On April 6 and 7, 2024, the Grace Chorale of Brooklyn performed a program titled Songs of Hope: Psalms for Troubled Times.
The program itself endeavored to be a balm for listeners, a brief escape from the current political uncertainty, distressing world events, and general unpredictability of life. The concert featured a choral settings of Psalms -
Dixit Dominus by Marianna Martines (1744-1812)
I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes by Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941)
Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990).
Salmo 30 by Chris Urquiaga
A copy of the program can be found here.
A recording of the program can be found on Youtube here.
More about the composers:
Marianna Martines (1744-1812) was an Austrian composer and performer with close associations to other prominent musicians of her time, including Haydn and Mozart. Dixit Dominus, based on Psalm 110, showcases Martines’ mastery of counterpoint and vocal writing and incorporates traditional Baroque style and the later lighter and freer galant style.
Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941) is an African American composer with many significant contributions to choral repertoire. His I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes draws from Psalms 121, 13, and 23, highlighting themes of comfort and divine protection. The piece is a celebration of various African American music traditions including call-and-response, the Blues, and syncopated rhythms.
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), the recent subject of the popular 2023 movie Maestro, composed Chichester Psalms for the Chichester Festival in England. This powerful setting of two psalms in Hebrew text blends classical and contemporary elements and incorporates both Jewish and Christian musical traditions. The jagged rhythms and dissonance early in the piece finally resolve as the final line is sung: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity.”
Chris Urquiaga, Grace Chorale of Brooklyn’s own assistant conductor and accompanist, is a Latino singer-songwriter, composer, pianist, and political activist, and the awardee of this year’s Grace Chorale of Brooklyn choral commission. Urquiaga was inspired to compose this unique piece from the sounds he absorbed in childhood, playing in the Black church and performing music connected to his Latin American heritage.
