Bel Canto Cedar Valley will present its Fall Concert - 

The Dark and the Light

at 2:00pm on November 17th, 2013

at Zion Lutheran Church

(810 Kimball Ave. Waterloo, IA 50702).

Admission is $5. 

Be Not Afraid - Nystedt

Plorate Filii Israel - Carissimi

My Song in the Night - arr. Paul Christiansen

Awake the Trumpets Lofty Sound - Handel

I Am Not Yours - David Childs

She is my slender small love - Eric Thiman

Sehnsucht  - Brahms

Neckereien - Brahms

Still, Still, Still - arr. Luboff 

A Merry Christmas - arr. Arthur Warrell

To be Sung on the Water - Barber

Just as the Tide Was Flowing - Vaughan Williams

In Flanders Field - Daley

There Will Be Rest - Ticheli

Soon-Ah Will Be Done - arr. Dawson

Rockin' Jerusalem - André Thomas

The concept for this program began with a scattered pile of music on my office floor. I was having a difficult time developing a program that I was excited about and had started just tossing down music I like, regardless of theme, composer, language, or time period. Looking at the cacophony of scores, I noticed Be Not Afraid sitting on Plorate, Filii Israel. Plorate, Filli Israel comes from Carissimi’s oratorio based on the Biblical story of Jephte, the Israeli chieftain who goes out to battle against the Ammonites. On the eve of the battle Jephte prays for victory and vows that whoever first comes out of his house to meet him surely must belong to God, and therefore would be sacrificed.

He is victorious - but tragically, upon his return home, his only daughter rushes out to greet him. Jephte is grieved, but stands by his vow to sacrifice her. In stark contrast to the story of Isaac, there is no white ram, no one to stand between this child and her father. Before her death, she spends time in the mountains with her maidens, lamenting. This picture of a young girl saying goodbye to her friends, her family, and to her plans for a future has always been deeply moving to me. I have often wondered if she found comfort during that time, if perhaps God spoke to her saying, “Be not afraid for I am with thee. Tremble not, for I am thy God!”

And so, from the fortuitous pairing of these two very different songs came the theme for our concert: The Dark and The Light. Each of today’s pairs are connected in different ways, some deep, some superficial. But together they paint a rich musical tapestry that demonstrates the power of music to speak to all aspects of the human condition - high, low, narrow, wide, laughter, tears.

Thank you to Zion Lutheran Church for hosting us!