• for a cappella choir and rapper on a text by Elangovan after a sufi saying by Haidar Ansari

• Duration: 6'
• In 1 movement
• Composed in 2015
• Commissioned by SYC Ensemble Singers
• First performance: 08.08.15 SYC Ensemble Singers conducted by Jennifer Tham Victoria Concert Hall, Singapore
• ISMN 979-0-9016526-1-3
• Parts: pl email <rc@robertcasteels.com>

shadow catcher opus 52 no. 1 for double chorus a cappella and rapper is based on a text by Singaporean playwright Elangovan after the following sufi saying by Haidar Ansari: “a voice told me last night: there is no such thing as a voice whispering in the night”. Casteels wanted to challenge the undeserved image of choir being conservative by superimposing a rapper voice on an a cappella choir. shadow catcher is challenging for the conductor, because he must synchronize two choirs whilst following the rapid verbal flow of the rapper. The rapper stands in the middle of the stage with each choir positioned on his left and right side. Choir 1 is divided into 20 different voices choir 2 into 18. The score includes directions for stage and body language. Singers use body percussion, which means that sound is made by using parts of the human body, in this case finger snap, hand clap and stomp. At the very end, all singers raise dramatically their arms and point to the audience, as they sing the last words a voice whispers to you!. The composition includes whole-tone scales and tonal chords. Casteels conducted the premiere in 2004 in Singapore’s Esplanade Concert Hall with rapper Sheik Haikel.

Shadowcatcher opus 52 No. 2 was commissioned and premiered by the SYC Ensemble Singers conducted by Jennifer Tham in 2015 during a Singapore Choral Festival Celebration concert entitled 50 Songs for Singapore in celebration of Singapore's Golden Jubilee. The first iteration of the work, opus 52 no. 1, was commissioned by the Anglo-Chinese Junior College Alumni Choir in 2003. The structure of both works is similar: rap 1, chorus A, rap 2, chorus B, rap 3, chorus 3 and coda. Choruses A, B and C are built on the same structure albeit in stretto. In opus 42 no. 1 the musical texture was divided into 38 vocal parts whereas in opus 52 no. 2 the division is reduced to a more practical SSAATTBB setting. The body percussion is enlarged to consist of tongue clicking, finger clicking, thigh patting and foot stomping. Foot stampings and thigh slaps are colotomic. The limits of perception and cognition are offered up as a kind of emancipation. The shape-shifting whole tome scales, body percussion and the incorporation of sign language attempt to reconfigure the image of choral music as one attempts to engage with the fractured experiences that constitute modern life.