Tucson choir explores peace in 23rd season opening concert

Peace not only in the sense of no more wars and violence, but deeper, more personal like the peace at the center of John Corigliano’s lyrical “Fern Hill” that opened the concert’s second half. The choir’s powerful, soaring performance was matched by a terrific solo turn from mezzo-soprano Catherine Hedberg in Corigliano’s cinematic and dramatic setting of Dylan Thomas’ poem.

The peace of nature was at the center of “Imagine We Are Trees” from longtime True Concord vocalist and co-artist-in-residence Timothy C. Takach. Taken from his multi-movement work “We Are Phoenix” that True Concord co-commissioned, Takach’s lovely setting of Julia Klatt Singer’s poetry traced the enduring bond between trees from the time they were about to bud to dropping limbs and shedding leaves.

“American Classics & Currents,” which opened Friday with a concert in Green Valley and repeated Sunday at Catalina Foothills High School, picks up where Music Director Eric Holtan and True Concord left off last season — exploring America and the music that defines us as we mark 250 years.

Holtan’s program, though, does not sugarcoat America’s history behind a red, white and blue flag of heart-thumping patriotism. The program balances the pride with the prejudice, including pointing out the disparities and injustices in “Where They Are Sung” from Jeffrey Derus, winner of True Concord’s ninth annual Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition.

Derus, in a setting of poetry by 19th-century abolitionist and suffragist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, created an emotional and poignant plea for peace.

The choir found its biggest voice in a solemn and heartfelt performance of Paulus’s “Pilgrims’ Hymn” and made its biggest statement with a sublime delivery of Randall Thompson’s ”Allelula,” an emotional and powerfully nuanced message delivered through a single word.

Holtan closed “American Classics & Currents” with William Grant Still’s “Plain-Chant for America,” based on a 1941 poem by Katherine Garrison Chapin.

Throughout the performance, as soaring soprano voices folded into the soulful and somber soundscape of steady baritones and powerful basses, Holtan never allowed Still’s urgent message to preserve democracy at all costs to become a desperate beg. Under his baton, it sounded more hopeful, like a promise.

True Concord continues its “The American Experience: Our Nation Sings” season with “Voices United” Nov. 13-15. For tickets and more information, visit trueconcord.org.