A Musical Journey

By Music Director Sanford Dole

Our final program of the season, A Musical Journey, completes the Grand Tour we’ve been embarked on all year. A mixed bag of styles and eras, it is designed, in part, to prepare us for our concert tour of Italy this summer. The singers have all commented on what a fun show this is going to be!

We take a final spin around Europe on the first half of the program, with stops in Italy, Germany, Austria, Russia, and France. Then we come home to an all-American second half. Further delineating the two parts, all the European works are sacred, and the American works are all secular until the two closing numbers.

The European section ranges from festive Renaissance works by Giovanni Gabrieli and Palestrina, through the motets “Der Geist hilft” by Bach and “Christus factus est” by Bruckner, and through Russian Orthodox anthems by Bortniansky and Gretchaninoff, on into the twentieth century with Poulenc’s ebullient “Exultate Deo.”

When I said we’re coming home on the second half, I meant that quite literally as all but the very last work are by composers who live here in the Bay Area. We open the half with lovely works by two of our well-known and established composers, Kirke Mechem and David Conte. And we close with arrangements of “Amazing Grace” by Sonoma County resident Doug Bowes and “Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal” by the great Alice Parker.

In between, at the heart of the American half, are three world premieres by up-and-coming East Bay composers Paul Crabtree, Kurt Erickson, and yours truly. I’m proud and excited to present them because fostering new work is an important part of the mission of arts organizations such as ours. I think you’ll find the new pieces to be tuneful, accessible, and engaging. We offer you as well the thrill of meeting the composers, for you will have a chance to speak with them at the concerts.

I must agree with our singers that it’s going to be a really fun program. I highly recommend that you plan on attending on June 7 in Palo Alto or June 8 in Berkeley. If you have friends who are new to choral music or to our group, this concert will be the perfect introduction. Load up the car and bring them all. You’ll have lots to enjoy and share in our musical travels this June.

Volume 11, Issue 4

Baroque Choral Guild, 953 Industrial Ave. Ste 118, Palo Alto CA 94303, 650.424.1410