Music from ‘Considering Matthew Shepard’ by Texas State professor and Conspirare director performed at National Cathedral ceremony Oct. 26

Inside TXST

Julie Cooper | October 26, 2018

On the final leg of the 2018 national tour for “Considering Matthew Shepard” — a three-part oratorio performed by the choral group Conspirare — news broke this month that the family of Shepard, the victim of a 1998 hate crime, was going to celebrate his life and interment at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

“We were on the bus and read an article at the New York Times site,” says Dr. Craig Hella Johnson, Texas State School of Music artist in residence and professor of practice. “About two hours later I had a phone call from the National Cathedral.  [They said] ‘We have received inquiries as to whether Conspirare would be singing for the service.'”   

Conspirare will perform selections from “Considering Matthew Shepard” during the service, which began at 10 a.m. on Oct. 26, and a suite of movements from the work as part of a postlude concert. 

In addition to the composer and group’s director Johnson on piano, instrumentalists included Texas State faculty members Ames Asbell and Vanguel Tangarov. The choral group of 32 singers also included Texas State graduate students. Johnson says that this is the first time they will sing at the Cathedral. The service was live-streamed at https://cathedral.org/matthewShepard.

Texas State was among the first universities to perform the piece in spring 2017.  “Considering Matthew Shepard” was also nominated for a Grammy in 2017.     
“To be asked to sing at Washington National Cathedral is, for any occasion, a momentous invitation. To be invited by the Cathedral for this particular moment— this final laying to rest of Matthew’s ashes— is a matter of the deepest and most meaningful significance, Johnson says. 

Conspirare’s appearance in Washington, D.C., comes on the heels of a seven-city national tour that began in Laramie, Wyoming, 20 years to the day Shepard was brutally beaten. A nationally distributed special co-produced by KLRU, PBS-Austin and Conspirare featuring performance and documentary footage is airing nationally.