VOX PHILIA PRESENTS

THE LIGHT OF LOVE

MAY 21, 2023 AT 7:30PM

IMMANUEL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

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Join us on Sunday, May 21 at 7:30 pm for Vox Philia’s The Light of Love. The performance includes two major works by living composers: James Whitbourn’s Luminosity and Jake Runestad’s The Hope of Loving, in its regional premiere. The choir will also present the world premiere of Berks County composer David Himes’ Euclid.

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Luminosity is a multi-media work that premiered at the Philadelphia Cathedral in April 2008. Its text, compiled and edited by the composer, centers on the transcendent beauty of creation expressed by luminaries down the ages, with texts by St. John, St. Teresa of Avila, Ryonen, St Augustine, Julian of Norwich, and St Isaac of Nineveh. The concert includes dance, choreographed by Jennifer Parker Scott.

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Euclid is an energetic, rhythmic a cappella SATB choral piece by David Himes. The text, a children's poem by American Nicholas Vachel Lindsay, tells of Euclid and his grey-bearded friends drawing circles on a beach and arguing about geometry. All the while, a child stands nearby and tries to figure out why they are drawing pictures of the moon.

Jake Runestad’s The Hope of Loving is written for chorus, solo voices, and string quartet. The composer writes that the texts he sets are “writings inspired by spiritual mystics throughout history to explore the idea of love and its manifestation in our lives…I have endeavored to capture various ways we, as humans, respond to and act on our idea of love; hopefully creating opportunities for introspection and realization.”

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Join Vox Philia and members of Berks Sinfonietta for an evening of inspired music that explores themes of light and love. All ticket revenue will be donated to Helping Harvest. Tickets are $15/Adult and $5/Students, and can be purchased in advance at https://buytickets.at/voxphilia/876835 or at the door.