Our choir is celebrating its 60th anniversary next year, and we’re beginning our search for repertoire.
We need suggestions for pieces for choir and orchestra and/or string/wind ensemble that are relatively easy for our members to learn (about 80% don’t read music), ideally by a contemporary composer, and something that will easily connect with our audience. We also prefer shorter compositions so we can include a variety of pieces in our concert program.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Best regards,
Roger
SanfordDole says
Hello! My recent composition “All is Beauty,” based on texts by John Muir, might fit your programming needs for your 60th anniversary concert. Running 17:30, “All is Beauty” is scored for SATB choir and soloists, with chamber orchestra of woodwind quintet, strings, and timpani. The texts are excerpts from six of Muir’s books that discuss the beauty of nature and his recommendation to go out and enjoy it. Beginning with a single french horn note depicting the stillness of night there is a sunrise as the different sections of the ensemble enters. Then there are six movements that run together, with themes from the first three echoed and developed in the last three.
The recording can be found here: https://www.baychoralguild.org/2025-03-beethoven-brahms-beauty.html
Contact me at if you want to see the score.
-Sanford Dole
Keane Southard says
Hi Roger,
I have a piece that might fit what you are looking for. “A Day of Sunshine” is a setting of three poems by Longfellow for chorus and orchestra. It won the 2010 Longfellow Chorus International Composers Cantata Competition and was a finalist in the 2013 Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra Young Composers Competition. It’s about 15 minutes long, but the middle movement, which the whole set is named after, can be performed separately and is about 4-5 minutes:
https://youtu.be/XWWdK_uueaw?si=q8grIHhKaN9Ithsh
Here is more info including a complete recording:
https://keanesouthard.com/a-day-of-sunshine