'Sanctuary'

“Let us open our hands to those of others. (What are these wounds, in my hands, and in yours?) Walls are not the answer. We are all creatures.” –Caroline Shaw

Displacement of people resulting from human conflict and climate crisis poses the greatest challenge of our century. This concert will span six centuries, reflecting on themes of lost homeland, disconnection, and the search for refuge.

At the heart of the program is the Colorado premiere performance of Caroline Shaw’s “To the Hands” from Seven Responses. Seven of the world’s foremost composers were asked to write 21st-century responses to Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, an iconic sacred work of the German Baroque focusing on Christ’s suffering on the cross.

Shaw’s response “To the Hands,” scored for SATB choir and strings, begins inside the 17th century sound of Buxtehude. It expands and colors and breaks this language, as the piece’s core considerations of the suffering of those around the world seeking refuge, and of our role and responsibility in these global and local crises gradually come into focus.

Full Program:

• O vos omnes – Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
• Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst – Rudolf Mauersberger (1889-1971)
• Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen – Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517)
• Poor Wayfarin’ Stranger – arr. for women’s voices by anonymous 4
• Valparaiso – Sting, arr. for men’s voices by Timothy Takach
• Motherless Child – arr. Craig Hella Johnson
• To the hands – Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)
• Lord, thou hast been our refuge – Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)