The Arizona Masterworks Chorale joins the Carolyn Eynon Singers for the Phoenix premiere of Elaine Hagenberg’s “Illuminare,” consisting of five movements for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra. Using lesser-known sacred Latin, Greek, and English texts, the piece takes us through a season of beauty and goodness that has been disrupted by darkness and confusion. But as Light gradually returns, hope is restored, illuminating our future and guiding us in peace.
Each choir performs a set from their recent programs, as well as combining for the rousing “Elijah Rock” by noted arranger Jester Hairston.
Performed by the Arizona Masterworks Chorale
I am not yours, not lost in you,
Not lost, although I long to be
Lost as a candle lit at noon,
Lost as a snowflake in the sea.
You love me, and I find you still
A spirit beautiful and bright,
Yet I am I, who long to be
Lost as a light is lost in light.
Oh plunge me deep in love—put out
My senses, leave me deaf and blind,
Swept by the tempest of your love,
A taper in a rushing wind.
O Lux beatissima
Réple córdis íntima
Tuórum fidelium
Accénde lúmen sénsibus,
Infúnde amórem córdibus,
Infírma nostri córporis,
Virtúte fírmans pérpeti
O light most blessed,
Fill the inmost heart
Of all thy faithful
Enkindle your light in our minds
Infuse your love into our hearts
Strengthen the frailties of our flesh
By your perpetual power.
All we are, we have found in song:
You have drawn this song from us
Songs of lives unfolding
Fly overhead, cry overhead:
Longing, rising from the song within
Moving like the rise and fall of wings
Hands that shape our calling voice
On the edge of answers
You’ve heard our cry, you’ve known our cry:
Music’s fierce compassion flows from you
The night is restless with the sounds we hear
Is broken, shaken by the cries of pain:
For this is music’s inner voice
Saying, yes, we hear you
All you who cry aloud
And we will fly, answering you:
So our lives sing, sing
Wild we will fly
Wild in spirit we will fly
Like a feather falling from the wing
Fragile as a human voice
Afraid, uncertain
Alive to love, we sing as love
Afraid, uncertain
Yet our flight begins as song
Performed by the Combined Choirs
The program is subject to change without notice