Choir School alumnus' orchestral piece to premiere at the Kennedy Center

Friday, Jan. 16, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Matthew Yost’s orchestral fanfare Ut Sol, Ut Luna was selected as the winner of the Catholic University of America’s 50th Anniversary competition. The piece will be premiered by the CUA’s symphony orchestra as the concert opener at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on April 12. 

Yost, a 2007 graduate of the Madeleine Choir School, is a senior at CUA studying music composition.

The CUA Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, established in 1965, sponsored the blind-juried competition which had two categories: The fanfare competition and a competition for the 14 Stations of the Cross; Yost had a piece chosen in this category as well. 

The competitions were open to all CUA students and alumni. 

“The lure for the competition was the cash prize of $1,000, but more importantly that the selected piece would be played in the Kennedy Center,” Yost said. “I started writing the piece in the summer and finished it last semester.”

For the competition, the fanfare orchestral piece was required to be between five and 10 minutes; Yost’s composition is eight minutes, 30 seconds, and is written for a full symphony. The title is Latin for like the sun, like the moon. Its three-part narrative begins chaotic and turbulent “with a flustering about and a longing to go somewhere but never quite achieving it,” Yost said. “It’s fast with intense emotions; when the piece seems like it will be resolved, it fades away into the second section, which is splashy and light. That is where I was able to combine instruments in interesting ways.

“Out of that comes a large brassy, noble theme that is joyful and triumphant, which carries through to the end of the second section,” Yost said. “The music from the first section then comes back and joins the theme and they play off each other until there is a final resolution. The goal was to draw something noble and triumphant out of something chaotic.”

In the competition for the Stations of the Cross, Yost wrote a 90-second piece for the 14th Station. His piece was written for a string quartet, which, along with the others, will be played by CUA students Feb. 20 at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Md.

“The 14th Station, when Christ is laid in the tomb, deals with the agony and the confusion, but also hope; the story does not end there, the resurrection comes,” Yost said. “It was quite a challenge.”

Yost’s passion has always been liturgical music, he said.

He graduated from West High School in 2011, and while there, he sang with the Cathedral of the Madeleine choir. 

At CUA, he is combining his music composition major with a minor in economics. He chose to attend CUA because it paralleled his education at the Choir School, he said. 

“It gives me an intensive musical education, an ability to explore other things and I have a rich spiritual life there,” he said. 

The Choir School was Yost’s introduction to music, he said. “While it afforded me a strong music education, it also taught me the importance of an attention to detail and a rigorous attitude toward learning. We studied music history and music theory, but more importantly, I received a top-notch theological education.” 

“Matthew Yost was a very dedicated young chorister and musician in the Choir School who took his formation and service at the Cathedral Church very seriously,” said Gregory Glenn, The Cathedral of the Madeleine Liturgy and Music director and pastoral administrator of The Madeleine Choir School. “He continues to assist with the Cathedral’s music and liturgy whenever he is at home. All of us on the Cathedral and Choir School staff take great joy in his recent selection as the winning composer for a competition celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Catholic University’s School of Music. We hope this talented young man’s premiere at the Kennedy Center will be the first of many great musical successes. Knowing Matthew and his great heart for service to the Church, this is only the beginning of many years of dedicated ministry.”