More than half of the musical numbers for “Fresh Aires,” the April 7, 2019 concert by Bion Cantorum, are new to the ensemble.  And for new singers with the choral group, all of them are new.  So the concert is aptly named.  A group of American spirituals will be highlighted.  Jester Hairston provides us with “Live A-Humble.”  Robert DeCormier arranged the spiritual, “Walk Together, Children” for two solo voices and choir.

 

Bion’s artistic director has arranged Margaret Pleasant Douroux’s exciting “Home Over the Mountain,” in which a bass solo leads the ensemble. Mr. Engler also arranged Johnson & Johnson’s “Dry Bones”, in which scattered bones in the desert become an army when God intervenes.

 

Also derived from a Biblical text is “The Paper Reeds by the Brooks,” as set by Randall Thompson for his The Peaceable Kingdom. Rudyard Kipling poem inspired Eric Whitaker’s “The Seal Lullaby.”

 

Also on the program are the “In Paradisum” from Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, Lauridsen’s  “Dirait-on” from his Chansons des Roses, and a new piece by the young Canadian composer, Mark Sirett, “Ce Beau Printemps.” 

 

Tickets are available through brownpapertickets.com or by calling 941.206.2071. Adult tickets are $15.00 and juniors under 15 years of age are $10 when accompanied by an adult. Tickets should also be available at the door, cash or check only. Two free tickets to this concert were awarded through a random drawing to Nancy L. Smith, who completed our short feedback questionnaire with other December concert guests.