Voices of Ascension Chorus & Dennis Keene

Featuring the full range of American choral music, we celebrate the music brought to our shores by Americans who arrived from all over the world. Our concert will celebrate that rich diversity with music by Americans from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Pieces range from the German-American composer Johann Friedrich Peter who worked in Moravian Churches in Pennsylvania and North Carolina around the time of the American Revolution, to the evocative and explorative sounds of contemporary composer and Voices artist Bora Yoon. America’s most famous choral piece – Randall Thompson’s Alleluia – is included, along with towering works by Charles Ives, including Serenity, Turn ye, turn ye, and his greatest work, Psalm 90 which features four sets of bells from distant corners of the church and the Manton Memorial Organ. A highlight of the evening will be a rare performance of Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei, which is the choral version of his beloved and deeply moving Adagio for Strings, along with a virtually unknown but luminous motet by his partner, Italian-American operatist Gian Carlo Menotti.