Concert Program

Sammamish High School Chamber Singers
to be selected from

Can We Sing the Darkness Into Light                                                       Kyle Pederson (b. 1971)

Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal           arr. Alice Parker (1925-2023) & Robert Shaw (1916-1999)

I Should Be Glad                                                                                          Susan LaBarr (b. 1981)

Wangol                                                                                                   arr. Sten Kallman (b. 1952)

Combined Choirs

Ah, woe is me, my mother dear!                                                                  Xen Johnson (b. 2007)

Northwest Chamber Chorus

David’s Lamentation                                                                           William Billings (1746-1800)

David’s Lamentation                                                                                   Joshua Shank (b. 1980)

O vos omnes *                                                                                          Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613)

Reincarnations                                                                                                  Samuel Barber (1910-1981)

1. Mary Hynes
2. Anthony O’Daly
3. The Coolin (The Fair-haired One)

If I Had a Hammer                            Pete Seeger (1919-2014), arr. Craig Hella Johnson (b. 1962)

Nancy Fisher, bongos, Maggie Smith, cymbal

—Intermission—

Motet 22: Tu qui gregem/Plange, regni respublica/Apprehende †  Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377)

Laus trinitati                                                                                Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)

Maggie Smith, recorder

Laus trinitati, from the Hildegard Motets                                                       Frank Ferko (b. 1950)

Ecco mormorar l’onde §                                                                     Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)

Io son la primavera                                                                                       William Hawley (b. 1950)

Ubi caritas                                                                                            Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)

Combined Choirs

Ubi caritas                                                                                                           Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)

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Members of the Northwest Chamber Chorus
Jeremy Edelstein, conductor
Youngjin Joo, accompanist
Carly Thornburg, executive director

Sopranos  Dori Baunsgard § Mary Beth Bennett * Betsy Brockman † Sarah Elliott § Christi Everett § Paige Foelber * Joni Hafner * Annelise Harlan § Dalia Taylor § Taryn Wagner Jones § Catie Wilson †

Altos  Wendy Boeker § Shireen Deboo § Nancy Fisher * Kayla Gerken * Susan Jenkins † Decatur Macpherson * Lauren Sandven † Cindy Shultz † Maggie Smith § Carly Thornburg *

Tenors  Michael Bonner § Juan Pablo Bustos * Neal Eaden * Matt Everett * Tim Gallagher § Pete Jones § Mark Lee † Kamal Raslan * Ben Rider * Alan Zhu †

Basses  Mike Anthis † Alex Bachwich † Adam Brown * Isaac Garza § Joshua Horowitz § Michael Huber † Matthew Peterson * Chris Shultz § Chris Steckler * Steve Tanimoto †

Echoes Across Time – exploring historical resonances

For the past season, we have spent our time meditating on The Voice, largely in the metaphorical sense. In November, we explored our political voices, and in March, we spent time with one of the most significant poetic voices in American literature, Walt Whitman. In our season finale, we look at voices echoing across time, in a more literal and musical sense. You’ll hear the varied sound-worlds of forward-thinking historical music, and historically inspired contemporary music on this concert, and we share the stage with the next generation of music-makers from Sammamish High School in Bellevue, WA. At a moment in time that can feel dire, without precedent, and uncertain, if we look back, we see that people have used music to speak their extraordinary times in numerous ways.

This concert is largely built on pairings of music, creating our echoes between old and new music in most cases. The first half of the program begins in sorrow and darkness, first with a piece by student composer Xen Johnson, whom I worked with over the course of the last year to shape his piece, Ah, woe is me, my mother dear. Its doppelgänger, if you will, is Carlo Gesualdo’s O vos omnes, written in 1603. Both texts can be traced back to the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, crying out in lamentation to the world. The next pairing is clearer in its parallels: Joshua Shank’s David’s Lamentation borrows a large amount of musical material from its inspiration, William Billings’ David’s Lamentation.

From there, we turn to the central work in our program—one that embodies its ethos more than its aesthetic. In 1940, Samuel Barber finished his Reincarnations, which would go on to become an iconic part of the American choral repertoire. These three pieces set the poetry of Irish poet James Stephens, re-imagining texts by 19^th century Gaelic poet Antoine Ó Raifteirí—considered the last of the traveling bards. Stephens began to translate his poetry, but his aim was “not to produce the translation of an old poem, but to give a new [one],” hence the name of his collection which gives this choral triptych its name. The three pieces each focus on a person: Mary Hynes, thought to be the most beautiful woman on Earth; Anthony O’Daly, a labor leader who was wrongfully charged and executed; and The Coolin, or “Fair-Haired One,” who is the object of love and tenderness. The music for each portrait is equally as evocative, placing each vignette directly in front of us sonically.

After Barber’s masterwork, our program pivots toward hope to counter the despair. Craig Hella Johnson’s arrangement of Pete Seeger’s protest song If I Had a Hammer reminds us that we must work hard to make the world we want to see. Its mirror comes at the beginning of the second half, in Guillaume de Machaut’s politically-charged motet, Plange, regni respublica—written in the 14^th century as a caution to the leaders of his realm to lead well. We then turn to the words of Medieval mystic and composer Hildegard of Bingen, praising the Divine Creative spirit in Laus trinitati; her original chant brings us even further back to the unique sound-world of the 12^th century. Nearly a millenium later, Frank Ferko wrote a set of 9 motets on texts by Hildegard in the 1990s, writing in a style that is at once modern and ancient for his setting of the same text.

Our final pairings include a duo of Italian madrigals written about 400 years apart—Ecco mormorar l’onde, from early in Claudio Monteverdi’s career and William Hawley’s 20^th century homage, Io son la primavera—both with texts by Torquato Tasso.Finally, we sing Maurice Duruflé’s setting of Ubi caritas, which is inspired by the ancient Gregorian chant, alongside Ola Gjeilo’s setting of the text. The Duruflé was the first piece Gjeilo sang in high school, and he was influenced by what he called Duruflé’s “incomparable work, the perfect a cappella piece.”

Early on in our rehearsal process, I asked the singers what their memory was of the first impactful piece that they sang—and we shared a multitude of responses. The music ranged from gospel tunes to fancy French folk songs, masterworks by Vivaldi and Fauré to Arlen’s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” It served as a reminder of the power of music of all kinds to speak to us, to transport to liminal spaces free of the constraints of time and place. Music is a temporal medium, meaning it happens in real time, and creates something fleeting and intangible. And yet—it provides a way for us to connect with one another, whether we are a composer, poet, conductor, musician, or listener. It provides a way for us to speak truth to the present moment, our emotions and one another.

We hope that this concert allows you to commune with us and our collaborators across time and space, and to be present together in our emotions—joy and sorrow, loss and ecstasy—across generations.

— Jeremy Edelstein, June 2025, Seattle, WA

Can We Sing the Darkness to Light? – Kyle Pederson
What if instead of more violence
We let our weapons fall silent?
No more revenge or retribution
No more war or persecution.

It could be beautiful.

What if instead of our judgment
We soften our hearts that have hardened?
Instead of certainty and pride
We love and sacrifice.

It could be beautiful.

Can we see the other as our brother?
Can we sing the darkness to light?
Sounding chords of compassion and grace
Set the swords of judgement aside

Let mercy’s eyes
See the other human face.

      — Kyle Pederson (b. 1971)

Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal — arr. Alice Parker & Robert Shaw

Hark I hear the harps eternal ringing on the farther shore
As I near those swollen waters with their deep and solemn roar

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah praise the lamb
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, glory to the great I am

And my soul though stained with sorrow, fading as the light of day
Passes swiftly o’er those waters to the city far away

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah praise the lamb
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, glory to the great I am

Souls have crossed before me saintly to that land of perfect rest
And I hear them singing faintly in the mansions of the blest

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah praise the lamb
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, glory to the great I am
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah praise the lamb
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, glory to the great I am

— Words attributed to F. R. Warren

I Should Be Glad — Susan LaBarr

I should be glad of loneliness
And hours that go on broken wings,
A thirsty body, a tired heart
And the unchanging ache of things,
If I could make a single song
As lovely and as full of light,
As hushed and brief as a falling star
On a winter night.

      — Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)

Wangol – Traditional Hatian Song, arr. Sten Kallman

— Traditional Hatian

Ah, woe is me, my mother dear – Xen Johnson 

Ah, woe is me, my mother dear!
A man of strife ye’ve born me:
For sair contention I maun bear,
They hate, revile and scorn me.

I ne’er could lend on bill or band,
That five per cent might blest me;
And borrowing, on the tither hand,
The de’il a ane wad trust me.

Yet I, a coin-denièd wight,
By fortune quite discarded,
Ye see how I am, day and night,
By lad and lass blackguarded.

                                                                  — Robert Burns (1759-1796), paraphrasing Jeremiah 15:10

David’s Lamentation – William Billings

David the king was grieved and moved,

He went to his chamber, his chamber and wept;

and as he went, he wept and said:
“O my son! O my son!

Would to God I had died for thee,

O Absalom, my son, my son.”

                                                                                                                                — II Samuel 18:33

David’s Lamentation – Joshua Shank

When David heard that Absalom was slain

He went to his chamber, his chamber and wept;

and as he went, he wept and said:
“O my son! O my son!

Would to God I had died for thee,

O Absalom, my son, my son.”

                                                                                                                                — II Samuel 18:33

O vos omnes – Carlo Gesualdo

O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite et videte: si est dolor sicut dolor meus.

O, all you that pass along the way, pay attention and see: If there is any sorrow like my sorrow.

                                                                                                         — adapted from Lamentations 1:12 

Reincarnations – Samuel Barber

1. Mary Hynes

She is the sky of the sun!
She is the dart of love!
She is the love of my heart!
She is a rune!
She is above the women
of the race of Eve,
as the sun is above the moon!
Lovely and airy
the view from the hill
that looks down from Ballylea!
But no good sight is good,
until you see
the blossom of branches
walking towards you, airily.

2. Anthony O’Daly

Anthony!
Since your limbs were laid out
the stars do not shine!
The fish leap not out
in the waves!
On our meadows the dew
does not fall in the morn,
for O’Daly is dead!
Not a flow’r can be born!
Not a word can be said!
Not a tree have a leaf!
On our meadows the dew
does not fall in the morn,
for O’Daly is dead!
Anthony!
After you
there is nothing to do!
There is nothing but grief!

3. The Coolin

Come with me, under my coat,
and we will drink our fill
of the milk of the white goat,
or wine if it be thy will.
And we will talk,
until talk is a trouble, too,
out on the side of the hill;
And nothing is left to do,
but an eye to look into an eye,
and a hand in a hand to slip;

and a sigh to answer a sigh;
And a lip to find out a lip!
What if the night be black!
And the air
on the mountain chill!
Where all but the fern is still!
Stay with me, under my coat!
and we will drink our fill
of the milk of the white goat,
out on the side of the hill!

If I Had a Hammer – arr. Craig Hella Johnson (written by Pete Seeger)

If I had a hammer, I’d hammer in the morning,
I’d hammer in the evening all over this land,
I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning,
I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

If I had a bell, I’d ring it in the morning,
I’d ring it in the evening all over this land,
I’d ring out danger, I’d ring out a warning,
I’d ring out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

If I had a song, I’d sing it in the morning,
I’d sing it in the evening all over this land,
I’d sing out danger, I’d sing out a warning,
I’d sing out love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land.

Well, I’ve got a hammer, and I’ve got a bell,
And I’ve got a song to sing all over this land,
It’s the hammer of justice, it’s the bell of freedom,
It’s a song about love between my brothers and my sisters,
All over this land. Hammer. Bell. Song!

Motet 22: Tu qui gregem/Plange, regni respublica/Apprehende – Guillaume de Machaut

You who lead your flock, Do the work of a true leader, For to lead and not be led, Is what befits a true leader. Following the counsel of the wise, Let the leader lead and not be idle; And the leader must go in front, While the one led must obey; But if the leader does not know the way, They will both readily perish. For whoever is led by a blind leader Walks outside the light, But whoever has a true leader Has light at every hour, And that man is well led Who is misled by no one. And so you, who are the leader of leaders: Destroy now the misleaders, And lead us in such a way That you lead us to peace.

Those who are dear to you Have ruled you imprudently, Albeit perhaps innocently. But from now on they will make It happen, joyfully and forcefully, God willing, that you have the upper hand

Take hold of arms and shield, and rise up.

Laus Trinitati – Hildegard von Bingen, and Frank Ferko

Laus Trinitati, que sonus et vita ac creatrix omnium in vita ipsorum est, et que laus angelice turbe et mirus splendor archanorum, que hominibus ignota sunt, est, et que in omnibus vita est.

Praise to the Trinity—the sound and life and creativity of all within their life, the praise of the angelic host and wondrous, brilliant splendor hid, unknown to human minds, it is, and life within all things.

Ecco mormorar l’onde – Claudio Monteverdi

Ecco mormorar l’onde e tremolar le fronde a l’aura mattutina e gl’arborscelli.   E sovra i verdi rami i vagh’augelli cantar soavemente e rider l’oriente, Ecco già l’alb’appare e si specchia nel mare e rasserena il cielo e imperla il dolce gelo e gl’alti monti indora.   O bella e vaga aurora l’aura è tua messaggera e tu de l’aura ch’ogn’arso cor ristaura.

Hear the gentle breezes murmuring, and the leaves and young trees trembling in the morning air.   And, above, on leafy branches beautiful birds sing sweetly, and, slowly, the eastern sky brightens. Now the dawn begins to appear, and to cast a reflection in the sea, and to lighten the sky, and to make pearls of delicate dewdrops, and to clothe in gold the high mountains.   Oh, radiant and shining dawn, his breeze is your messenger, and you are the messenger of the breath that restores each ardent and withered heart.

Io son la primavera – William Hawley

Io son la Primavera, Che lieta, o vaghe donne, a voi ritorno Col mio bel manto adorno Per vestir le campagne d’erbe e fiori E svegliarvi nel cor novelli amori.   A me Zeffiro spira, A me ride la terra e’l ciel sereno; Volan di seno in seno Gli Amoretti vezzosi a mille mille, Chi armato di stral, chi di faville.   E voi ancor gioite, Godete al mio venir tra risi e canti; Amate i vostri amanti Or che’l bel viso amato april v’infiora: Primavera per voi non torna ognora.

I am Spring, Who gladly, lovely women, returns to you With my beautiful, embellished mantle To dress the countryside in greenery and flowers And to arouse in your hearts new loves.   For me Zephir sighs, For me the earth laughs, as do the serene heavens; From breast to breast fly The charming Amoretti by the thousands, Armed with arrows and with torches.   And you, again rejoice, Delight in my arrival amidst laughing and song; Love your lovers Now, while April adorns lovely faces with flowers: Spring for you will not return forever.

Ubi Caritas – Maurice Duruflé, and Ola Gjeilo

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.   Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exsultemus et in ipso jucundemur. Timeamus et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.   Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.

Where there is charity and love, God is there.   The love of Christ has gathered us together. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let us revere and love the living God. And from a sincere heart let us love one another.   Where charity and love are, there God is.