NEW YORK (PRWEB) September 26, 2006
A gutsy music festival featuring premieres of nine bold works from Eastern and Western religious traditions, a rarely performed spiritual composition by legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck and a transformative intercultural concert that weaves sacred music from earliest biblical times to the “golden age” of medieval Spain, when Islamic, Christian and Jewish faiths enjoyed an unrivaled harmony, will be held at Merkin Concert Hall in New York Nov. 4-5.
The second Festival of Universal Sacred Music, produced and sponsored by the nonprofit Foundation for Universal Sacred Music (http://www.universalsacredmusic.org), will feature the first performances of extraordinary commissioned works by some of the world’s foremost contemporary sacred music composers, including Emmy and Juno Award winners.
“The festival dares to juxtapose and integrate musical and religious styles and customs in ways that we believe will open people’s minds and hearts,” says foundation Executive Director Ullamaija Kivimaki. “The courageous, healing music will help us celebrate our diversity while at the same time recognize all that we share in common. And through this, it can give us a sacred musical experience far richer and fuller than that of any single tradition.”
The foundation’s purpose is to help bridge the spiritual differences that divide the world today by fostering the creation and promotion of music that reflects the unifying and unconditional love of God.
Under the music directorship of conductor Susanne Peck, the festival’s nine commissioned works will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Reserved seats are $ 35. Brubeck’s piece will be performed during Saturday night’s concert. The intercultural concert will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, with reserved seats $ 30.
Discounted Festival Passes, with reserved seats for all three concerts, are available for only $ 90. Groups, senior citizens and students are eligible for further discounts.
Complimentary receptions, during which audience members may meet the composers and musicians, follow the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon concerts.
Commissioned compositions and composers at the festival include:
“To God of All Nations,” a four-movement choral and instrumental piece, composed by University of Toronto professor and Hong Kong native Ka Nin Chan, that interweaves passages from the Bible, Koran and Buddhist writings to express the diversity of faiths and the oneness of God.
“The Family of God,” a harmonic, contrapuntal piece in four sections, by Emmy Award-winning Stephen Cohn of Los Angeles, observing the divisions humanity has created from its religious differences.
“Mandala for Dawn,” a musical mantra, by Kim Cunio of Sydney, Australia, of a soul’s liberation to light from darkness, as well as compassion, mercy and emptiness, following the killing of Dawn Griggs, a dear friend of the Cunio’s, who was murdered on her arrival in New Delhi for a meditation retreat; featuring the angelic voice of concert soprano soloist Heather Lee, winner of an ARIA award.
“Woods: A Prose Sonnet,” by Julie Dolphin of Purchase, N.Y., articulating an aural forest that celebrates the universal sum of love that rejoices in the beauty of life’s diversity as an expression of its inherent and coherent unity.
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Gutsy Sacred Music Festival Features 9 World Premieres, Dave Brubeck Work, Intercultural Concert
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