The SLU Choral Society & Orchestra and the Laurentian Singers present their concert “What Only Light Can Do.”
Their program explores how darkness and light are used as metaphors for such human dichotomies as hate and love, ignorance and wisdom, or war and peace. We’ll perform two works for chorus and chamber orchestra, both written by contemporary, award-winning choral composers: Elaine Hagenberg’sIlluminare (2022), and Jake Runestad’s Into the Light (2017). Illuminare, Hagenberg’s first extended work, consists of five movements using lesser-known sacred Latin, Greek, and English texts. Of it she writes, “The piece takes us through a season of beauty and goodness that has been disrupted by darkness and confusion, but one that sees hope restored as light gradually returns, illuminating our future and guiding us in peace.” Runestad’s Into the Light was inspired by Michael Kinnamon’s book The Witness of Religion in an Age of Fear and was composed to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation as a pivotal event in the history of Western culture. Using texts that immerse us in the wisdom of some of history’s most important and influential reformers, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Helen Keller, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, Runestad’s work grapples with the question of what reforming today’s world might require, challenging us to consider how we can move beyond fear and onto a path of love, compassion, and kindness. We’ll precede these works with Will Todd’s The Call of Wisdom for choir and organ, based on text from the Book of Proverbs and commissioned in 2012 by St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
The Laurentian Singers’ repertoire is similarly themed.
The event is free, open to the public, and in-person, with live streaming. Watch the Livestream.