Wellspring Ensemble

Congratulations to Soren Stavnicky

Wellspring Ensemble is proud to congratulate Soren Stavnicky, one of the winners of our Choral Composition Competition.

A Cleveland-born, Seattle-based composer and sound designer, Soren is passionate about music's ability to tell stories. His musical voice draws from a wide range of influences, blending classical traditions with elements of electronic, synth, pop, and jazz music.

Soren began his collegiate studies in composition at Cleveland State University, where he developed original works in collaboration with notable Cleveland-area ensembles including the Cleveland Chamber Choir, the Cavani String Quartet, and the NO EXIT New Music Ensemble. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Sound Design at DigiPen Institute of Technology, where he combines composition, orchestration, sound design, audio engineering, and programming within a collaborative game-development environment.

Most recently, Soren served as composer, sound designer, and audio lead for the student game project Pawlarity and conducted the world premiere of his choral work Twilight with the DigiPen Institute of Technology Chamber Singers.

We are honored to celebrate Soren's achievement and excited to support the continued development of his artistic voice. Congratulations, Soren, on this outstanding accomplishment!

Congratulations to Danny Vizenor

Wellspring Ensemble is pleased to congratulate Danny Vizenor, one of the winners of our Choral Composition Competition.

Danny is currently a student in the University of Washington music theory program and has a rich background in choral performance. They have sung with numerous respected ensembles, including the Seattle Girls' Choir under Jacob Winkler, the Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy under Dr. Anton Armstrong, the University Unitarian Church Choir under Karen P. Thomas, and the University of Washington Chorale under Dr. Giselle Wyers.

In addition to performing, Danny has composed a TTB arrangement for the UW Glee Club and created several piano arrangements and original works. Their winning submission marks an exciting milestone as their first original choral composition.

We are thrilled to recognize Danny's talent and creativity and look forward to seeing their continued growth as a composer. Congratulations, Danny, on this well-deserved honor!

Wellspring Ensemble is delighted to announce the winners of our Choral Composition Competition: Danny Vizenor for Rivers Know This and Soren Stavnicky for Twilight.

This year's competition showcased an inspiring collection of new choral works from emerging composers. After thoughtful consideration by our adjudicators, Rivers Know Best and Twilight were selected for their artistry, originality, and compelling musical voices.

Danny Vizenor, a student in the University of Washington music theory program, brings extensive experience as a choral singer and arranger. Their winning work, Rivers Know Best, marks an exciting milestone as their first original choral composition.

Soren Stavnicky is a Cleveland-born, Seattle-based composer and sound designer whose music blends classical traditions with influences from electronic, synth, pop, and jazz styles. His winning composition, Twilight, was recently premiered under his direction by the DigiPen Institute of Technology Chamber Singers.

Wellspring Ensemble is honored to support and celebrate new voices in choral music. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Danny and Soren on this achievement and look forward to sharing their remarkable works with our community.

Please join us in congratulating these talented composers and celebrating the future of choral music.

As we close the chapter on What Remains, we want to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who joined us for this unforgettable concert experience.

To our audiences, thank you for sharing in a program that reflected on our connection to one another and to the world around us. Through music centered on care for our planet, humanity, and the things we leave behind, this concert invited all of us to pause and reflect together. It was an incredible honor to share the premiere of Daniel Schreiner’s What Remains with you and experience those moments together for the very first time.

Thank you to our singers, artistic team, instrumentalists, volunteers, donors, patrons, friends, and family members who helped bring this program to life. Special shoutout to the students participating in Wellspring Ensemble’s 2nd annual High School Invitational and Shoreline Community College! Every rehearsal, conversation, moment backstage, shared ride, encouraging word, and standing ovation became part of this experience.

We are especially grateful to those who continue to support Wellspring Ensemble season after season. Your belief in our mission allows us to create meaningful musical experiences and foster community through choral music.

Thank you for being part of What Remains. The music may fade, but the connections and memories created together remain with us always. ❤️

We’ll be sharing additional highlights from the concerts this week!

✨ KNOW BEFORE YOU GO ✨
What Remains — presented by Wellspring Ensemble

This weekend, Wellspring Ensemble presents an unforgettable concert experience featuring:
🎶 Wellspring’s High School Invitational Choir
🎶 Shoreline Community College Choir
🎶 Wellspring Ensemble
🎶 The world premiere of Daniel Schreiner’s What Remains for choir, piano, and strings

📍 SATURDAY, MAY 16 | 7 PM
Bothell United Methodist Church
18515 92nd Ave NE, Bothell, WA 98011
A beautiful new venue with stunning stained glass, nearby restaurants, and plenty of parking!

📍 SUNDAY, MAY 17 | 4 PM
Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church
7500 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103
Join us for an afternoon matinee in our home venue.

Through music exploring humanity’s relationship with the Earth, this program invites listeners into reflection, challenge, comfort, and hope.

🎟 TICKET INFO
💸 Use code WE5 to save $5 on advance tickets
🎓 Use code COLLEGE for 50% off with student ID
✨ Students 18 & under attend FREE with advance reservation

Don’t miss this powerful world premiere and collaboration featuring talented singers from across the greater Seattle area.

🎟 Tickets + info:
https://www.wellspringensemble.org/event

What remains after we’ve already changed the world around us?

In his new work What Remains, composer Daniel Schreiner doesn’t offer easy answers about climate change, loss, or humanity’s relationship with the earth. Instead, the piece invites us into something more difficult... reflection.

The work moves through four emotional landscapes:
🌿 the beauty of the natural world before harm
🔥 the violence of human impact
🌫 the stillness and grief that follows
✨ and finally, the question of how we begin again

Again and again, musical themes return like memories — altered, fractured, but still present. The piece reminds us that while beauty still remains, so too does damage that cannot be undone.

One of the final lines asks:

“We begin again: not to own, but to tend.”

At the heart of Wellspring Ensemble’s upcoming concert, What Remains is less about solving a crisis and more about honestly sitting with it, together.

Join us this weekend for a powerful evening of music featuring special guest artists, Shoreline Community College Choir, and Wellspring’s High School Invitational Ensemble, highlighting talented student singers from across the greater Seattle area.

🎟 Students attend FREE
💸 $5 off tickets with code WE5 through Friday at midnight

📍 Saturday, May 16 | 7 PM — Bothell United Methodist Church
📍 Sunday, May 17 | 4 PM — Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church

🎟 Tickets + info:
https://www.wellspringensemble.org/event

🎟 Don’t miss What Remains — get your tickets today!

Wellspring Ensemble invites you to an unforgettable evening of choral music that is both moving and deeply meaningful. This special concert features guest artists, the Shoreline Community College Choir, and Wellspring’s High School Invitational Ensemble, showcasing outstanding student singers from across the greater Seattle area.

✨ Students attend FREE
💸 Get $5 off with code WE5 (available through Friday at midnight!)

Come support these incredible musicians and experience a program centered on reflection, connection, and the power of community through music.

🗓 Saturday, May 16 | 7 PM — Bothell United Methodist Church
🗓 Sunday, May 17 | 4 PM — Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church

🎟 Secure your seats now:
https://www.wellspringensemble.org/event

Be part of an evening that will stay with you long after the final note. ✨

Nox (Latin for Night), composed by Elaine Hagenberg, is a setting of two ancient Latin texts from the Catholic tradition. It is also the middle of five movements in Hagenberg's Illuminare and the opening piece to Wellspring Ensemble's concert, What Remains.

The first text in Nox is Kyrie Eleison, an invocation of God's mercy, which begins a traditional Latin mass. Traditionally, the invocation is done in nine phrases: God have mercy three times, Christ have mercy three times, then God have mercy three more times. This invocation is brought hurriedly and urgently by the treble voices: Lord, Lord Lord have mercy. Christ Christ Christ have mercy. Their voices are interrupted by violence brought by the piano and percussion. Is it thunder? War? We are abruptly thrust in into the darkness of night.

Sung as a Wednesday morning hymn, Nox et Tenebrae (night and darkness) is the second text. Written in the 5th century by Aurelius Prudentius Clemens, the text is an uplifting one:

Ye clouds and darkness, hosts of night
That breed confusion and affright,
Begone! o'erhead the dawn shines clear,
The light breaks in and Christ is here.

Earth's gloom flees broken and dispersed,
By the sun's piercing shafts coerced:
The daystar's eyes rain influence bright
And colours glimmer back to sight.

But Hagenberg chooses to set only thirteen words of this text, bringing us squarely into night and darkness, confusion, turbulence, and violence. Her setting reads in English:

Night and darkness,
Night, darkness and fog
Confused world and turmoil
Dark gloom tears the earth
The darkness beats and stabs the sun
Night and darkness
Night

I might suggest that it's not the earth, nor the darkness that beats and stabs the sun - but the confused and turbid minds of humanity. And so we begin our concert: confused human minds and hearts violently blotting out the beauty, light, and cleansing of the sun. Where can we go from here? A fitting question for our time, and it appears, time immemorial.

Guest Writer: Brian Gillespie