The Everett Chorale continues to celebrate its 40th anniversary season with “An American Heritage Celebration” concert this weekend in Everett. The 80-voice choral ensemble will welcome 47 members of the Everett Symphony to accompany their performance of patriotic music by American composers.
Performances are at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Everett Performing Arts Center.
The concert will open with “A Testament of Freedom,” a patriotic choral classic by Randall Thompson. “This renowned American composer sets the words of Thomas Jefferson in a dramatic style that will surely send shivers up your spine,” according to Everett Chorale conductor Lee Mathews.
The piece was originally written for male voices with piano accompaniment; the composer later arranged it for mixed voices and a full orchestra to heighten the drama of the patriotic text.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson and Mary Fears, director of Habitat for Humanity of Snohomish County, will join the chorale and orchestra on stage during the second half of the concert for the West Coast premiere of “From the Journals of Lewis and Clark” by Northwest composer Daniel Bukvich. Stephanson and Fears will perform speaking parts during the musical performance, stating Thomas Jefferson’s instructions to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they embarked on one of the greatest expeditions in American history.
Everett Chorale presents patriotic music by American composers at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett. $14, $10 students and seniors, at the box office or by calling 425-257-8600. |
Commissioned by Montana’s Great Falls Symphony in 1999, Bukvich’s composition recounts the adventures of Lewis and Clark as related in their famous journals. Musical movements include:
*”Cruzatte’s Fiddle”;
* “Omne Solum Forti Patria,” taken from Jefferson’s family coat of arms;
* “Scalp Dance of the Teton Sioux”;
* “Bird Woman,” a reference to Sacagawea;
* “Captain Clark’s Spelling”;
* “A Roaring Too Tremendious,” which refers to the Great Falls of the Missouri River;
* “Lullaby for Jean Baptiste,” Sacagawea’s son, who was born on the journey;
* “Each One’s Preference was Recorded,” a recounting of the historic vote taken during the journey that included both a woman and an African-American.
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