The Chamber Singers (Geoffrey Boers) and University Chorale (Giselle Wyers) present "River of Time," a program of works by Eric Whitacre, Joni Mitchell, Dale Trumbore, Reena Esmail, and others. With Serena Chin and Amy Boers, piano; and Sarah Rommel, cello.
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Program
Chamber Singers and University Chorale
"River of Time"
Chamber Singers
Geoffrey Boers, director
Both Sides Now: Joni Mitchell (b. 1943), arr. Tyler Kimmel
Premiere Performance. Tyler Kimmel, conductor
Threads of Joy: Dale Trumbore (b. 1987); text by Laura Foley
Anjali Chudasama, conductor
The Sacred Veil: Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
Text by Anthony and Julie Silvestri
I. The Veil Opens
II. In A Dark And Distant Year
III. Home
IV. Magnetic Poetry
V. Whenever There Is Birth
VI. I’m Afraid
VII. I Am Here
VIII. Delicious Times
IX. One Last Breath
X. Dear Friends
XI. You Rise, I Fall
XII. Child of Wonder
University Chorale
Giselle Wyers, director
“O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana: Carl Orff (1895-1982)
Serena Chin and Amy Boers, pianists
By the Waters of Babylon: Philip Hayes (1738-1797)
“Sanctus” from Requiem: Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Meliza Redulla and Jessica Thaxton, violins
Grace Before Sleep: Susan La Barr (1981)
Marshell Lombard, conductor
“The Unexpected Early Hour,” from A Winter Breviary: Reena Esmail (1983)
Justin Birchell, conductor
Let the River Run: Carly Simon (1943), arr. Craig Hella Johnson
A Note from Geoffrey Boers
Good evening and thank you for sharing this concert with us. In some ways, tonight is less “performance,” and more “conversation,” like loved ones sharing deeply about what matters in life. Tonight we will speak honestly about life and all that life brings, and consider how we respond and grow. We begin our conversation together with Both Sides Now and Threads of Joy–two songs which invite us to look at life as a whole, and through that lens we see that, though we are all unique and diverse, we are all the same. Each of us experience life and death, joy and grief, love and loss, work and rest. During this time in history, rife with division, anger, and violence, it is possible that as we consider these more important aspects of life, we can see more clearly that we are sojourners in this life-journey. In looking at life from “both sides,” we might recognize that joy and love truly are the threads that weave life’s events, and each of us, together.What follows these poignant and profound works is Eric Whitacre’s monumental composition The Sacred Veil. Whereas in the prologue we were looking at life as a whole, The Sacred Veil depicts a specific journey of love in all of its iterations–better, worse, richer, poorer, in sickness and health, through death and release. The work’s twelve movements are set to poetry by Eric’s longtime collaborative poet and friend, Charles Anthony “Tony” Silvestri, along with journal writings of Tony’s wife Julie, and Eric himself. The poetry recounts the true story of Charles and his wife meeting, falling in love, wanting a family, her final pregnancy, her diagnosis of cancer during her pregnancy, their child’s birth, and her eventual death. The narrative carries us through self-reflection, the recognition of love, the quiet thoughts of wishing and wanting, the incessant work of pregnancy, the horror of diagnosis, the honor of struggle, the joy in small things, and love expressed at death. Our conversation ends with the movement “Child of Wonder,” which speaks of a healing release of a loved one through the “sacred veil” that separates this life with eternity.—Geoffrey Boers
Texts
Both Sides NowJoni Mitchell (b. 1943), arr. Tyler Todd Kimmel
Heather Halverson, Charlie Dawson, Shalini Pullarkat,
Scott Fikse, and Jaja Reduque, solists
Tyler Todd Kimmel, conductor
Sarah Rommel, cello
Amy Boers, pianoRows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my wayI've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show
And you leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away
I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow
It's love's illusions that I recall
I really don't know love at all
Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say, "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way
Oh, but now old friends they're acting strange
And they shake their heads and they tell me that I've changed
Well something's lost, but something's gained
In living every dayI've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life…
at all
Text by Laura Foley
Anjali Chudasama, conductorI have noticed joy
how it threads below
the darkness.
Have you seen it too?
And have you heard it,
how it speaks
the unspeakable,
the bliss?
A kind of silence, a light
beneath pain.
Have you noticed?
It rises like fingers
and then—look!
it presses through.
CHAMBER SINGERS
Kaelyn Barnes, Everett, WA; BM, Vocal Performance
TENORS UNIVERSITY CHORALESOPRANO TENOR BASS |