Ticket: $20-40 in advance; $25-$45 at the door.
The Dessoff Choirs presents two major twentieth century works that focus on early American music and British folksongs. Gregg Smith’s The Continental Harmonist is based on compositions by early American composer, William Billings. The Sprig of Thyme offers a selection of traditional songs of the British Isles, drawing together long-standing favorites as the Willow Song and The Miller of Dee with lesser known gems as such as The Sprig of Thyme. A set of spirituals arranged by African-American composers Florence Price and Margaret Bonds, performed by maestro Merriweather, complements the program.
| Excerpts from The Continental Harmonist (1978) I. When Jesus Wept II. I Am the Rose of Sharon |
Gregg Smith (1931-2016) |
| Here We Are | Henry Panion, III (b. 1959) |
| Five Spirituals from A Child of our Time I. Steal Away |
Michael Tippett (1905-1998) |
| Va pensiero from Nabucco (1841) | Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) |
| -INTERMISSION- | |
| My Soul’s Been Anchor’d in the Lord | Florence Price (1887-1953) |
| Wintermoon | Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) |
| To A Brown Girl Dead | Margaret Bonds |
| He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands | Margaret Bonds |
| The Sprig of Thyme | John Rutter (b. 1945) |