True Concord Voices & Orchestra is doing something it’s never done: Play an outdoor concert.
On Saturday, Oct. 15, the professional choir and chamber orchestra will set up on the Alice Y Holsclaw Performance Garden stage at Tohono Chul Park for the third of its four 12th- season-opening “Music of the Four Elements” concerts this weekend.
“We’re going to see how it works for us,” said True Concord Music Director Eric Holtan. “Performing outdoors has its challenges, but I also think it could be inspiring for both the performers and listeners.”
The northwest-side park is a fitting setting for “Four Elements,” a concert that explores, earth, water, wind and fire. Holtan said the program is a perfect reminder of the “beauty of the earth and nature” that seems to have gotten lost “in the middle of a contentious elections season.”
“This is going to be an adventure,” he said. “We figured the idyllic background for a program like this at Tohono Chul gardens would be fitting.”
Aaron Copland’s choral masterpiece “In the Beginning,” which takes its text from the King James version of the Bible, represents Earth. Guest soloist mezzo-soprano Catherine Hedberg from New York City will announce the progression of Earth’s origins from “in the beginning God created the Earth” through the six days that followed, Holtan said.
Water flows from Eric Whitacre’s “Water Night” and Stephen Paulus’ “The Water is Wide.” Both composers have found a lasting home in True Concord’s repertoire over the years.
Holtan also is turning to two young rising American composers, Jake Runestad of Minneapolis and Georgia native Daniel Elder. True Concord will perform Runestad’s “The Peace of Wild Things,” which represents air.
“It’s a gorgeous piece for choir and piano,” said Holtan, who said Runestad could be the next Paulus. Paulus, a Grammy-winning composer from Minneapolis who had a close relationship with Holtan and the Tucson choir, died in 2014.
“(Runestad) is getting commissioned by organizations all over the country,” Holtan said.
Elder’s “The Brightest Heaven” fills in for fire. It’s a piece commissioned to honor the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and takes its text from “Henry V.”
Holtan said the concert will end on a jazzy note with the standard “Moon River” and a jazz setting to “Come Fly With Me,” complete with a percussion, bass and piano jazz trio. True Concord earned kudos from its audiences last season when it programmed jazz pieces alongside its classical choral works.
