Countdown to the Premiere: A New Choral Work Comes to Life

Music connects, uplifts, and transforms—and this season, Continuum Vocal Ensemble is creating something extraordinary. At our 2025–2026 season finale, we will premiere a brand-new choral work by Ed Frazier Davis, our 2025-2026 Continuum Catalyst Composer. Selected from over 45 applicants for his rich, expressive writing and powerful approach to text, Davis is crafting a work that will speak to the heart of our time.

A new commission isn’t just a piece of music—it’s the birth of a story, a gathering of voices, and a moment that becomes part of our shared cultural legacy. When you support this project, you join us on that creative journey, helping ensure this music resonates far beyond its first performance.

Every gift helps us bring this new work to the stage.

Donate today and help shape the future of choral music. 🎶✨

📜 Meet the Composer 🖋️

Ed Frazier Davis is a composer, bass-baritone, and conductor based in Chicago. His music, described as "at once deeply emotional and sublime" (KC Arts Beat), has been commissioned and performed by renowned musicians and institutions including Access Contemporary Music, the Aspen Music Festival, the BBC Singers, The Crossing, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Children's Chorus, and has earned him recognition such as the American Prize and the IL-ACDA Composer Award. Also an active performer, he sings with leading Chicago ensembles and founded Vox Venti, a chorus championing diverse contemporary composers. Click here to read more...

Interview with composer Ed Frazier Davis:

What has been a key moment in your journey as an artist?

—I've had several "key" moments throughout my career, but I think the most special is the very first: In my sophomore year at Knox College, I wrote "Requiem Æternam," the third piece I'd ever written, in memory of my paternal grandfather, and it was not only the first piece of mine ever to be performed, but also the first piece written by a student that Laura Lane (director of choral activities at Knox) had programmed in over a decade. That honor, combined with the immense joy I felt hearing music I wrote sung by actual human voices for the first time, not to mention encouragement from my dad (a conductor) who drove three hours to hear the performance, cemented my desire to become a professional composer.

Where do you find inspiration for creating new works?

—With my choral music, the most basic answer is "the text"—I've always loved seeking out and absorbing compelling, "musical" texts, and in recent years I've especially loved collaborating with living poets—but the real answer is "almost everywhere." Some fun examples include Amtrak horns, the Eagle Nebula, the concept of alternate dimensions, a sunset in rural Iowa, and marrying my partner. The work of which I'm most proud was inspired by the beauty and physical toils of walking the Camino de Santiago. And the best part is that as I get older I find that inspiration comes from even more esoteric and often "mundane" places; a big moment in a large work I'm currently composing is inspired by one of my dogs' incessant barking.

What do you do to recharge/disconnect?

—The video game "Red Dead Redemption 2" is my favorite entertainment product of all time—since its 2018 release I've sunk over 3,000 hours into it. I've never felt a greater sense of immersion and escapism than in its massive, insanely detailed open world, and the only time I've ever cosplayed was as its protagonist Arthur Morgan at C2E2. I could talk about it for hours, but instead I'll wrap up by saying that, outside of video games in general, I recharge by going on walks, playing with my three dogs, going on dates with my partner, and chatting or hanging out with my closest friends and chosen family. And, occasionally, sh***y reality TV—"Love Island" is a guilty pleasure, which I tend to watch more like an anthropological study than anything else...

🎁 Your donation to the 2026 Continuum Catalyst Campaign brings Ed's artistry to life, supports his career, and allows a new work to find its audience!

Continuum Catalyst Campaign 2025-2026

Commission the music of tomorrow!