
September 9, 2023
Just under a month now from Oct 7th -the concert of my music entitled, Why Do We Still Gather? I thought I’d share a bit about the opening of the program you’ll be hearing.
The evening begins with a set of 5 songs entitled, “Prophets and Prophecies”. A quartet of women and a trio of young voices steer us through the cycle and show us that prophets have always been important to our making sense of the world. Prophets shape our understanding of what’s to come, rouse us from the many ways we fall asleep, knock us on the side of the head when we refuse to change. The prophet’s voice is entreating, sometimes disguised, whispering to our deepest internal parts - an elemental force we need today.
The poems I’ve set to music for this song cycle include:
Dana Gioia’s Prophecy. I delight in this glorious text and use it to wrap its arms around the other songs, starting and ending the journey with four part a cappella singing.
William Blake, as both sacred and secular prophet, weighs in with The Lamb (all light, wonder and wisdom) and London (scowling at the newly industrialized city). Marie Howe’s Annunciation and Jane Hirschfield’s Let Them Not Say make it clear that the role of prophet has surely fallen to our poets of yesterday and today.
Come join us. It’s gonna be a swell evening.
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