Moving Between Light and Darkness. A fitting concert title for any choral performance in the world, as singers have had to negotiate the reality of COVID. At shutdown two years ago there was darkness. In 2020 the benign act of singing killed good people in a good choir in a good town in the good state of Washington. It was a tremendous blow to those of us whose lives involve singing. There were many months of darkness until a flicker of light; medical miracles. Summer 2021 looked so very hopeful, until it wasn’t; the Delta variant plunged singers back into the dark and Omicron followed. As the new year progressed, light blossomed; the possibility of a safe, in-person rehearsal period became reality. The Bremerton Symphony Chorale, after a two-year hiatus, met in-person on February 22, 2022, vaccinated, masked, distanced, and thrilled to hear another human voice singing nearby.
We begin Friday’s concert with Eric Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs. Each poem captures a moment that the composer and poet shared together. Sung in Hebrew, it tells a story of light and darkness, wonder and fulfillment. Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem follows; it is one of choral music’s most beloved works. First performed in 1888 but not fully completed until 1900, it prayerfully calls for the eternal rest of those who have died and entreats angels to lead the souls of the dead into the light of paradise. Glow, by Eric Whitacre, completes the evening’s narrative with a message of hope, joy, and light.