Month: June 2017

“…The highlights were too numerous to mention. The Copley Singers provided several, including a compelling reading of Samuel Barber’s “Agnus Dei,” which uses the music of his Adagio pretty much intact and thus (thanks partly to Oliver Stone’s film “Platoon”) carries resonances appropriate to this occasion; and a powerful setting of “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” by a choir member, Andrew Clarkson. The Young People’s Chorus was appealing in numbers picked up on a tour of South America. The Bach Choir of Bethlehem sang a Brahms motet (“Lass Dich Nur Nichts”) with all the polish and fervor that it brought to cantatas by its namesake.”

“…When an artist takes a risk—such as leaving behind more lucrative careers to all in with one’s art—some doubt is inevitable. “It’s still in the back of my mind,” Clarkson confides as we sit in St. Paul’s chapel. This from a man who wrote a piece the year after the 9/11 attacks that was singled out in The New York Times when played at a choral festival commemorating the 10-year anniversary. Why on earth would there be any hesitation at this point in his career?”