Quintessence returns with a four concert line up
Sep. 16—Quintessence is ready for a full-season comeback.
For the first time since 2019, the roughly 32-member chorus is planning four themed concerts at St. John's United Methodist Church at 2626 Arizona St. NE.
The singers are already in rehearsal for "The Joy of Texts," slated for Oct. 2 and 3. All of the pieces feature "really fantastic words," artistic director Matthew Greer said.
The composers include Minnesota's Jake Runestad.
"He's a very hot composer in choral circles," Greer said. The group will sing his "Proud Music of the Storm" set to a Walt Whitman text.
The concert also will feature Jocelyn Hagen's "On My Dreams" set to a poem by W. B. Yeats.
Dec. 4 and 5 will feature carols and music of the season by composers Stephen Paulus and John Rutter, accompanied by the concert choir from Rio Rancho High School. Two pieces will feature harp and oboe.
March 12 and 13's concerts will feature the New Mexico premiere of a new work by Eric Whitacre and Charles Anthony Silvestri called "The Sacred Veil." The multi-movement work expresses grief, loss and enduring love with piano, choir and cello. Silvestri wrote the text when his wife died of cancer.
"It's really powerful, it's really heavy, it's really beautiful," Greer said.
Greer titled the May 21 and 22 concerts "Homeward Bound."
"It's all music about journeys and coming home and what home means," he said.
The chorus will sing "At Home," a five-movement piece by Minnesota composer Timothy Takach set to poetry by Wendell Berry.
Individual concerts are $20; $60 for all four at quintessence-abq.com.
