The Coolidge Corner Community Chorus, in cooperation with the Coolidge Corner Theatre, proudly presents an important music documentary on the life of composer Morten Lauridsen.

Morten Johannes Lauridsen (born February 27, 1943) is an American composer. A National Medal of Arts recipient (2007), he was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale (1994–2001) and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 40 years.

In 2006, Lauridsen was named an ‘American Choral Master’ by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2007 he received the National Medal of Arts from the President in a White House ceremony, “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide.”

Referring to Lauridsen’s sacred music, the musicologist and conductor Nick Strimple said he was “the only American composer in history who can be called a mystic, (whose) probing, serene work contains an elusive and indefinable ingredient which leaves the impression that all the questions have been answered. From 1993 Lauridsen’s music rapidly increased in international popularity, and by century’s end he had eclipsed Randall Thompson as the most frequently performed American choral composer.”

The documentary on this composer, Shining Night: A Portrait of Composer Morten Lauridsen,, was named ‘a heartening rarity’ by Terry Teachout of the Wall Street Journal. Directed by Michael Stillwater and co-produced with Doris Laesser Stillwater for Song Without Borders, Shining Night provides audiences worldwide with a rare glimpse into the inner world of the composer.

This documentary will be offered at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on May 10, 2016; the composer’s masterwork, Lux Aeterna, will be presented by the Coolidge Corner Community Chorus on June 4th at All Saint’s Church, Brookline.

Tickets available at www.coolidge.org/ or at the box office.