This work is a celebration of the gift of life that everyone enjoys. It is presented in eight movements to feature renowned jazz vocalist Kurt Elling with a jazz quartet, orchestra, and soprano/alto voices. With the exception of the 8th movement, which features music only, the remaining music was composed to support selected poems in the public domain; each poem pertains to various phases of a full human life.


Music Composed by Richard DeRosa

Featuring Kurt Elling

Recorded Live on March 11, 2022 Winspear Hall Murchison Performing Arts Center College of Music University of North Texas


UNT STUDIO ORCHESTRA

Conducted by Richard DeRosa

JAZZ QUARTET
Soprano Saxophone - Ian Weidmann
Piano - June Lee
Bass - Guillermó Lopez
Drumset - Colman Burks

WOODWINDS
Flute 1 - Collin Stavinoha
Flute 2 - Sara Denlinger
Flute 3/Piccolo - Natalie Zeles
Oboe 1 - Maxwell Wiethorn
Oboe 2 - Haydee Norris
English Horn - Ha Eun An
Clarinet 1 - David Kriete
Clarinet 2 - Kasey Merriott
Clarinet 3 - Josh Partridge
Bass Clarinet - Jack Lanhardt
Contra Alto Clarinet - Rylan Villarreal
Bassoon - Colin Hilliard

HORNS
Claire Bradley,  Trenton Carr,  Elijah Kee,  Charity Morrison

CELESTA
Yeeun Kim

HARP
Raquel Coleman

STRINGS

VIOLIN 1
Eugen Kim - Concert Master
Clarissa Tamara - Associate Concert Master
Olivia Dinardis,  Ciana Grace,  Charlie Latimer,  Marijn Meijer,  Joseph Reding,  Erika Soveranes,   

VIOLIN 2
Zane Acord,  Jacob Cortez,  Anya Hollingsworth,  Alexa Torres Skillicorn,  Sydney Young

VIOLA
Patrick Hayes,  Haley Kruse,  Alex Moreno,  Lauren Nelson,  Nicolas Valencia

CELLO
Maria Baylock, Nico Clark, Sarah Hart, Ben Katzen, Noah Leiva

BASS
August Bish, Anthony Casolari, Eric Hitt

MALLET PERCUSSION
Thomas Reilly, Destin Wernicke

LATIN PERCUSSION
Güiro - Jeffery Chaidez
Triangle - Isaac LaVigne
Agogo Bells - Aramís Fernandez

SOPRANO VOICES
Savannah Koenig - Soloist
Marianna Baird, Lindsay Day, Nan Wang,  Daniëlla Hart, Abigail Litjens, Katelyn Robinson, Lauren Smith

ALTO VOICES
Olivia Briley, Kira Goidel, Bianca Lopez, Donye Robinson,  Tori Gilchrist, Whitney James, Ipshita Roy, Christiana Schiller


FRONT OF HOUSE ENGINEER
Derek Miller

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Julie Hohman

CAMERA OPERATOR
Austin Martinez

BROADCAST ENGINEER
Ermir Bejo

SCORE READER
Jake Chaffee, Dominic Baylock

MURCHISON EVENTS MANAGER
Destiny Andrews

MURCHISON BUILDING MANAGER
Jordan Batson

STAGE CREW
Patrick Smith, Amanda Gonzalez, Olivia Guerrero, Jake Chaffee

GRAPHIC DESIGN
Gina Soto

VIDEO EDITOR
Austin Martinez

Executive Producer Craig Marshall

Audio Produced by Richard DeRosa

Mixing & Mastering Austin Martinez

© ℗ 2022 Richard DeRosa Music

To learn more about the College of Music, head over to https://music.unt.edu