Joseph P. Fitzmartin is an American composer and arranger. He is one of the founders and the Music Director of the Keystone State Boychoir

Keystone State Boychoir

The Keystone State Boychoir is a boys' choir in Pennsylvania. The group performs a wide range of songs and has sung on all seven continents.-History:Under the direction of Music Director Joseph P. Fitzmartin and Associate Music Director Steven M...

 as well as Choral Director at the William Penn Charter School

William Penn Charter School

William Penn Charter School is an independent school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1689 by William Penn...

 in Philadelphia.

His Concert Mass for symphony

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

 orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

 and choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

, had its world premiere at Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....

 and has since been performed at the Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...

, in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, and in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 by the Novgorod Symphony. Following an international composition competition, he was awarded a grant from the Basel Boys Choir

Basel Boys Choir

The Basel Boys Choir is a Swiss boys' choir based in Basel; it grew out of the Boys' Choir of the Protestant Church of Basel-City, founded by Hermann Ulbrich in 1927. Today the choir is non-denominational. They sing both sacred and secular works...

 of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 to compose a major work for an international celebration of youth choirs. The work featured the German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 text of the poet Hanns Dieter Hüsch

Hanns Dieter Hüsch

Hanns Dieter Hüsch was a German author, cabaret artist, actor, songwriter and radio commentator....

and continues to be performed throughout that country.

Sources

• Keystone State Boychoir Joseph Fitzmartin, Music Director