The Coro de Cámara chamber chorus presents ‘Terran Treasures’, the first concert in their new season. Courtesy/Coro de Cámara
Coro de Cámara News:
The Coro de Cámara chamber chorus invites the public to join them on a treasure hunt to uncover Earth’s riches through stunning music, photography and words of inspiration.
“Terran Treasures” is the first concert in Coro’s new season triptych of discovery, Earth • Water • Sky.
Three performances:
- 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 1738 North Sage St.;
- 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, Unitarian Church of Los Alamos, 1738 North Sage St.;
- 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6, Immaculate Heart Chapel, 50 Mount Carmel Road, Santa Fe (no photography presentations here).
“My life-long connection to and love of nature prompted Coro’s season triptych,” Artistic Director Nylea Butler-Moore said. “One of the inspirational quotes in our ‘Terran Treasures’ program is by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan. After viewing Voyager I’s last photo of Earth before it exited the solar system, they wrote that we should ‘preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.’ We so often take our astonishing planet for granted, and this concert reminds us how amazing our home truly is.”
The concert opens with Takatsugu Muramatsu’s sparkling “Earth” duet with guest flautist Heidi Morning and Coro pianist Yelena Mealy, along with breathtaking images by local nature photographer, Mouser Williams, and others from around the globe. Guest violinist Lee Harvey then joins Coro in Mark Sirett’s sublime “Voices of Earth” with text by Archibald Lampman, followed by Eric Barnum’s moving “Afternoon on a Hill” with text by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
The musical centerpiece of the program is “Specks of Earth,” a suite of choral miniatures by Andrew Steffen. His setting of nine short texts from Rabindranath Tagore’s poetry collection, Stray Birds offers the listener a vivid ‘burst of imagery’ that is ‘translated into a tapestry of sounds.’ Steffen told Butler-Moore that “Specks is a piece that’s very dear to me, so it warms my heart to know you and your ensemble are enjoying the challenges and fun within the movements.” During the performance of the work, concertgoers will also see slides that the composer provided to enhance the visual and illustrative nature of the texts.
Coro will then sing the exquisite a cappella piece, “The Blue Bird” by Charles Villiers Stanford and Mary E. Coleridge, featuring soprano soloist Nina Lanza. Lee Harvey and Yelena Mealy share “Legend of the Canyon” by Charles Wakefield Cadman, which conveys the beauty of the American Southwest through lyrical melodies. Other works include the intriguing, contemporary “Kasar mie la gaji (The earth is tired)” by leading Venezuelan composer Alberto Grau, and “The Peace of Wild Things” by Joan Szymko with text by Wendell Berry. The program ends with Harry Belafonte and Robert Freedman’s energetic gem, “Turn the World Around,” with guest percussionist Eric Schaller playing the African djembe.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $10 for college students, free for 18 and under, and are available on the Coro website or at the door. Masks are strongly encouraged for everyone’s health and well-being. All Coro singers are fully vaccinated and boosted.