with Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone

Originally scheduled for March 2020, this program was created to explore the universality of struggle and jubilation by pairing sacred early German vocal music with traditional African American spirituals based on similar biblical texts. Following a year of tragic loss during the pandemic, the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the Black Lives Matter protests that followed, and the devastation of the cultural scene resulting from the cancellation of live performances, we offer this concert with hope for future jubilation. The program features bass-baritone Jonathan Woody in works by Buxtehude, Schütz, Bernhard, and Bruhns, and traditional African American spirituals (arranged for the ensemble by Jonathan Woody and Gabe Shuford). We are confident the arts will return and music will be an essential part of our greater societal healing. Struggle and Jubilation is our contribution to the start of that process.

Program:

Dietrich Buxtehude: Ich bin eine Blume zu Saron, BuxWV 45
African American Spiritual (arr. Woody): Lily of the Valley

Heinrich Schütz: Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener, SWV 352a
Johann Krieger: Aria and Variations from Trio Sonata in D minor, Op. 2

Nicolaus Bruhns: Mein Herz ist Bereit
African American Spiritual (arr. Shuford): I Want to be Ready

Christoph Bernhard: O, welch eine Tiefe des Reichtums
Charles Albert Tindley (arr. Woody): We'll Understand it Better By and By

Free Admission | $20 Suggested Donation

Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone
Amelia Roosevelt and Theresa Salomon, violins
Sarah Stone, viola da gamba
Stephanie Corwin, bassoon
Gabe Shuford, harpsichord