The choral group Camerata d’Amici will present “This Shining Night” on Sunday, February 24, at 4 p.m. at South Salem Presbyterian Church, 111 Spring St., South Salem, NY. Dr. Kristin Sponheim will conduct the ensemble of singers from Fairfield and Westchester counties in a performance of works on the wonder of evening.
“Composers draw inspiration from the night,” said Dr. Sponheim. “It’s that time each day, away from the noise and chaos of the world, when we have an opportunity to reflect, remember, renew and dream. The music in this concert captures the many moods associated with the night.”
The first half of Camerata’s concert features choral images of the night and its ability to inspire us. Daniel Elder’s “Ballade to the Moon” depicts the narrator’s sense of awe during a moonlit walk. The Camerata men will sing Franz Schubert’s “Der Gondelfahrer,” a song describing the joy felt by a Venetian gondolier guiding his boat among the moonbeams late at night. With Claude Debussy’s “Nuit d’étoiles,” the Camerata women sing of the longing for lost love under the canopy of stars at night.
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In the second half, night becomes the setting for a deeper examination of the human spirit and its resilience. Joan Szymko sets to music Wendell Barry’s powerful poem, “The Peace of Wild Things,” which speaks of the healing and freedom inherent in the natural world. Gwyneth Walker’s arrangement of the Appalachian song, “Every Night (When the Sun Goes Down),” focuses on the transcendence of hope in the midst of the darkness of night.
Tickets at the door are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, and $10 for children 12 and under. Advance tickets, with a reduced ticket price for adults of $20, may be purchased by sending a check to Camerata d’Amici at P.O. Box 74, Ridgefield, CT 06877. For more information, email info@cameratadamici.org, or go to www.cameratadamici.org.
