to reunification with his family, homeland and dead father."
 Mark Grey's 'Mugunghwa' traces a Korean journey,
Los Angeles Times, February 27, 2011
"Jennifer's violin is an extended voice of the chorus," Grey said, "dancing, enticing, teasing, scolding, bribing and loving — how a mudang, or tribal shaman, performs during a traditional ceremony." For Koh, the beauty of "Mugunghwa" is in its attempt to create bridges between people, and between past and present. "One can't live in the present, or even look forward, without also looking back," she said. "For me, art has always served as the shaman for the future."
LA Master Chorale Presents MUGUNGHWA 3/6, Broadwayworld.com, February 8, 2011
"Mark Grey is a composer for whom I have tremendous admiration," says Gershon. "His piece, Mugunghwa, is a major new choral work - poetic, intense, and sonorous. It sparkles with fantastically colorful harmonies that respond beautifully to the poetry and the personal letters Mark has chosen to set to music. Audiences will love Mark's storytelling, his fascinating and accessible music, as well as the interplay of virtuosic chorus and violin solo. This is an extraordinary new work that I am exceedingly proud to premiere with the Master Chorale."
LOS ANGELES MASTER CHORALE PRESENTS WORLD PREMIERE OF MARK GREY’S MUGUNGHWA: ROSE OF SHARON, Korea.net
Articles in Korea Times (pdfs):
KoreaTimes_Mugunghwa_1
KoreaTimes_Mugunghwa_2
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Spano and Runnicles celebrate their partnership with Mozart, a world premiere (and don’t forget Bruckner)
ArtsCriticATL.com, January 27, 2011
"About 'Ahsha,' Grey writes: 'In celebration of Robert Spano and Donald Runnicles’ tenth-anniversary season in Atlanta, I wanted the subject of this work to embrace Robert’s passion for Persia, its people, culture and art.'"
 Native American Journeys
Symphony magazine, May/June 2009
The Phoenix Symphony Releases Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio CD
EVLiving.com, Feb. 2009
 Celebrating Navajo Stories
Denver Post, July 2008
"It celebrates Navajo stories," said Navajo poet Laura Tohe, who wrote the work's libretto. "It celebrates the oral traditions that are still alive and are still strong and that still sustain. And I think this oratorio does that in a contemporary way."
"The way it works with indigenous storytelling and connects with a Western musical art form, it created something very beautiful, something very powerful and something that spoke to a large audience."
The Mother of Enemy Slayer
Paste magazine, July 2, 2008
"Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio—a 70-minute classical work—premiered in February with the Phoenix Symphony. Its first performance prompted a 10-minute standing ovation and sent some from the hall weeping into handkerchiefs."
Navajo oratorio updates creation tale
The Arizona Republic, February 2008
Mark Grey's cutting-edge classical work Enemy Slayer explores a Navajo creation story
Phoenix New Times, February 2008
A Native-Inspired Symphony in Phoenix (pdf)
Native Peoples
Healing Words: Musical statement on the human cost of war fuses Indigenous themes with classical forms (pdf)
Arizona State University newsletter, Spring 2008
Non-Native Son: Composer comes home to a place he’s never been before
Phoenix New Times, February 2008
Enemy Way inspires musical collaboration
Navajo Times, October 2007
The Phoenix Symphony's Enemy Slayer brochure (pdf)
The Phoenix Symphony's Enemy Slayer blog
Colorado Music Festival's Enemy Slayer press release (pdf)
For audio clips and videos on the making of Enemy Slayer, visit the Multimedia page.
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