Radiant music that refuses to sit still

Summer Festival

Program Sponsors

Catherine and Guy Gronquist

Conductor

Joshua Habermann

Artistic Director

The Baroque era—roughly 1600 to 1750—gave the world some of the most emotionally vivid and architecturally stunning music ever written. This ornate music is based in contrasts: gentle and thunderous, intimate and grand, all within the same breath. Sixteen professional singers will be joined by organ, cello, and theorbo to perform several of the greatest choral hits from this defining era. At the heart of the program stands Bach’s magnificent Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, in which two full choirs interweave in a soaring, jubilant dialogue. The Chorale will divide into ten different voice parts for Scarlatti’s achingly beautiful Stabat Mater, a meditation on grief and love. These two works pair familiar genius with the rediscovered brilliance of Barbara Strozzi and Chiara Margarita Cozzolani. Award-winning composer Marek Raczyński, selected by the Desert Chorale’s Commissioning Club, will also craft a new choral work in response to Bach’s inspiring motet.

A pre-concert lecture presented by James Kennerley will be available to all this summer through an on-demand video.

Artwork: Radiant Sky by Erin Hanson, erinhanson.com