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In Life—Songs of Belonging, Virtual Concert

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Free Virtual Concert, Premiering Sunday, August 22

Robert Duerr, conductor

In Life presents five pieces chosen for their connection to the idea of belonging. Our belonging is in the ending of Rand Matheson’s arrangement of Jean Sibelius’s hymn-tune, Be Still, My Soul. “Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past, All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.”

A new piece, Mother’s Song, was composed during the recent quarantine. The composer, Jocelyn Hagen, states that during this crisis it was impossible for her to forget that, of all the roles she plays in life, her role as a mother is of the utmost importance. Her children remind her that we were all children once, and that we are all worthy of the utmost care from our friends and neighbors.

The popular composer Ben Folds has written both the music and lyrics to The Luckiest. They convey “a strange way to tell you that I know that we belong…I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you.”

Benjamin Britten’s Five Flower Songs celebrate a fascinating variety of personal friends identified with flowers, brush, and weeds; the competition amongst the months; and a ballad that can be interpreted at seductive and sensual levels!

In Ray Liebau’s arrangement of He’s Got the Whole World, God’s got babies and children, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers—even sinners, losers and winners in his hands! It’s almost impossible to escape such a promise of belonging.

We hope you enjoy this program, reminded that we belong to one another.

In Life is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; administered by Arts Services Inc.