Composer Notes: 

I first became aware of the pure talent of the Cheng-Gong High School Male Choir when I was initially contacted by their conductor, Nieh Yen-Hsiang, back in 2013. I'm not sure what others think of when they think about high school male voice, but I personally have scaring memories of my voice squeaking at the worst possible moments. Whatever preconceptions you have about the high school male voice, set those aside and listen to a recording of this choir in disbelief. The sound that their conductor is able to achieve easily rivals many collegiate male ensembles. After a quick search of this ensemble, you will also discover that in 2013 they were the winners of the Busan Choral Festival, an international choral competition. 

When I was asked to write a piece for this ensemble's 60th anniversary, I knew that the piece had to show off this choirs virtuosic abilities along with its ability to be lyrical and sensitive. After a short consideration of texts I came across the text, "Gloria" and immediately ideas began to flood my mind. The intro of this piece resembles a fanfare and symbolizes the royalty of God. Soon after, the piece enters an exciting exclamation of the text, "Gloria, glory in excelsis Deo" by the choir with a melody laid over the top and leads into simple and complex mixed meters. The use of 6/8 and 4/4 represents a few things in my eyes. First of all, the combination of three and two represents humanity and God coming together. Lastly, 6/8 represents the dance and celebration of the word, "Gloria." 

The composition eventually comes to a dramatic and lyrical portion representing peace and comfort. In this portion I wanted to capture the feeling of the Holy Spirit instilling peace into one's soul. I also wanted to capture the image of light. Primarily, I tried to obtain these images in measures 61 - 68 with the us of the piano and the building of the word, "peace," in the choral lines. 

When I think of the word peace, I think of becoming whole with one's self and well rounded. To capture this I only saw one possibility, to make this piece a sort of palindrome in structure with the piece being similar forward and backward. 

• Fanfare
• A section
• B section (peace)
• A' prime section
• Fanfare

Often times I feel as if we as humans lose our balance. We forget who we are due to influences around us. It is important to step back once and a while, mediate on the good in your life and be thankful for those blessings. Think of the path you have taken and where the bath could possibly take you.

-Zachary J. Moore