There is Sweet Music: Choral expressions of comfort and connection 

"There is Sweet Music" – a verse from Tennyson’s lyric poem “The Lotos-Eaters” – extols the power of music to engage, calm, and inspire – perhaps a worthy aspiration as we face the division and uncertainty of our current times. Two choral settings of Tennyson’s verse, by living composers Robert Hobby and Daniel Gawthorp, open the first and second halves of Oriana’s concert; they are followed by beloved folk song settings from the British Isles by Gawthorp, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Alice Parker, and Ēriks Ešenvalds; expressive French songs of Claude Debussy, Camille Saint-Saens, and Francis Poulenc; and universal sacred settings by Heinrich Schütz, Salamone Rossi, Randall Thompson, Charles Villiers Stanford, Williametta Spencer, Ešenvalds, and Rosephanye Powell.

Program

Robert Hobby (1962-) – There is sweet music

Daniel Gawthorp (1949-) – A Gaelic Blessing

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) – The Turtle Dove (arr.)

Alice Parker (1925-2023) – The Girl I Left Behind Me (arr.)

Ēriks Ešenvalds (1977-) – Danny Boy (arr.)

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) – Dieu! Qu’il la fait bon regarder

Camile Saint-Saens (1835-1921) – Les fleurs et les arbres

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) – La belle si nous étions

Williametta Spencer (1927-2026) – At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners

Daniel Gawthorp (1949-) – There is sweet music

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) – Deutsches Magnificat

Salamone Rossi (c.1570-c.1630) – Mizmor shir leyom (Psalm 92)

Randall Thompson (1899-1984) – Felices Ter (Thrice happy they)

Randall Thompson (1899-1984) – Choose Something Like a Star

Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) – Beati quorum via

Ēriks Ešenvalds (1977-) – O salutaris hostia (Eucharist hymn)

Rosephanye Powell (1962-) – The word was God

Rosephanye Powell (1962-) – Non nobis, Domine

(program order and content subject to change)