In anticipation of the Chorale’s summer tour to Prague and Vienna, this concert’s offering includes short pieces by Prague’s Dvorak and Vienna’s Mozart, and a sampling of American music.
The spirituals are stunning arrangements by Mack Wilberg and Moses Hogan and provide a quintessential glimpse into truly American music – for our audiences both in the United States and Europe.
Morten Lauridsen, living and working in California today, is a prolific composer of choral works. In 2007, he received the National Medal of Arts, the most prestigious award given to artists by the federal government.
Lux Aeterna, one of Lauridsen’s seven vocal cycles, is among his most popular and appears often in concert programs and on recordings. Lux Aeterna is composed in five movements. Texts are taken from ancient sacred Latin sources and each contains some reference to Light. The Requiem Mass provides the opening and closing movements.