Fall, 2024
Our Fall, 2024 concert is all about finding your way in the wilderness, spiritually, mentally as well as physically. We start the concert with Stephen Paulus’s beautiful work, “The Road Home,” based on the southern folk tune, PROSPECT. From there, we move to the idea that a person’s faith and religious practice is often a companion on a wilderness journey. We are excited to be giving the West Virginia premiere of “Missa Brevis San Marco” by Franco Prinsloo, a South African composer. The mass was composed for the Vox Chamber Choir for a performance in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy in 2019. Other religious works in the concert include “Os Justi” by Anton Bruckner, and the great hymn of faith, the “Te Deum in Bb” by British composer, Charles Villers Stanford.
The second half opens with the piece that inspired this concert’s theme, a work by Tom Trenney entitled, “I Will Make a Way!” Other selections in the 2nd half of the concert include a challenging vocal jazz arrangement of the spirituel, “Poor Wayfaring Stranger” by Alexander Lloyd Blake, “Measure Me Sky” by the popular composer, Elaine Hagenberg, and the beautiful setting of the folk song, “Shenandoah,” by James Erb. The concert will conclude with the Randall Thompson setting of Robert Frost’s poem entitled, “The Road Not Taken,” and the powerful and energetic work, “Sweet Rivers,” by Shawn Kirchner. A prepared encore is entitled “Deep Peace,” by the Canadian composer, Bill Douglas.
It is a wonderful and challenging program! We hope to see you on November 16, 7:00pm at Christ Church in Charleston, WV.