Our season concluded with Triptych, a spectacular program of 20th and 21st century works for soloist, chorus, and percussion. The performance took place Sunday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. in the University of West Florida’s Center for Fine and Performing Arts (Building 82, 11000 University Parkway, Pensacola 32514).
The concert presented a triptych of triptychs: three major works, each in three movements:
- Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms blends Hebrew verse and Christian choral tradition to express hope for brotherhood and peace
- Ken Neufeld’s Three Songs of Innocence marries tuneful music to the words of visionary English poet William Blake
- Tarik O’Regan’s Triptych interprets texts from a variety of cultures and faiths in a wide range of musical styles to explore death and remembrance.
Three shorter pieces from larger works rounded out the program:
- ”Wonder,” the first of Mac Wilberg’s Dances for Life captures the amazement of a child discovering the world
- “Sunday,” from Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical Sunday in the Park with George, describes a painting that reveals the extraordinary in the ordinary and preserves the everyday for eternity
- “Set Me as a Seal,” from René Clausen’s cantata A New Creation, sets familiar texts on love from the Song of Solomon.
Soprano Allanda Small was featured as soloist with the Society’s 70-voice chorus, harpist Katie Ott, pianist Hyunjoo Kim, and eight of the Gulf Coast’s finest percussionists, conducted by artistic director Peter Steenblik.
Graphic: John Medzerian