IDENTITY: reclaimed
Sunday, November 19, 2023 3PM
Church of the Covenant
67 Newbury St, Boston, MA 02116
ALBERTO GINASTERA, The Lamentations of Jeremiah
JAMES MACMILLAN, Cantos Sagrados
MAURICE DURUFLÉ, Requiem
Clare McNamara, mezzo soprano
Taras Leschishin, baritone
Eugene Kim, cello
Heinrich Christensen, organ
IDENTITY: reclaimed encompasses three works that explore the reclamation of individual identity in times of violent struggle, culture war, or political oppression. Troublingly relevant to narratives of today from Uganda to our own backyard in Worcester, MacMillan, Durufle, and Ginastera collectively demand we not let these souls “fall into darkness.” Alberto Ginastera’s The Lamentations of Jeremiah, launches the program, painting a haunting narrative of the fall of Jerusalem that echoes the devastation of war, the pain of exile, and the persecution of the opposition in his homeland. Cantos Sagrados (Sacred Songs), by Scottish composer James MacMillan, is a powerful choral drama weaving poems by Argentinian-Chilean and Guatemalan poets Ariel Dorfman & Ana Maria Mendoza, with the text of the Requiem mass. Cantos explores themes of conquest of indigenous people, political repression, and the "disappearance" of political prisoners. The program concludes with Maurice Duruflé's exquisite and transcendent Requiem, written after the suffering of World War II, which resonates with forgiveness, consolation, and eternal light.
