Erik-Peter Mortensen

As news of the global pandemic and more drastic actions taken to prevent its spread permeated the news last week, I felt inspired (I believe by the Universal and Divine Holy Spirit within all of us) to voice this prayer for the world to come together with the grace of God's aid during this devastating health and economic crisis. I then set it to music for 4 voices in the style of an Elizabethan English Anthem, one of my favorite genres of all time.

I sent the scores to my talented friends and colleagues, Audrey Fernandez-Fraser and Benjamin Doyle and asked them to record first audio, then video for this virtual quartet. Truly virtual as this quartet could never exist in reality as Audrey sang both the soprano and alto parts-into her cellphone no less, but to satisfactory effect!

I hope it brings you some meditative reflection, inspiration, peace, comfort and hope for our leaders and all humanity to join forces in this isolating time, apart but together!

If you do, please share it freely with any friends, family, choirs, churches, music directors, people who are suffering and need consolation, etc. who may be looking for something inspirational and hopeful that this prayer and music offers!

Musically yours,

EP
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Oh Lord be merciful unto thy children,
For we have gone astray.

We have put our trust not in Thee,
But have scorned Thy commandements
And become proud in the imagination of our hearts.

Help us to help one another
And seek not the treasure of gold,
But the treasure of Thy Holy Spirit
That dwelleth in ourselves and in our brothers.

Let the nations all with one accord
Show forth to all the People
Thy tender and loving mercy
And give unto them their daily bread
And deliverance from the scourge.

Amen.

Please vote for my song "Caro Mea" for the "Voices of Opera" contest by East/West ending 5/19!

1st prize is some cash, but 2 runners up will get use of the Voices of Opera Library for one year!
For the contest, the song has to feature Voices of Opera prominently. I created a 4 part motet on the text "Caro Mea", but of course only on vowels, lol!

Right now the leader has 177 votes, but I only have 7, so I really need your help! Every vote counts and will keep me in the top 20 contention! :-)

Then I divided this into sections and created a downtempo R&B/Chillout Hybrid!
Please vote for me here!
link

You can also hear Caro Mea attached to this post!

Thanks for your vote! It should take you less than 30 seconds and would mean the world to me! 

:-)
EP

Please vote for my song "Caro Mea" for the "Voices of Opera" contest by East/West ending 5/19!

1st prize is some cash, but 2 runners up will get use of the Voices of Opera Library for one year!
For the contest, the song has to feature Voices of Opera prominently. I created a 4 part motet on the text "Caro Mea", but of course only on vowels, lol!

Then I divided this into sections and created a downtempo R&B/Chillout Hybrid!
Please vote for me here!
link…/voices-of-opera-demo-contest

You can also hear Caro Mea attached to this post!

Thanks for your vote! It should take you less than 30 seconds and would mean the world to me! 

:-)
EP

Please become a Patron of Erik-Peter Mortensen!
link

Dear friends, fans and supporters! I've just set up a new Patreon site and I’d like thank all of my patrons with this Special Offer, no matter how long you’ve been with me!

A New Year’s Day 2019 Public Shout Out for every Patron on my Facebook Fan and Twitter Pages!

Top 5 reason to become a Patron of Erik-Peter Mortensen:

1. Help me continue to freely share amazing new and increasingly better produced, compelling music with the world!
2. Help me pay collaborating musicians to create new recordings!
3. Help me pay collaborating musicians to create new live performances!
4. Enjoy exclusive music content of increasing volume, complexity, and exclusivity at each higher tier of support
5. Music is a universal language and has the power to calm the savage breast as the saying goes! Help promote world peace through the free distribution of non-violent, uplifting and emotional music that can deeply touch and unite the hearts of many different nations and cultures!

BONUS: The next 40 Patrons to subscribe at any level (starting at $3 monthly) will receive a FREE digital download of my 2018 Album “Venite Adoremus” featuring a cappella and instrumental songs for the seasons of Advent, Christmas, New Year’s and Epiphany in the style of Bach and the High Renaissance!

You can preview the album here: link

Here’s a copy of my electronic press kit: link

Bio

As a 4th generation musician Erik-Peter Mortensen (aka Erik or EP) started singing professionally since the age of 9, first at the Metropolitan & New York City Opera Children's Choruses, and then in many professional choirs through the present (most recently with the Schola of St. Agnes Church, in midtown Manhattan. Having naturally developed a passionate love for Early, Baroque, and Classical music, he wishes to make the beauty of these earlier styles appeal to much wider audiences, either through fusing it with other musical styles, creating new styles, or promulgating it through his own music scoring for films, video games, and other multimedia formats. EP holds a Music link. from Columbia University, NY and a Master Certificate for Orchestration for FIlm and TV from Berklee Music, MA.

While attending St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's High School in New York, he was a bass and founding member of its madrigal ensemble, The Not-Ready-for-Roylaty Singers (NRFRS), and performed in many concert programs and outside performances, developing a particular knowledge and passion for this style of singing. While subsequently enrolled at Columbia University, he founded the New York Madrigal Singers (NYMS) during his junior year. The ensemble performed dozens of times over the next 7 years, producing several CD's worth of recordings, and receiving two favorable reviews by Alan Kozin, music critic of The New York Times.

Also at Columbia, Erik-Peter studied "Renaissance Counterpoint" with David Rakowski, "Advanced Composition" with Jeff Nichols, and "Counterpoint in the style of link. Bach" with Severine Neff. Thus it's no coincidence that since his graduation in 1992 with a link. in music, Cum Laude, much of EP's orchestral and instrumental compositional styles have been greatly influenced by Bach, while his choral works remain greatly influenced by the High Renaissance masters. In 2015, he completed his "Master Certificate for Orchestration for Film & TV" at link, the online extension of Berklee College of Music with a 4.0 GPA.

Not only a performer, composer and conductor, Erik-Peter is also a professional audio engineer, and has created his own production company called "Papagena Productions" (in tribute to one of his favorite Mozart opera characters from "The Magic Flute"), of which "Cathedral Records" is its main independent label. The mission of Cathedral is to produce and release a broad range of old, new and hybrid works with a Classical Music influence.

Musical Style

Representing the experimental (he would call it 'multi-dimensional'!) end of the spectrum, Erik-Peter's masterful compositions, songs and recordings are typified by a hybrid writing style which combines Medieval and Renaissance modal synthesis with Baroque and Classical counterpoint and harmonic language, all suffused with Romantic passion, in order to create pieces of symphonic & sweeping orchestral impact.

If you imagine the epic film scores of composer John Williams, you're on the right track to imagining Erik-Peter's music-- however, to get all the way there, you also need to imagine all of the above becoming fused with bouncy pop, rock, folk, world and dance grooves and traditions.

Erik-Peter, or EP, is equally at home with each of these techniques and styles. His wide-ranging music shows us that he is just as capable of creating a strictly Baroque fugue on subjects as varied as the melodies of 'Mr. Softee' and 'Hey Jude', as he is in combining the varied stylistic elements of rock, Gregorian Chant, and classic Hollywood (with the occasional touch of flamenco guitar) as he has done in some of his more recent creations, such as his popular song 'Hero's Quest' and the film-score worthy 'Dragon Song'.

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the long delay since my last newsletter - this is my 5th newsletter but I'll keep it super brief!

I was trying to release a Christmas Album with my colleague Audrey Fernandez-Fraser but it will have to wait a few more weeks lol! I had hoped to have a newsletter on it, but I'll make the announcement later.

In the meantime, I'm so honored to be the featured artist this week on Reverbnation! If you haven't visited me there in a while (or even if you have) please check out some of my music both new and old and add to your playlist favorites! There are some duplicates there from NM1, but also many other tracks not here yet. :-)

Thanks and much love! :-)

EP

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