Jan. 25: Sacred Sounds at Cathedral Church of St. Luke

The Central Florida Composers Forum and the Cathedral Church of St. Luke proudly announce Sacred Sounds, a collaborative concert of contemporary spiritual music. Under the direction of Benjamin Lane, spiritual and sacred music will be performed by the adult choirs of the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, along with their Orlando Deanery Boychoir, Girls’ Choir. Guest instrumentalists include cellist Shona McFadyen-Mungall and the Orlando Brass Quintet (Rick Ingoglia and Ken Cutler, trumpets; Michael Barr, French horn; Ben Kon trombone; and William Miller, Tuba). Admission is free.

This will be a fascinating, diverse, and emotionally moving program. Carl Maultsby’s “I Hear Music in the Air” for children’s choir and organ is based upon and evokes the rich history of U.S. slave spirituals, while Keith Lay’s “Wonderous Love” is a 20th century arrangement of the 19th century Southern folk hymn that expresses awe at the love of God.

Benjamin Lane’s epic and joyful “Te Deum” for choir, organ and brass quintet, Michael Miller and Benjamin Lane’s collaborative “Let the People Praise You” for choir, organ, and brass quintet, and Stan Cording’s celebratory “Praise Ye the Lord” for choir and organ all evoke the celebratory and triumphal side of much sacred music while Glenn Osbourne’s chromatic “God, Your Golden Doorway Beckons” for children’s choir and piano highlights a more reflective side of the sacred.

Charles Griffin has two works on the program, a gut-wrenching setting of Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Pieta” for solo mezzo soprano, cello and organ, and “Out of nothingness,” for choir, organ and percussion, which weaves together fragments of poetic texts by various Sufi mystics and evokes non-Western spiritual dance traditions that rely on trance states.

Benoit Glazer’s “Into the Light (Prelude and Fugue in C minor)” for trumpet and organ was written specifically for this concert and marries elements of the improvisatory spirit of Jazz with the rigor of baroque counterpoint as found in the work of the Baroque master of church music, J.S. Bach.

Always Park Free. You can now park anytime 24/7 in the Regions Tower Garage. Entering the up-ramp on Washington, receive an Entrance ticket. At the Cathedral, pick up an Exit ticket from an usher. Using the two tickets, exit the garage free of charge. And street meters are still free all day on Sundays.

For more information call or text 407.951.0550.