A post from our Artistic Director, Jennifer Rodgers
Text and Song – isn’t that a bit general for a choral concert? I mean, doesn’t every chorus present texts as songs? Well, yes. But we’re talking about the ultimate marriage of these two fundamental components. When a writer is inspired to put words down on paper, when a composer feels such conviction for a musical thought that the manuscript paper comes out – what are they trying to do if not describe a moment of life as exquisitely as they possibly can?
We experience huge moments in our lives – of joy, grief, mystery, anguish, hope and love – and we try to capture them so that we can live the experience again and again. Henry David Thoreau says, ” I want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.” We do this by telling the stories, writing poetry and novels and memoirs, taking photographs, painting and sculpting. And often, we underscore these moments with music.
How many moments in your life have been accompanied by music that just precisely said what you needed. How many times does it seem like we get messages through music when we most (or least!) want to hear them. Love songs on a radio when you are falling in love…love songs on the radio when you are falling out of love. A Bach Chorale in a soaring cathedral that could not be more sublime. A song that makes you weep when you have not been able to.
When I come upon a text that so perfectly painted in the music, there is nothing more inspirational. Every piece in this program has been chosen because, in my mind, it is the perfect pairing of text and song. The music is utterly and completely inspired by the text that is being set and the text reaches dimensions that were unattainable before.
We will soar through those deepest of human emotions – grief to hope, joy to sorrow, isolation to complete love and connection – sometimes in a single piece!
This concert has been long in the making and you won’t want to miss it! Come with your whole heart and immerse yourself with us in these magical creations that come as close as possible to describing what it’s like to live our human lives.
We sing Text and Sound: When The Music Paints A Thousand Words at 7:30 pm, Saturday, March 21, 2015. Tickets are now on sale online or through choir members.