Sounds of Stow Chorus & Orchestra announces their 48th season — the music of CONNECTIONS.
Join us for this unique season which connects past to present, culture to culture, through the magic of music, which we can only create together!
Stylistic traditions and techniques spanning centuries are evident in selections for the November 22, 2026 concert, featuring Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem. Though composed in 1947, Duruflé based this work on the plainsong themes of the Mass for the Dead, various texts of which date back to ancient Jewish prayers and early Christian services. Gregorian chants provide the source of flowing melodies; harmonic colors reflect the influence of compatriots Ravel and Debussy. Performed in an appropriately resonant and beautiful space, his setting for chorus, organ, strings, trumpets, and timpani will fulfill Duruflé’s vision “of peace, of faith, and of hope.”
Very different connections are explored on April 11, 2027 in Christopher Tin’s The Drop that Contained the Sea. Tin explains, the title is borrowed from a Sufi concept: “a single drop of water contains the essence of the entire ocean, {just as} inside every human being is the essence of all humanity”. The composer explores many forms of water — a drop, mist, clouds, snow, mountain streams, rivers, the ocean, a hurricane, concluding with welcome, life-giving rain, which nourishes crops and feeds the people. Each of ten movements vividly creates these forms of water, through chorus and soloists reflecting a wide-range of cultures – offering contrasts of styles, but connections through unity of subject and purpose.
This past spring, our April 2026 performance of To Shiver the Sky introduced Tin’s compelling music and message of hope to a wide audience. The Drop that Contained the Sea offers another opportunity to explore music that spans the globe, yet connects us all through its moving and ultimately joyous celebration.
On June 6, 2027, the Sounds of Stow Chorus will present “Hearts Full of Hope,” in which we will explore music that connects us to each other in our hopes for a better world, with piano and other instruments accompanying.
Rehearsals are Monday nights, 7:00 – 9:15 p.m., in the Fellowship Hall of the former First Parish of Stow/Acton, now called the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in the Assabet Valley (UUCAV), 353 Great Road, Stow, MA. Same space, different name!
OPEN REHEARSALS: August 31, September 7, and September 14.
Invite your singing friends, neighbors, and colleagues to come check us out for these no-commitment rehearsals!
Barbara Jones
July 27, 2026
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.