The Chamber Singers (Geoffrey Boers, director) and University Chorale (Giselle Wyers, director) present "Blue Planet," a program of works demonstrating multiple cultures through crossover genre, syncretic styles, and the African diaspora in the United States. With special guest Professor Marc Seales, piano.
Program
University Chorale
Scott Fikse, Nicholas Renaud, Helen Woodruff, conductors
Serena Chin, collaborative pianist
Portones Abiertos y Rostros Brilliantes - Paul Basler (b. 1963)
Ka Wai 'Apo Lani - Queen Liliʻuokalani (1838-1917) arr. Dorothy K Gillett
Juniper Blessing, soloist; Quinn Ewing, Maya Shah, Caleb Strader, Danny Vizenor, vocal quartet
To the Hands - Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)
I. Prelude
II. In Medio (in the midst)
IV. ever ever ever
V. Litany of the Displaced
VI. I will hold you
Katelyn Wales, Sofia Groff, Sophie Root, Quinn Ewing, Jessica Thaxton, Haley Westberg, Caleb Strader, Michael Lim, Jack Hawley, Andrew Hoch, soloists; Luis Nenninger, Caroline Faflak, violins; Eddie Nicholson, viola; Erika Fiebig, cello; Attila Kiss, bass
TaReKiTa - Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One - Healey Willan (1880-1968)
Three Shakespeare Songs -Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
II. The Cloud-Capp’d Towers
Les Voyageurs de la Gatineau - French Canadian Folk Song. arr. Jennifer McMillan
Jessica Thaxton, violin
Chamber Singers
Dr. Geoffrey Boers, Conductor
Clara Johnson, Michael McKenzie, Evan Norberg, Assistant Conductors
Serena Chin, Collaborative Pianist
And Special Guest: Marc Seales, Piano
As the Day Goes: Waking Up and Awakening!
So Breaks the Sun - Shavon Lloyd (b. 1997)
Michael McKenzie, conductor
The Waking - Giselle Wyers (b. 1969)
Serena Chin, piano
This Day, O Soul Jake Houser
Ophelia Songs - Evan Ingalls
Clara Johnson, conductor; Serena Chin, piano
________
Spirituals and Jazz Settings
With Marc Seales, piano; Don Tran, bass; Toby Miller, drums
Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord - trad. Spiritual, arr. Undine Moore (1904-1989)
Inside a Silent Tear - arr. Dave Barduhn
Evan Norberg, conductor
A Prayer (a cappella) - Ken Burton (b. 1970)
His Eye is On the Sparrow - Martin/Gabriel, arr. Zanaida Stewart Robles
Soon Its Gonna Rain - Schmidt/Jones, arr. Dave Barduhn
Lyrics and Translations
Portones Abiertos y Rostros Brilliantes
Open Gates and Glowing Faces
Of course I am happy,
Wouldn’t you be? When I look
At open gates and see a garden full of life,
Of good health and smiles of glowing
Faces … it ignites my spirit
I have never been more excited to be
Alive
And in the radiance of peace that grows, I
Know that when I
Surrender to sleep and the ocean of night
Cradles my dreams,
I can only be in one state of being…
Completely open…
—Gabriel Navar
Ka Wai 'Apo Lani
Royal and Sacred Taro-Leaf-Caught Raindrops
1. Reminiscent of being in the presence of a body of water
the heavy presence of royal and sacred taro-leaf-caught raindrops,
The eighth of the rulers is the fiery taro leaf sacrifice,
The leaping flames, the ruling glow of the land.
CHORUS
When compassion comes,
There will be full approval
From Kane's pool of sacred waters, The foundation, the root of the land.
2. It possesses and brings chiefly deportment with her majesty,
The precious crescent lei,
My subjects find relief in the many offerings
given from the heart,
Together with those of my own ancestry.
3. Words come like a pressing needle,
Don't shy away from your subjects,
While you have this responsibility,
While you feel so strongly about this.
Translation, Hui Hanai
To the Hands
II. In Medio
In the Midst
what are those wounds
what are those wounds in the midst of your hands
in the midst
what are those wounds
what are those wounds in the midst of our hands
Les Voyageurs de la Gatineau
The Travelers on the Gatineau
We set off for a canoe trip on the Gatineau
More often on foot and the load on our backs
There, we thought of our youth that we had spent so badly
Running in the inns, spending our money
When we reached these shores, from lake to lake to the camp
It is here that we are destined to build, my dear children
To build a cabin what we call a camp
A camp but of spruce, round wood not square
Let everyone take their place, here is where we will sleep
We will sleep on the bed of branches that we will gather
Put branches a hundred times, but branches of fir
And to be more comfortable, the largest under the back
Ah! if I ever return to the country where I come from
I will make a man of myself and not a good-for-nothing
I will leave the cabin in these distant woods
I will take care of my wife without running into the camps
I will leave the cabin in these distant woods
I will take care of my wife without running into the camps
So Breaks the Sun: Ben Johnson
So breaks the sun earth's rugged chains,
Wherein rude winter bound her veins;
So grows both stream and source of price,
That lately fettered were with ice.
So naked trees get crisped heads,
And colored coats the roughest meads,
And all get vigor, youth, and spright,
That are but looked on by his light.
The Waking: Theodore Roethke
I strolled across
An open field;
The sun was out;
Heat was happy.
This way! This way!
The wren’s throat shimmered,
Either to other,
The blossoms sang.
The stones sang,
The little ones did,
And the flowers jumped
Like small goats.
A ragged fringe
Of daisys waved;
I wasn’t alone
In a grove of apples.
Far in the wood
A nestling sighed;
The dew loosened
Its morning smells.
I came where the river
Ran over stones:
My ears knew
An early joy.
And all the waters
Of all the streams
Sang in my veins
That summer day.
This Day, O Soul: Walt Whitman
This day, O soul, I give you a wondrous mirror;
Long in the dark, in tarnish and cloud it lay - But the cloud
has pass'd, and the tarnish gone;
. . . Behold, O soul! it is now a clean and bright mirror,
Faithfully showing you all the things of the world.
Ophelia Songs: William Shakespeare
How should I your true love know From another one?
By his cockle hat and staff, And his sandal shoon.
He is dead and gone, lady, He is dead and gone;
At his head a grass-green turf, At his heels a stone.
They bore him barefac'd on the bier;
And on his grave rain many a tear,—
Fare you well, my dove!
You must sing, Down-a-down, call him a-down-a.
To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, All in the morning betime,
And I, a maid at your window, To be your Valentine!
And will he not come again? And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead,
Gone to his death-bed,
He never will come again. His beard was white as snow, All flaxen was his poll:
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan: Heaven 'a mercy on his soul!
Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord
Oh, the king cried,
Oh, Daniel, Daniel, oh!
A-that-a Hebrew Daniel,
Daniel, Daniel, oh!
Oh, Daniel, Daniel,
Servant of the Lord!
Among the Hebrew nation,
One Hebrew Daniel was found
They put him in the lion's den
He stayed there all night long.
Now the King in his sleep was troubled
And early in the morning he rose
To find God sent His angels down
To Lock the Lion's jaws.
Oh, the king cried,
Oh, Daniel, Daniel, oh!
Servant of the Lord
Inside a Silent Tear
Inside a silent tear, I have a silent dream
That sometimes sails across the patterns of my mind
The silence follows me and dreams just disappear
And then I find myself inside a silent tear
Sometimes I laugh too much
To lose the loneliness
I'm not the laughing kind
I can't say anything I really want to say
I guess I try so hard I stumble on the way
I'm always finding love when it's not meant to be
What is reality and can it be defined?
When you're a fool likе me it's never rеally clear
So you have silent dreams inside a silent tear
I'm always finding love when it's not meant to be
What is reality and can it be defined?
When you're a fool like me it's never really clear
So you have silent dreams inside a silent tear
A Prayer: Paul Laurence Dunbar
O Lord, the hard-won miles
Have worn my stumbling feet:
Oh, soothe me with thy smiles,
And make my life complete.
The thorns were thick and keen
Where’er I trembling trod;
The way was long between
My wounded feet and God.
Where healing waters flow
Do thou my footsteps lead.
My heart is aching so;
Thy gracious balm I need.
His Eye is on the Sparrow: Civilla D. Martin
“Let not your heart be troubled.”
His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness,
I lose my doubt and fear.
Though by the path He leadeth,
But one step I may see:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart be lonely
And long for heav’n and home,
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant Friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
I sing because I’m happy—
I sing because I’m free—
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
Soon Its Gonna Rain
Soon it's gonna rain
I can see it
Soon it's gonna rain
i can tell
Soon it's gonna rain
What are we gonna do
Soon it's gonna rain
I can feel it
Soon it's gonna rain
I can tell
Soon it's gonna rain
What'll we do with you
We'll find
Four limbs of a tree
We'll build
Four walls and a floor
We'll bind
It over with leaves
And duck inside to stay
Then we'll let it rain
We'll not feel it
Then we'll let it rain
Rain pell mell
Then we'll not complain
If it never stops at all
We'll live and love
Within our own four walls
We'll find
Four limbs of a tree
We'll build
Four walls and a floor
We'll bind
It over with leaves
And duck inside to stay
Then we'll let it rain
We'll not feel it
Then we'll let it rain
Rain pell mell
Then we'll not complain
If it never stops at all
We'll live and love
Within our own four walls