Richard Rodney Bennett, The seasons of his mercies from “Sermons and Devotions”
Aaron Copland, In the Beginning (featuring Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano)
Sun, moon, and stars
- Samuel Barber, Sure, on this shining night
- Benjamin Britten, The evening primrose
- Johannes Brahms, O schöne Nacht
- R Murray Schafer, Sun
- Gyorgy Ligeti, Esjakka and Reggel
Spring
- Thomas Morley, April is in my mistress’ face
- Claudio Monteverdi, Io mi son giovinetta
- George Gershwin, Sing of Spring
Summer
- Frederick Delius, To be sung of a summer night on the water I
- Anonymous, Sumer is i-cumen in sing-along
- Benjamin Britten, The succession of the four sweet months from Five Flower Songs
Autumn
- Johannes Brahms, Spätherbst
- Jeremiah Ingalls, Harvest Hymn
- Ralph Vaughan Williams, Linden Lea
- Veljo Tormis, Heather from Autumn Landscapes
Winter
- Orlande de Lassus, La nuict froide et sombre
- Morten Lauridsen, How hard the year dies from Mid-winter Songs
- Claude Debussy, Yver, vous n’estes qu’un villain
- Joni Mitchell, River
A New Creation
arr. Shawn Kirchner, Unclouded Day
Edgar Leslie Bainton, And I saw a new heaven
Shawn Kirchner, I’ll be on my way
The magnificent Carmel Bach Festival Chorale, one of the finest professional chorales in the nation, takes the Sunset Center stage for an evening of music inspired by the seasons. “The program is related to Saturday night’s Creation concert,” said Andrew Megill. The music is about the creation story in Genesis, especially the markers of time (sun, moon, and stars, and the seasons of the year). It is a varied program from Medieval secular song (as an audience sing-along!) to Brahms to an avant-garde piece about the sun, with Copland’s choral masterpiece (“In the beginning”) as a centerpiece.”
Mezzo-soprano soloist Meg Bragle joins the Chorale for the Copland.