What better way to celebrate a big milestone than with another moment of great significance?
In honor of Elgin Master Chorale’s 75th anniversary, the group will perform the North American premiere of “The World Imagined” by acclaimed British composer Gabriel Jackson.
“One of the exciting things about commissioning a composer of the stature of Gabriel Jackson is he has one of the world’s best music publishers behind him, and that’s Oxford Publishing,” said Maestro Andrew Lewis, music director of the Chorale. “The music is already published, so it means it’s going to get very wide distribution. And we’re excited about that because this is a work we helped bring into existence.”
The piece is one of two works that will be performed during the Chorale’s final concert of the season at 3:30 p.m. May 15 at Elgin Community College’s Blizzard Theatre.
Hoss Brock, Lyric Opera tenor soloist, along with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, will join the 70-member chorale.
More Top Picks Best Utv Windshields For Side By Sides
“We’re very excited. It’s a great program. It’s a substantial, very entertaining program, but also not too long,” Lewis said.
The concert will open with a piece by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a British composer of African descent. Coleridge-Taylor wrote in the late 19th century and early 20th century in the high romantic style, Lewis said.
“He wrote a whole oratorio on Hiawatha, and we’re performing one of the cantatas from that called ‘Hiawatha’s Wedding Feast,’ which is based on the (Henry Wadsworth) Longfellow poem,” Lewis said. “The premiere of this was in 1898, and it was the toast of London. It was hugely popular and rivaled popularity even in (Felix) Mendelssohn’s ‘Elijah’ and (George Frideric) Handel’s ‘Messiah.’ And Handel’s ‘Messiah’ is possibly the most famous classical work of all-time. And in its day, this was more popular even than that.”
“The piece is very evocative, very colorful. It’s charming, it’s tuneful, has a lot of rhythmic vitality to it,” he said. “And it’s also for a large orchestra and chorus and tenor solo, just like Gabriel’s work.”
Jackson’s “The World Imagined” is “a very uplifting work” that is original and engaging, Lewis said.
“It’s very exciting and then of course it has slower beautiful moments as well,” he said.
Co-commissioned by Elgin Master Chorale with the prestigious Three Choirs Festival in England, “The World Imagined” made its debut in the United Kingdom.
“They gave the world premiere last summer, and we were supposed to have given the North American premiere also about a year ago, but COVID hit and we couldn’t do it,” Lewis said. “So we’re doing it now.”
The result of a three-year collaboration, the approximately 45-minute piece is for large orchestra, choir and tenor soloist. Jackson set to the words of various poets.
“He’s very sensitive to texts and poetry. And he chose these five texts, really kind of disparate texts, very different types of poetry, and put them together,” Lewis said. Each poem separately discusses different aspects of the world. Included are works from Samuel Ha-Nagid, poet from the 10th-11th century; 19th century poet Giacomo Leopardi and 20th century poet Doris Kareva.
Another movement combines poetry from Walt Whitman from the 19th century, Kenneth White from the 20th century and St. Ambrose from the fourth century.
“And then the fifth movement is a poem by Wallace Stevens, Wallace Stevens writing in the first half of the 20th century,” Lewis said.
The piece runs about 45-50 minutes long. “The movements are very distinct, the five movements, but they also do flow right into each other so it will feel like one longer, extended work but with some clear delineation,” Lewis said.
A preconcert discussion about “The World Imagined” with Jackson and Lewis will be held at 2:30 p.m. May 15.
“Gabriel Jackson is coming all the way from the United Kingdom to our performance,” Lewis said. “He will be there to have a preconcert discussion. I’m really, really thrilled that Gabriel is coming to Elgin for this.”
Calling the Elgin Master Chorale “one of the premiere organizations of its kind in the region,” Lewis said it is a real honor to be the group’s musical director, a role he has had for the past 18 years.
“This is a group of people who love to sing. They love high quality music and strive for excellence in our performance of that music. We just have a great time,” he said. “It’s really a kind of contagious, positive energy that we all have with each other and we love to share that with our audience. Especially thinking 75 years now. That’s really quite a legacy.”
Elgin Master Chorale Concert’s ‘The World Imagined’
When: 3:30 p.m. May 15 (preconcert discussion at 2:30 p.m.)
Where: Elgin Community College Blizzard Theatre, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin
Tickets: $29 adults; $24 seniors/students
Information: 847-622-0300; elginmasterchorale.org
More Top Picks Ninja Foodi Digital Oven
Kathy Cichon is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.