Read an article about the history of One Fold, One Shepherd.
CJ wrote One Fold, One Shepherd as an undergraduate at Brigham Young University, for a study abroad trip to Vienna, Austria. Although he did not speak German, the work was written entirely in German with the help of a German Book of Mormon, Google Translate, and a local member in Vienna.
The premiere of One Fold, One Shepherd was on May 29, 2016, at a stake center in Vienna. The performers were 20 members of the BYU Study Abroad group. The original version was called Eine Herde und ein Hirte and written completely in German. Song #9, And Tongue Cannot Speak, is the only song that has not undergone any revisions since.
Returning to the United States, CJ received feedback on the work from several key people including Sis. Rosiland Hall, a choral professor at BYU. He then began the arduous process of revising the work, trimming out much content he had worked very hard on, adding some new content, and overall cutting the work down to almost half its original length.
University and mentor for the project, with CJ and his wife
Samm, at the English premiere. (October 2016)
The English premiere of the work was on October 8, 2016, in the Madsen Recital Hall on BYU campus. Students from the BYU School of Music performed the piece to a beyond-capacity crowd of 450. There were so many in attendance that overflow seating had to be opened up in a downstairs theater. One Fold, One Shepherd has since been performed more than seven times by various choirs in the Utah and Salt Lake Valleys, to thousands of audience members.
in the Madsen Recital Hall at BYU. (October 2016)
In 2018, CJ teamed up with the A Voice for Good choir and orchestra and the work was fully orchestrated and performed with it’s new orchestration for the first time that spring.
2019 began a monumental effort to record a professional recording of the work, beginning with the choir and university musicians being recorded in late March. Additional opportunities to record the orchestra with members of the Utah Symphony and Orchestra at Temple Square and with award-winning studio engineers and mixers increased the quality of the recording tremendously.
The first professionally recorded album of the work was released November 23, 2019, and continues to bless more and more hearts the world over.
