Come Together: Songs of Hope and Inspiration
Assabet Valley Mastersingers
Marlborough, MA – The Assabet Valley Mastersingers, directed by Dr. Robert P. Eaton, invite you to experience our “Come Together” spring concert, featuring works by contemporary composers Ola Gjeilo, Elaine Hagenberg, Christopher Tin, and Jake Runestad! The concert will be held on May 3rd at 8pm at 1Lt Charles W Whitcomb Middle School located at 25 Union St, Marlborough, MA 01752.
Two very popular contemporary works, Gjeilo’s “Sunrise Mass” and Elaine Hagenberg’s “Illuminare” will be framed by two shorter works with strong social messages. Christopher Tin’s “Walayo Yamoni,” will begin the program. It is sung in Swahili and is an uplifting setting of a Lango rainmaking prayer. Jake Runestad’s “We Can Mend the Sky” is a poignant setting of poetry by a 14-year-old Somali immigrant that expresses an affirmation of hope. The concert features chorus, soloists, and orchestra.
Featured Soloists:
Mezzo-Soprano: Caitlin Felsman
Tenor: Christon Carney
Ticket Information:
General Admission: $25.00
Senior/Student Price: $20.00
Children under 12 are free with an accompanying adult.
Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.avmsingers.org/events/if-we-come-together. AVM is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Card to Culture program, which grants EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders access to steeply discounted tickets from a variety of arts, humanities, and science organizations across the Commonwealth. Cardholders may order up to four tickets online by applying the promo code MASSCTOC and selecting manual
payment type. The same discounted costs, $5.00 for general or $4.00 for senior/student admission, are payable at the concert for pre-ordered, or onsite-requested CTOC tickets.
AVM is supported in part by grants from the Grafton, Hudson, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Marlborough, and Westborough local cultural councils, which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
About the event
Ola Gjeilo’s “Sunrise Mass” was commissioned in 2007 by Majorstua and Nova Chamber Choirs and premiered by them in 2008 in Oslo, Norway. The text is from the Ordinary of the Mass, but Gjeilo gave English titles to each movement to indicate the spiritual intention of each section and the metaphysical journey from the heavens (Spheres) to the earth (The Ground).
“Illuminare” is Elaine Hagenberg’s first extended work, consisting of five movements for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra. Using lesser-known sacred Latin, Greek, and English texts, the piece takes us through a season of beauty and goodness that has been disrupted by darkness and confusion. But as Light gradually returns, hope is restored, illuminating our future and guiding us in peace.
Jake Runestad composed “We Can Mend the Sky” after receiving over 100 poems from Somali students who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 90s. The poems contained passion, pride, emotion, and vivid stories of the sights and sounds that these young people experienced. Using one of the students’ poems and two Somali proverbs, Runestad’s work is a musical depiction of one’s journey as an immigrant and an affirmation of hope as we all embrace the diversity around us. “Wayolo Yamoni” is the final movement of a larger work by Christopher Tin. It comes from a Sufi concept: in the same way that every drop of water contains the essence of the sea, inside every human is the essence of all of humanity.
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About AVM
AVM, which was founded in 1978 by Artistic Director Dr. Robert P. Eaton, is a regional chorus with performances in Shrewsbury, Westborough, Northborough, Southborough, and Marlborough, Massachusetts. Our mission is dedicated to performance excellence and innovative programming of choral masterworks. Local talented vocalists and instrumentalists perform celebrated choral masterworks, lesser-known masterworks, and commissioned works.
For additional information, please visit www.avmsingers.org or contact Mike Ring at manager@avmsingers.org or 314-495-2258.
Two very popular contemporary works, Gjeilo’s “Sunrise Mass” and Elaine Hagenberg’s “Illuminare” will be framed by two shorter works with strong social messages. Christopher Tin’s “Walayo Yamoni,” will begin the program. It is sung in Swahili and is an uplifting setting of a Lango rainmaking prayer. Jake Runestad’s “We Can Mend the Sky” is a poignant setting of poetry by a 14-year-old Somali immigrant that expresses an affirmation of hope. The concert features chorus, soloists, and orchestra.
Featured Soloists:
Mezzo-Soprano: Caitlin Felsman
Tenor: Christon Carney
Ticket Information:
General Admission: $25.00
Senior/Student Price: $20.00
Children under 12 are free with an accompanying adult.
Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.avmsingers.org/events/if-we-come-together. AVM is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Card to Culture program, which grants EBT, WIC, and ConnectorCare cardholders access to steeply discounted tickets from a variety of arts, humanities, and science organizations across the Commonwealth. Cardholders may order up to four tickets online by applying the promo code MASSCTOC and selecting manual
payment type. The same discounted costs, $5.00 for general or $4.00 for senior/student admission, are payable at the concert for pre-ordered, or onsite-requested CTOC tickets.
AVM is supported in part by grants from the Grafton, Hudson, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Marlborough, and Westborough local cultural councils, which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
About the event
Ola Gjeilo’s “Sunrise Mass” was commissioned in 2007 by Majorstua and Nova Chamber Choirs and premiered by them in 2008 in Oslo, Norway. The text is from the Ordinary of the Mass, but Gjeilo gave English titles to each movement to indicate the spiritual intention of each section and the metaphysical journey from the heavens (Spheres) to the earth (The Ground).
“Illuminare” is Elaine Hagenberg’s first extended work, consisting of five movements for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra. Using lesser-known sacred Latin, Greek, and English texts, the piece takes us through a season of beauty and goodness that has been disrupted by darkness and confusion. But as Light gradually returns, hope is restored, illuminating our future and guiding us in peace.
Jake Runestad composed “We Can Mend the Sky” after receiving over 100 poems from Somali students who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 90s. The poems contained passion, pride, emotion, and vivid stories of the sights and sounds that these young people experienced. Using one of the students’ poems and two Somali proverbs, Runestad’s work is a musical depiction of one’s journey as an immigrant and an affirmation of hope as we all embrace the diversity around us. “Wayolo Yamoni” is the final movement of a larger work by Christopher Tin. It comes from a Sufi concept: in the same way that every drop of water contains the essence of the sea, inside every human is the essence of all of humanity.
###
About AVM
AVM, which was founded in 1978 by Artistic Director Dr. Robert P. Eaton, is a regional chorus with performances in Shrewsbury, Westborough, Northborough, Southborough, and Marlborough, Massachusetts. Our mission is dedicated to performance excellence and innovative programming of choral masterworks. Local talented vocalists and instrumentalists perform celebrated choral masterworks, lesser-known masterworks, and commissioned works.
For additional information, please visit www.avmsingers.org or contact Mike Ring at manager@avmsingers.org or 314-495-2258.
For more information visit
https://www.avmsingers.org/, 8:00 pm
Assabet Valley Mastersingers
P.O. Box 911
Northborough, MA 01532
United States
Type:
Chorus