Portara Ensemble Presents:
Beatitudes - blessings for a
beautiful, broken world
Sunday, February 23, 2025

Jason Shelton, Artistic Director
Patrick Dunnevant, Assistant Director
Horacio Guendulain, Accompanist

Program

Welcome to an evening of unexpected blessings, as the Sermon on the Mount teaches us to find value in the humble and meek, in those who do the work of justice, and in those who bring peace, hope, and healing where it is most desperately needed.

Matthew 5: 3-10 (English Standard Version)
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Welcome
Jason Shelton, Artistic Director

Beatitudes
Words: Matthew 5:3-10; Music: Patrick Hawes (2017)
Patrick Dunnevant, Conductor

I.The Poor in Spirit
II. Those Who Mourn
III. The Meek
IV. Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness
V. The Merciful
VI. The Pure in Heart
VII. The Peacemakers
VIII. Those Who Are Persecuted for Righteousness’ Sake

Presented without break between movements - please hold applause until the end

 Concert Partner Introduction
Holston Habitat for Humanity

The New Colossus
Words: Emma Lazarus; Music: Saunder Choi (2018)

O Vos Omnes
Words: Lamentations 1:12; Music: David Childs (2000)
Amy Darrow, solo

Love Is Little
Words & Music: Shaker Song (Kentucky, 1834); arr. Kevin Siegfried (1997)
Josh Post, solo

Hold On
Words & Music: Trad. Spiritual, 19th century; arr. Moses Hogan (2002)

Belong
Words: Marisha Chamberlain; Music: Jocelyn Hagen (2017)

Ubi Caritas
Words: Trad. Latin hymn, 8th century; Music: Ola Gjeilo (2007)

All Works of Love
Words: Mother Teresa; Music: Joan Szymko (2010)

I Am Willing
Words & Music: Holly Near (2006)
Molly Lins, solo

Hymn for America
Words: Michael Dennis Browne; Music: Stephen Paulus (2004)

Program Notes

Beatitudes
Words: Matthew 5:3-10; Music: Patrick Hawes (2017)

Patrick Hawes is an English composer who has made his mark as a torchbearer of the English musical tradition. He is best known for writing the Highgrove Suite for HRH Prince (now King) Charles; for being composer-in-residence at the UK’s largest classical music station - Classic FM; and for the number one album Angel. He has written for Voces8, the choir of New College Oxford, Julian Lloyd Webber, and Hayley Westenra on albums that have all reached number one of the classical charts.

The New Colossus
Words: Emma Lazarus; Music: Saunder Choi (2018)

Saunder Choi is a Los Angeles-based Filipino composer and choral artist whose works have been performed internationally by various groups including Conspirare, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Chorale, World Youth Choir, Brightwork New Music, People Inside Electronics, and many others. Saunder believes in music as advocacy, using the media as a platform for diversity, equity, inclusion, justice. His compositions are focused on narratives and conversations surrounding immigration, racial justice, LGBTQ+ advocacy, climate justice, and representations of his identity as a Filipino-Chinese.

Note from the composer: “I chose to set Emma Lazarus’ poem The New Colossus (famously engraved on the base of the Statue of Liberty) because it makes sacrosanct the principle that the United States of America has been and will always be a nation of immigrants, regardless of xenophobic political ideologies. The notion of condemning immigration is against the concept of liberty and the land of the free. In this setting, I chose to only set the last few lines, arguably the more famous part of the poem. The post-minimalistic approach of relentless pulse and repetition is interspersed with a warm, lush section of hope and welcome.”

‘Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’

O Vos Omnes
Words: Lamentations 1:12; Music: David Childs (2000)

These lines from the book of Lamentations have long been a favorite of choral composers looking to give voice to the devastating power of grief and loss. Composer David Childs was previously professor of choral activities at Vanderbilt, and is now based in Dallas. This setting was written in memory of the composer’s father.

O vos omnes qui transitis per viam,
attendite et videte:
Si est dolor similis sicut dolor meus.

O all you who walk by on the road,
attend and see:
If there be any sorrow like my sorrow.

Love Is Little
Words & Music: Shaker Song (Kentucky, 1834); arr. Kevin Siegfried (1997)

From the arranger: “The words “little” and “low” appear frequently in Shaker songs to invoke the tenets of simplicity and humility so central to Shaker life. There is perhaps no better expression of Shakerism than this simple song from South Union, Kentucky.”

Love is little, love is low,
Love will make my spirit grow.
Grow in peace, grow in light,
Love will do the thing that’s right.

Hold On
Trad. Spiritual, late 19th century
Arr. Moses Hogan (2002)

Until his untimely death in 2003, Moses Hogan was one of the most celebrated contemporary directors and arrangers of spirituals. In his short life, he created dozens of new original arrangements of classic spirituals, and formed several choirs that performed them with new vitality.

Nora, Nora, let me come in, 
The doors’ all fastened and the windows pinned. 
Keep your hand on the plow and hold on!

Nora said you done lost track, 
You can’t plow straight and keep looking back.
Keep your hand on the plow and hold on!

If you wanna get to heaven let me tell you how, 
Just keep your hand on the gospel plow. 
If that plow stays in your hand, 
Land you straight in the promised land.

Mary had a golden chain, 
Every link spelled my Jesus’ name. 
Keep on climbing and don’t you tire. 
Every rung goes higher and higher.

Belong
Words: Marisha Chamberlain; Music: Jocelyn Hagen (2017)

From the poet, Marisha Chamberlain:

In a nation increasingly, wonderfully diverse, the need to belong takes on a new poignancy. Humans are social creatures. We need to belong. Alfred Adler, Freud’s rebel disciple, tells us that the drive to belong is as essential to survival as any other drive, and may be the primary drive.

The lyrics for this anthem were written expressly for young voices. As kids grow up, the challenge of finding friends and love becomes especially fierce. Kids must go forth and make new homes. This requires reaching out to others, and risking rejection. So much risk, so much trial and error. The quest to find a place to belong also requires the young person to decide what they believe. What does it mean to have something in common? On what basis will I belong? Hate binds people into belonging. But, very fortunately, so does love.

 Home is home no longer.
(When) I’m grown and gone,
Where will I belong?

Could I belong with you?
Could I shelter and share bread with you?
Could we belong?

The house is sold.
The family scatters.
Sisters, brothers far away.

Could you belong with me?
Would you shelter and share bread with me?
Could we belong?

Our country boils with anger.
Bullets fly, friendships shatter.
Life is short. But life, it matters.

Come, you belong with me.
We’ll shelter and share bread together.
We belong.

Ubi Caritas
Words: Trad. Latin; Music: Ola Gjeilo (2007)

Ubi Caritas is a hymn of the Western Church, long used as one of the antiphons for the washing of feet on Maundy Thursday. Its text is attributed to Paulinus of Aquileia in 796. This setting by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo is one of the most-performed choral works of the 21st century.

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

All Works of Love
Words: Mother Teresa; Music: Joan Szymko (2010)

Mother Teresa was the founder of the Order of the Missionaries of Charity, a Roman Catholic congregation of women dedicated to helping the poor. Considered one of the 20th Century's greatest humanitarians, she was canonized as Saint Teresa of Calcutta in 2016.

Composer Joan Szymko lives and works in Portland, Oregon in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She serves as Artistic Director emerita for Aurora Chorus, which she led for 26 years. A dynamic conductor, Joan workshops her music with choirs in a variety of educational and festival settings across the country and abroad.

If we have no peace

it is because we have forgotten that

we belong to each other. Remember.

All works of love are works of peace.

I Am Willing
Words & Music: Holly Near (2006)

Holly Near has had a legendary performing career spanning over 50 years, which has taken her from Hollywood to Broadway to marches and rallies and concert halls all over the world. One of the most powerful, consistent, and outspoken singers and songwriters of our time, her music elevates spirits and inspires activism.

I am open and I am willing
To be hopeless would seem so strange
It dishonors those who go before us
So lift me up to the light of change

There is hurting in my family
There is sorrow in my town
There is panic in the nation
There is wailing the whole world round

May the children see more clearly
May the elders be more wise
May the winds of change caress us
Even though it burns our eyes

Give me a mighty oak to hold my confusion
Give me a desert to hold my fears
Give me a sunset to hold my wonder
Give me an ocean to hold my tears

Hymn for America
Words: Michael Dennis Browne; Music: Stephen Paulus (2004)

Stephen Paulus was a prolific American composer of classical music. He wrote over 600 works for chorus, opera, orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo voice, concert band, piano, and organ, receiving premieres and performances throughout the world. Paulus passed away in October, 2014 from complications of a stroke, but his music continues to be frequently performed and described by critics as rugged, angular, lyrical, lean, rhythmically aggressive, original, often gorgeous, moving, and uniquely American.

Michael Dennis Browne came to the United States in 1965 from England, where he was born, of mostly Irish ancestry, in 1940. After graduating from the University of Iowa, he taught at Iowa, Columbia, Bennington, and the University of Minnesota. He is now a professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, where he taught for thirty-nine years, served a term as director of the creative writing program, and was a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers.

We have loved you for your rivers,
We have loved you for your shores;
Every treasure you have shown us,
Every seed that you have sown;
We have loved you for your mountains,
For your prairies, for your fields,
All these gifts we have been given,
All these glories that we share;
Now we thank you for these blessings,
We, your people, everywhere.

Many are the stars of heaven,
Many are the hopes of earth;
All around us, worlds unfolding,
All around these dreams to grow;
From the moment of our rising
Till we rest when day is done,
May we tell our hearts’ own story,
Hearts that honor and believe,
Through our care for one another,
For this life and land we love.