Counterpoint, Vermont’s premier vocal ensemble, presents a free concert reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic. The eclectic musical program features choral elegies from various faith traditions that explore the ways we mourn and honor those whom our communities have lost. Musical selections include the Funeral Hymn by Gustav Holst, based on an ancient Hindu text; Ludwig van Beethoven’s consoling Elegiac Song; the setting of an Ancient Greek invocation to the ruler of the Underworld by Felix Mendelssohn; and Pete Seeger’s humane meditation on the approach of death. In addition, the concert will include works arising directly from the pandemic: Argentine composer Ana Leira Carnero’s moving lament for health-care workers, a set of madrigals inspired by Covid isolation by Brian Banks, and a specially commissioned work by Burlington composer Don Jamison and Vermont poet Abigail Carroll. The music will be interspersed with poetry readings chosen by local poets in collaboration with MCL, combining the universality of choral music with the intimacy of poetry to reflect on our shared experience.
This program is funded in part by generous grants from Choral Arts New England, the Vermont Arts Council, and the Concert Artist Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation.
Please visit mclvt.org for more information about local participating poets as it becomes available.