Voices of Ascension with Beth Willer: Canticle of the Sun

Voices of Ascension proudly welcomes Beth Willer as our Featured Guest Conductor for the season’s culminating performance. Founder and Artistic Director of the celebrated Boston-based Lorelei Ensemble and Director of Choral Activities at the Peabody Conservatory, Willer is a fearless champion of music that bridges tradition and innovation.

Contemplate eternity through sound, memory, and the spaces we inhabit. Conceived by Guest Conductor Beth Willer, this reflective program asks what outlasts us, what we inherit, and what we pass forward. Music by Sofia Gubaidulina, Ellen Reid, Olivier Messiaen, and a world premiere by Celeste Oram unfolds within the Church of the Ascension’s resonant space and landmark organ—a French instrument specifically designed for the works of Messiaen, and played here by by Messiaen expert Jon Gillock.
Cello soloist Tommy Mesa stars in Gubaidulina’s epic Sonnengesang (Canticle of the Sun) for cello, chorus, and a massive percussion battery, originally written for Mtslav Rostropovich. Ellen Reid’s choral piece Oscillations: 100 years and forever is a choral meditation on place that receives its East Coast premiere, with the LA-inspired video imagery reworked in a more local angle. New Zealand/New York composer Celeste Oram offers a world premiere for chorus, organ and found percussion inspired by The Tempest, titled All my salt falls short.