There is Sweet Music Here

Chromatica Chorale invites you to "There Is Sweet Music Here: Music To Move The Soul" — two performances celebrating the enduring power of great choral music. Join us Saturday, April 25th at 7:00 PM at Peace Lutheran Church in Danville, and Sunday, April 26th at 4:00 PM at Holy Shepherd Lutheran Church in Orinda. A reception with the singers follows each concert.

Fresh from a standing ovation at their January collaboration in Santa Fe, Chromatica returns to the East Bay with a thrilling spring program that showcases the depth and versatility of the choral tradition.

Founding Artistic Director David Huff has curated a program spanning centuries and languages — with pieces sung in English, Latin, German, and Spanish, accompanied by strings. The result is an evening that moves seamlessly from the classical canon to the most exciting voices in contemporary choral music.

The concerts take their name from a setting of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "The Lotos-Eaters" by young composer Zachary Moore. His lush, evocative music frames an arc that carries listeners from contemplation to exaltation.

At the program's heart are works by the classical masters: Brahms's serene Abendlied, Schubert's beloved An Die Musik, Schumann's ardent Widmung, the Sanctus from Mozart's Requiem, and Bruckner's radiant Locus Iste — cornerstones of the choral repertoire that continue to move audiences centuries after they were written.

The program also features two contrasting settings of "Alleluia" — one by the Baroque master Buxtehude and one by Randall Thompson, whose twentieth-century version has become one of the most performed choral works in America. Contemporary pieces by Randall Stroope, Ola Gjeilo, and Dan Forrest bring the program into the present with music of vivid color and emotional immediacy.

"This program is about the things music does that nothing else can," says David Huff. "Every piece on this concert has the power to stop you in your tracks — to make you feel something deep and true. That's what 'sweet music' means to us."