Radiant Dawn: A Choral Vigil

Collaborator: 
Sat. May 3, 7:30pm at Westwood Lutheran Church, St. Louis Park

Sun. May 4, 3:00pm at Westwood Lutheran Church, St. Louis Park

Singers in Accord and guest conductor Michael McGaghie present "Radiant Dawn," an array of choral works that journey through our daily cycle of light. Modeled after a traditional all-night vigil, the program travels an arc from sunset to sunrise. Vespers repertoire from across the ages will intertwine with nighttime music of wonder and dreams. The performance will feature Dominick Argento's "The Vision," a sumptuous setting of imagery from Dante's "Paradiso." The program will also include moving pieces by Barber, Lauridsen, and Chesnokov, closing with the joy of dawn's radiant arrival as heralded gloriously in the fireworks of J.S. Bach's "Cantata No. 79."

"Vigils have positive connotations for me," says Becky Pansch, SIA singer and music therapist for Fairview Hospice. "I think of them as a time to be attentive to something sacred and reflective to something all of humanity will experience, whether it be the birth of a child, the healing of someone ill, the passing of a loved one or honoring a sacred event."

When purchasing tickets, concertgoers will be invited to give a tribute to a loved one that they have kept or are keeping vigil for. The free-will donations collected from the tributes will directly benefit Fairview Hospice. The tributes will be printed in the concert program and celebrated by the music of the performance.

Concert program:
Thomas Tallis
Te Lucis Ante Terminum
Arvo Pärt
Littlemore Tractus
Pavel Chesnokov
Хвалите имя Господне (Praise the Name of the Lord)
Dominick Argento
The Vision
Samuel Barber
Sure on this Shining Night
Morten Lauridsen
Sure on this Shining Night
James MacMillan
O Radiant Dawn
J.S. Bach
Gott der Herr is Sonn und Schild (1. Coro and 2. Chorale)