metropolitan choral festival

2025 Program Order

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Directed by Ricki Vorrath-Moyer

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Welcome, Margaux Askeland EVP, Alpine Bank 

 

Agnus Dei, by Samuel Barber

Transcribed from “Adagio for Strings”, Op. 11

Arranged by Ricki Vorrath-Moyer

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Greeting, Christopher Tin, Composer

 

To Shiver the Sky, by Christopher Tin    Click here for the text translations

Soloists - Pearl Rutherford, soprano and James Baumgardner, tenor

 

Sogno di Volare ("The Dream of Flight")

The Heavenly Kingdom

Daedalus and Icarus

The Fall

Astronomy

To the Stars

Oh, the Humanity

Courage

Become Death

The Power of the Spirit

We Choose to Go to the Moon

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Closing Remarks, Joyce Witte, President MCF

 

Dona Nobis Pacem (A Prayer for Peace) by Giulio Caccini

Arranged by James A. Moore

 

Pre-concert Video produced by Elena Katz & Thomas Van Genderen

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Metropolitan Choral Festival Singers

* Staff Singer,  + Chamber Chorus,  ^ Section Leader​

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Soprano

Georgia Arribau +, Manda Baker, Nancy Cole, Paige Derby, Ashlynne Doidge +, Stacy Gasvoda +, Alice Guhl +, Sarah Guhl +, Megan Hawthorn +, Carol High, Christiana Lazarine, Jadyn Mancini, Cara Maronek +, Christine Maxmeister +^, Sara Mellen +, Sara Michael *, Carla Mitchell, Bonnie Mustoe, Hannah Nadelson +, Susan Powers, Iris Reyes +, Lorien Salyer +, Becki Sharp, Kimberly Soderholm +, Katy Spritzer +, Susan Street +, Sami Streifer +, Ann Sturm, Laura Tribby *, Lynn Warren +, Danielle Wasmer +, Sue Wedaa +, Gabriela Wenda-Collier +, Wendy Williams +, Stacy Worthington +

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Alto

Darlene Ambrosine, Jeannette Auman, Barb Banks +, Sarah Bissell, Shelly Bleckley, Rebecca Bourgeois, Vira Brock, Morgan Brokob, Katie Busser +, Ruth Culbertson, Joyce Dominguez, Sandy Dorland +, Stein Erlacher, KaLee French +, Patricia Gaggiani +, Lilly Garcia, Alexia Girin +, Kathy Goeke +, Susan Grey, Erin Greenfield *, Tricia Harmon, Karen Harris +, Cara Hart +, Sandy Hoyman, Herma Hughes +, Janet Johnston, Sara Jones, Karen Juenemann, Debra Kahan, Andrea Llenor, Myrisa Martin +, Ann McCalley +, Mary McDonnell, Rachel McGuire, Erin Morris +, Noel Morris, Dianna Orf, Tammie Peters, Margarita Piskunova +, Kathryn Riley, Evie Schauer +^, Marsha Scheinhartz, Karin Soderholm, Barbara Ungashick, Deb Woodard

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Tenor

Jordan Antonio +, Bennet Archer +, Sue Armour, David Bell +, Michael Betser, Evelyn Bilberg, Miles Bourgeois +, William Brown +^, Tyler Corson-Rikert, Sean Cortes, Phillip Dean +, Diane Deschanel, Matthew Eschliman *, Timothy Flora, Ken Fordyce, Mario Galvan +, Paul Halstead +, Scotte Hoerle +, Cody Jacobs, Mark Kelly, Collyn Lee, Hunter McGuire +, Ted Orf, Seth O’Kegley-Gibson *, German Parada, Corey Rabus +, Peg Rockin +, Jeremy Saiz-Jermz, Christopher Smith, Dillon Spieker, Joan Wise, Sandy Wong

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Bass

Jacob Altholz +, Arthur Anderson +, Joel Archer +, Jim Banks, Eric Bonham +, Jim Boschert, Oliver Breen, Jeremiah Dooley, Colin Eagen +, Paul Greengross, Liam Harty +, Scotty Hupp +, Darrell Johnson +, Wesley Jones, Matthew Kersten-Gray +, Tyler Kirkland +^, Mike Lewis +, Charlie Miller, Michael Morphew +, Randy Nicholas +, Colin Oakley +, Nolan Oltjenbruns +, E.J. O’Suilleabhain, Clark Person, Patrick Price +, Joshua Richards +, Rob Rocklin +, Quincey Roisum, Marc Sammartano +, Everett Schneider +, Mark Thalhofer +, Richard Thorne, Lis Welch +, Gary Williams +, Ryan Woodall +, John Wright +

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Choirs Represented

Festival singers come from all over the metro area, including but not limited to the 5280+ Senior Chorales, Adelphian Concert Choir (Tacoma, WA), Alpine Chorale, Arvada Chorale, Bethany Chancel Choir, Boulder Chorale, Broomfield Civic Chorus, Cherry Creek Chorale, Christ Episcopal Church Choir (Tacoma, WA), Colorado Choir, Colorado Chorale, Colorado Repertory Singers, Colorado Symphony Chorus, Denver Choir League, Denver Choral Singers, Denver Gay Men’s Chorus, Denver Feminist Chorus, First Plymouth Congregational Church Choir, First United Church of Arvada, First Universalist Church of Denver, Foothills Community Chorus, Gaudete Singers, Golden Concert Choir, Grace Presbyterian Church Choir, Hope City Church of Colorado, Inner Voices Women’s Ensemble, Jefferson Unitarian Church, Jubilate Sacred Singers, Notables, One World Singers, Rocky Mountain Revels, St. James Episcopal Church, St. John’s Cathedral Choir, St. Joan of Arc Sacred Music Ministry, St. Mark’s Roman Catholic Church Choir, St. Paul Presbyterian Aurora, The Spirituals Project, The Timberlines, Vittoria Ensemble

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Metropolitan Choral Festival Musicians

• Violin 1: Erik Peterson, Susan Paik, Takanori Sugishita, Elizabeth Drabkin      

• Violin 2: Myroslava Bartels, Brad Watson, Heejung Kim, Robyn Julyan

• Viola: Phillip Stevens, Aniel Caban, Kostadin Dyulgerski

• Cello: Chloe Hong, Danielle Guideri, Eric Bertoluzzi

• Bass: David Crowe

• Flute/Piccolo: Cathy Peterson

• Oboe/English Horn: Jason Lichtenwalter

• Clarinet: Abby Raymond     

• French Horn: Patrick Hodge, Matt Tavera

• Trombone: John Sipher    

• Bass Trombone: Greg Harper

• Tympani: Michael Tetreault

• Percussion: Michael Van Wirt, Elizabeth Van Wirt, Paul Finckel

• Harp: Alaina Bongers

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​Biographies

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Ricki Vorrath-Moyer - Artistic Director & Conductor

Ricki Vorrath-Moyer has been the musical leader of MCF since its inception. She attended Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, then received her Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  She went on to receive her Master of Music degree in Organ Performance, with minor emphases in choral conducting and piano pedagogy. She is currently Organist/Accompanist at First Plymouth Congregational Church, Cherry Hills Village and serves as the Principal Accompanist for the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus. Ricki is an Associate Underwriter at Pinnacol Assurance.

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Pearl Rutherford - Soprano

Soprano Pearl Rutherford is an active performer and music educator based in the Denver area. She serves as affiliate voice faculty at Colorado Christian University School of Music, teaches voice and piano at Do Re Mi Lessons in Denver, and she also maintains an active private voice studio in Littleton, Colorado.

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A long-time former member of the acclaimed Denver vocal ensemble Kantorei, Pearl has also performed a wide range of operatic and concert repertoire. Her operatic roles include Despina in Così fan tutte, Oscar in Un ballo in maschera, Hanna Glawari in The Merry Widow (Idaho Falls Opera Theatre), and Maria in West Side Story (Honolulu). She has appeared as soprano soloist with ensembles including Stratus Chamber Orchestra (formerly Musica Sacra), St. Martin’s Chamber Choir, Orion Wind Ensemble, and the Hawaii Chamber Orchestra, among others.

Pearl was featured in Stratus Chamber Orchestra’s 2017 tour of the Czech Republic, performing Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, and later performed Canteloube’s Chants d’Auvergne with the ensemble in Denver. She has been a regular soloist with the Metropolitan Choral Festival and has performed throughout Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, and Hawaii with groups such as the Caritas Chorale, Star Valley Arts Council, and Snake River Chamber Orchestra.

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A Presser Scholar, Pearl earned her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, with additional vocal studies at the University of Northern Colorado. She currently studies with Andrew Adams in Denver.

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James Baumgardner - Tenor

James Baumgardner has been performing with the Metropolitan Choral Festival for 10 years! A Colorado native, James built a love for choral music as a student at Columbine High School under the direction of Lee Andres. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education from CSU and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from CU Boulder. As a young artist, James performed with many top programs including residencies with Central City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera Education Program. James went on to have a successful career performing around New York City and Europe, particularly specializing in new works and the romantic operas of Verdi and Puccini.

James moved back to Colorado in 2014 and now resides in Fort Collins with his beautiful wife Lindsey and two children, Caleb and Lyla. James continues to perform with local symphonies and chorales as well as with the internationally known Legacy Quartet. James is also an accomplished financial planner in Northern Colorado where his clients know him as “my opera singing advisor”.

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Program Notes

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Agnus Dei

Adagio for Strings, Op. 11, transcribed for mixed Chorus with Organ or Piano Accompaniment

Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Arranged by Ricki Vorrath-Moyer

 

This piece began as the slow movement of Barber’s only string quartet, written in 1936. He knew it was good, calling it “a knockout.” After he arranged it for string orchestra, its popularity took off, becoming his most recorded work. With the popularity came controversy - for every supporter who called it “simple and beautiful” and “full of pathos and cathartic passion,” there was a detractor who called it “conservative” and “authentic, dull, serious music.” Despite the controversy, it remains a staple in concert repertoire and has become something of an unofficial anthem of mourning, being played at the funeral of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after the passing of President John F. Kennedy, and after 9/11. 

         

Barber arranged the choral version in 1967 and set it to the Agnus Dei text of the Roman Catholic Mass. To this day there are some who call this work the saddest piece of music ever written. However, conductor Leonard Slatkin has a different point of view: "I don't know what's the saddest piece of music ever written, but this piece, the way it ends, gives you a glimmer of hope. Not sadness at all.”

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www.chicagochorale.org

www.npr.org

 

To Shiver the Sky

Christopher Tin (1976-)

 

To Shiver the Sky is an oratorio about the history of flight and mankind’s quest to conquer the heavens. Told through the words of 11 of our greatest astronomers, inventors, visionaries and pilots, it charts our relentless need to explore the universe, defy our earthly bonds, reach for the face of God, and ultimately claim our place among the stars. It is sung in a panoply of languages: English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Polish, Russian, and Sanskrit.

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www.christophertin.com

 

I. Sogno di Volare (The Dream of Flight)

Lyrics from Leonardo da Vinci’s writings on flight. Adapted by Chiara Cortez

 

For much of his life, Leonardo da Vinci was fascinated by the phenomenon of flight, producing many studies of the flight of birds, including his c.1505 Codex on the Flight of Birds, as well as plans for several flying machines, including a helicopter and a light hang glider. Most were impractical, like his aerial screw helicopter design that could not provide lift. However, the hang glider has been successfully constructed and demonstrated. The lyrical basis of Sogno di Volare comes from a modernized version of Leonardo’s writings on flight.

Christopher Tin further explains: “Sogno di Volare is the essence of exploration; both the physical exploration of seeking new lands, but also the mental exploration of expanding the frontiers of science and philosophy.” Tin’s main theme for the 2016 video game Civilization VI is epic in all proportions. From the unity in the voices, to the driving rhythms in the orchestra, the rich textures and powerhouse of sound makes it one of the most striking themes of all. Sogno di Volare ultimately encapsulates the beauty of striving for the impossible, the fulfillment of conquering challenges, and the sense of glory that comes with daring to dream and fly beyond limitations.

 

Alex Burns MA, Classicalexburns

www.leonardodavinci.net

 

II. The Heavenly Kingdom

Lyrics from Hildegard von Bingen: “Scivias”

 

With Latin lyrics derived from Hildegard von Bingen’s Scivias, The Heavenly Kingdom is a contemplative celebration of both Hildegard herself and those who aspire to reach the heavens. Hildegard was an abbess who, in the 1100s, set about a life of work that included a devotion to the sciences, the arts, and her religion. Her contributions to music included some of the best known and recorded pieces of “monophony” or simple tunes with usually one singer or instrument. Trading off throughout the movement, the ethereal voices combine the words she used to describe her visions of God and His relationship to His people, her style of music, and indirectly her devotion to the sciences.

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www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Hildegard

 

III. Daedalus and Icarus

Lyrics from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses”

 

The third movement takes us through passages from Ovid’s poem, Metamorphoses. King Minos commissioned Daedalus to design and build a complex labyrinth to house the Minotaur, a creature with the body of a man and head of a bull. Theseus, a hero from Athens, enters the labyrinth and defeats the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne, Minos’ daughter, and a thread provided by Daedalus. Minos, furious at Daedalus for revealing the labyrinth’s secrets, imprisons him and his son, Icarus.

 

The story is told by Daedalus as he crafts wings made of feathers and wax in order to free himself and his son from their entrapment in the labyrinth. Daedalus instructs Icarus not to fly too high (close to the sun) or too low (close to the sea). Unfortunately, Icarus ignores the warning and flies too close to the sun. His wings melt, and he falls into the sea.

 

Both a tragedy and an allegory, Daedalus and Icarus alternates between the perspectives of the choral narrators who lament the excessive ambition of Icarus, while recognizing the pain of his father. Daedalus watches as his son, only just freed from the labyrinth, tumbles into the sea. The movement ends with Daedalus hauntingly searching for his son.

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https://ovid.lib.virginia.edu/trans/Metamorph8.htm

 

IV. The Fall

Lyrics from Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy.” Translation by Charles Eliot Norton

 

Serving as a literal and metaphorical transition from the previous movement, The Fall takes passages from Dante’s The Divine Comedy, both lamenting the folly of man as well as laying out a blueprint for which man can transcend this nature. The passages tell us “A longer stairway it behooves thee to mount.” As the movement progresses, it incorporates lyrics from the first movement, Sogno di Volare, which remind us that once humanity gazes towards the sky, we will know “that is where [our] heart will feel at home.” As the chorus finishes this recognition, the soloist continues in the role of Dante himself in the final passage of Inferno as he and his guide escape the depths of Hell and “Thenceforth … came forth to rebehold the stars.” 

 

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8800/8800-h/8800-h.htm

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V. Astronomy

Lyrics from Nicolaus Copernicus’ “De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium.” Polish translation and poeticization by Janusz Mrzigod

 

De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolutions of the heavenly spheres), written by Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) and published just before his death, placed the sun at the center of the universe and argued that the Earth moved across the heavens as one of the planets. Copernicus anticipated his ideas would be controversial, and waited more than 30 years to publish his book. De Revolutionibus opens with a brief argument for the heliocentric universe and follows with an extensive set of mathematical proofs and astronomical tables. Copernicus was not trying to disparage the accepted wisdom of astronomers and religious thinkers; instead, he sought to uncover a more elegant order in the universe. His ideas were revolutionary, but they built on an existing line of thinking.

 

The movement of Mercury and Venus had long perplexed philosophers and astronomers. Plato and Eudoxus noted that these planets never strayed far from the sun; it was almost as if they were tethered to the sun, as they could only move a bit ahead of, or lag a bit behind it. In the fifth century, Martianus Capella had argued that Mercury and Venus orbited the sun, which in turn rotated around the Earth. Aristarchus of Samos had proposed a heliocentric system and the Pythagoreans before him had argued that the sun was the "central fire." Although not part of the mainstream, these were all ideas that Copernicus built upon.

 

While Copernicus made revolutionary contributions to astronomy, his conception of the solar system was fundamentally different from that of present-day science. His model

still assumed perfect circular motion in the heavens. This meant that, like Ptolemy, he needed to use circles on circles, or epicycles, to account for the movement of the planets. Copernicus's circles were much smaller than those used in the Ptolemaic system, but they still were required to make his model work.

 

Later astronomers, including Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), Galileo (1564–1642), and Isaac Newton (1642–1727), all built upon the work of Copernicus to advance humanity’s understanding of the solar system.

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www.archive.org

                                        

VI. To the Stars

Lyrics from Jules Verne’s “De la Terre á la Lune.” Adaptation and translation by Gabriel Majou.

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The lyrics of To the Stars has been adapted from the French author, Jules Verne’s novel: “De la Terre á la Lune” (“From the Earth to the Moon”) (1865). It tells the story of the Baltimore Gun Club, a post-American Civil War society of weapons enthusiasts, and their attempts to build an enormous “space gun” that would launch three people in a projectile, with the goal of landing them on the moon. It was an interesting idea that lacked empirical data on the subject of the time it would take to reach the moon along with the safety measures to be considered. Interestingly enough, some of Verne’s “rough calculations” were quite accurate.

 

Verne was one of the innovators of sci-fi, writing several other sequels: “Around the Moon,” and “The Purchase of the North Pole.”

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne's_Mysterious_Island_(2012_film)

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jules-Verne

 

VII. Oh, The Humanity

Lyrics from speeches by Ferdinand von Zeppelin. Adaptation and translation by Evita Wagner

 

“Oh, the humanity!” is a famous exclamation uttered by radio reporter, Herbert Morrison, during his live broadcast of the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937, in Lakehurst, New Jersey. The phrase was his expression of the shock and horror at the sight of the burning airship.

 

The famous quote seems to us in the 21st century to be melodramatic and overwrought. However, the Hindenburg disaster was the first of its kind. The Germans had marketed the Zeppelins as 100% safe overseas air travel. On that fateful day, however, as the Hindenburg was coming in to dock during a lightning storm, a spark in the rear section ignited the hydrogen lift fuel. Given that hydrogen is highly flammable, the individual lift cells ignited very quickly -- like dominos -- engulfing the craft, and sending it crashing. This was witnessed by several journalists with filming cameras, then broadcast for the world to see. The following is from the broadcast and the voice of Herbert Morrison as he reacts, chokes up, eventually hyperventilating with emotion:

 

It's starting to rain again, the rain had slacked up a little bit.

The back motors of the ship are just holding it just enough to keep it from…

It’s burst into flames! Get this, Charlie; get this, Charlie!

It’s fire…and it’s crashing! It’s crashing terrible!

Oh, my! Get out of the way, please!

It’s burning and bursting into flames and the…and it’s falling on the mooring mast.

And all the folks agree that this is terrible;

this is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world!

Crashing, oh!

Four or five hundred feet into the sky and it…it’s a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen.

It’s smoke, and it’s in flames now;

and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the mooring mast.

Oh, the humanity!

And all the passengers screaming around here.

I told you; I can’t even talk to people…their friends are on there!

It’s…it…it’s a…I…I can’t talk, ladies and gentlemen.

Honest: it’s just laying there, mass of smoking wreckage…

 

35 people died that day - 13 passengers and 22 crewmen, out of the 97 on board. A disaster seen live, recorded, and broadcast around the world. This ended the era of the airship.

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Morrison_(journalist)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Live_audio_recording_from_the_scene_of_the_Hindenburg_disaster_1937-05-06_19-25_EST.oga

Hindenburg: The New Evidence.  Wolfinger, Kirk, Television Director, Published by PBS/NOVA 2021

 

VIII. Courage

A setting of Amelia Earhart’s poem, “Courage”

 

The challenge that Amelia Earhart embraced most enthusiastically was flying. The “friendly skies” were still decades into the future. At the time Earhart learned to fly, aviation was less than 20 years old. It was in 1903 that Wilbur and Orville Wright recorded the first flight in history at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The flight lasted all of 12 seconds and covered 120 feet.

 

The field of aviation progressed in many ways before Earhart took up flying in 1920; however, flying was still considered extremely hazardous. Pilots were routinely killed in accidents, and the thought of a large group of passengers traveling in a plane from one place to another was considered suicidal. Flying was only for the courageous - and certainly no place for a woman, many thought. However, Earhart challenged every notion of what a woman should be. In so doing, she blazed a trail for all women to follow. If Amelia Earhart could be a pilot, which was unthinkable for a female, then other women could be doctors, engineers, or lawyers. She always believed that women were equal to men, and as her life progressed, she proved it. Her story was then, and is now, an inspiration to women who have been told: “It’s a man’s world.”

 

Amelia Earhart’s life should inspire us all to be more courageous. However, it is important to note that you don’t have to risk your life to be a courageous person. Courage can be found in the small details of life. According to author Harper Lee, “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what.” Therefore, a person who is afraid to try something new, but does so anyway is courageous; a person who fails the first time, but tries again is courageous; a person who tells the truth regardless of the consequences is courageous.

 

Amelia Earhart left a legacy that challenges us to stand up to our fears and fight for our convictions.

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https://characterandleadership.com/amelia-earhart-courage/

 

IX. Become Death

Lyrics from the Bhagavad Gita, as quoted by J. Robert Oppenheimer

 

The Trinity test, culminating the Manhattan Project headed by J Robert Oppenheimer, occurred in the New Mexican desert on July 16, 1945, setting off the first atomic weapon in the world. It turned night into day in a blinding flash of light and explosive force of 25,000 tons of TNT. Later, Oppenheimer recalled the test in an interview and, being a student of Hinduism, quoted a portion of the Bhagavad Gita:

 

We knew the world would not be the same.  A few people laughed; a few people cried. Most were silent. I remember the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita: Visnu is trying to persuade a prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.

 

Oppenheimer recalls this section of this important religious text by a line describing what the Prince saw when Visnu, in the form of the avatar Krishna, sheds his mortal glamor and reveals his divine form:

 

If the light of a thousand suns suddenly arose in the sky, that splendor might be compared to the radiance of the Supreme Spirit.

 

Sure enough, the explosive day that arose on that New Mexican desert night was that of a thousand suns.

 

The Bhagavad Gita is a poem, more than 2500 years old, depicting a philosophical and spiritual conversation between Prince Arjuna and Krishna, the avatar of the Hindu god Visnu. It is one of a handful of highly important and sacred texts in the Hindu literature, and one of the most beloved. In the Gita, Arjuna is conflicted in leading his army against the opposing army in a civil war that split family, friend, and brethren. Krishna is counselling Arjuna through this doubt, culminating in revealing his divine form to Arjuna and reciting the above quote. He continues on to advise that Arjuna is a tool, and the war will occur regardless of Arjuna performing his duty.

 

This is how Oppenheimer felt after Trinity and the resultant bombing of Japan -- that he was merely a tool performing his duty.

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

"The Bhagavad Gita" translated by Juan Mascaró (1962) published by Penguin Books, pg. 53.

 

X. The Power of the Spirit

Lyrics from quotes by Yuri Gagarin

 

On October 4, 1957, a soft beep, beep, beep was easily picked up by amateur radio operators around the world. This was the signal of the first artificial satellite humankind had sent into space -- Sputnik 1. Its call lasted for 3 weeks before its batteries died. The satellite burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere upon re-entry on January 4, 1958. This event sparked the inferno of the Space Race in the ongoing struggles between the USSR and USA in the Cold War.

 

The USSR marked the next two “firsts”: first to send an animal into orbit (Laika, a dog, on November 3, 1957), and the first human in space (Yuri Gagarin on board the Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961). The Soviet Cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, with an “off we go!” was launched into orbit on a voyage lasting 1 hour 48 minutes where he experienced both weightlessness and the beauty of our planet from space.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1

 

XI. We Choose to Go to the Moon

Lyrics from John F. Kennedy’s Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort

 

"We Choose to Go to the Moon" is a setting of John F. Kennedy's landmark speech on the American space flight program, delivered September 12, 1962. The speech itself is a stunning example of leadership -- a visionary president committing his nation to a seemingly impossible goal. Such a moment would never have happened though, had the American public not already developed a thirst for space exploration, as cultivated by the emergence of science fiction magazines, radio shows, and movies.

 

The instrumental interlude in the middle of the movement is a nod to classic science fiction movie scores. (The fact that it is the 11th movement in the oratorio is also a subtle nod to the Apollo XI mission which landed a man on the moon.)

         

Musically, the movement reprises many of the preceding movements of “To Shiver the Sky”. It suggests that the success of the Apollo XI mission was not simply a victory for America, but one for all of humanity -- built upon centuries of scientific achievements by an international community of visionary men and women, all working towards a common goal: to conquer the sky.

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www.christophertin.com

 

Dona Nobis Pacem (A Prayer for Peace)

Giulio Caccini (1546-1618), Arranged by James A. Moore

 

An important figure of the early Baroque period, Caccini was a singer, writer, and composer of opera and songs. He helped to establish monody, a new type of music emphasizing simplicity and melodic expression over polyphony (a complex interweaving of lines), as the new style. His seminal work, a collection of songs for voice and basso continuo titled “The New Music”, was influential in codifying this monodic style and helped to usher in a new musical era.

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www.britannica.com

www.en.wikipedia.org

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On behalf of the 2025 Board of Directors, we thank you deeply for your patronage and support of our nonprofit organization. Your generosity is essential to to our success.

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Joyce Witte President 

Matthew Kersten-Gray Vice President

Mike Lewis Secretary

Lucas Sorenson Treasurer

David Bell Director

Stephanie Katz Director

Matthew Kingham Director

Charlie Miller Director

Chris Powell Director

Iris Reyes Director

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