Great Barrington — Composer John Myers has a bridge he’d like to sell you. Not the kind you drive over but the kind that makes connections between important American cultures: African American, Latin American, Appalachian/Indigenous, and South Asian. This is the focus of his four-movement choral work “In Search of the Bridges,” which Crescendo chorus and ensemble will perform on Friday, April 28, at Trinity Church inLakeville, Conn., and at Saint James Place, Great Barrington, on Sunday, April 30.
A collaboration between Myers, Mileta Roe of Simon’s Rock’s Language and Literature Division, and Crescendo, “In Search of the Bridges” is scored for chorus, soloists, and instrumental ensemble—in particular, Crescendo Chorus and soloists Nadia Aguilar, soprano; Igor Ferreira, tenor; and Jermaine Woodard Jr., baritone. The instrumental ensemble includes Gonzalo Cortés on Andean pan flutes, John Myers on clarinet and guitar, Carlos Boltes on charango and viola, and Michelle Horsley on piano and organ. Crescendo’s Founding Artistic Director Christine Gevert conducts.
Myers’ piece draws inspiration from the poetry of four living female poets of African-American, Latin American, Appalachian/Cherokee, and South Asian descent: Carole Boston Weatherford, Circe Maia, Marilou Awiakta, and Prageeta Sharma. The work incorporates elements of Western classical music, Cuban salsa, Andean themes, South Asian classical music, and rap beats. With this music, Myers intends to bridge “ethnic, political, generational, and religious division, and transcend the arbitrary boundaries that separate us from each other.”
Also on the program are choral arrangements and compositions by several important African American composers:
- Nathaniel R. Dett, a pioneering, early 20th-century Canadian-American composer, organist, pianist, choral director, and music professor
- Florence Price, the first female composer of African descent to have a symphonic work performed by a major national symphony orchestra
- Ysaÿe Barnwell, a composer, arranger, author, actress, and former member of the African American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock
- Mark Sirett, a Canadian composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and choral clinician
- Don MacDonald, a performer, producer, educator, and composer of film and concert music
- Jesús Ochoa, a Venezuelan choral conductor, composer, and arranger
- Gustavo Cerati, an Argentine singer-songwriter and record producer who gained international recognition as the frontman for the rock band Soda Stereo
(Yes, Crescendo will have time to include works from all these composers, because Myers’ piece is only about 20 minutes long.)
John Myers is a tenured professor at Simon’s Rock College, where he has been teaching since 1987. He is a composer, performer, media developer, and author with a wide range of interests and areas of professional engagement. As a guitarist, he often performs solo or in ensembles, playing jazz and Western classical music. He also works as a multimedia computer programmer. In 2017, Meyers collaborated with Crescendo to premiere “Paintings in Song: Visions of Norman Rockwell,”
a choral work inspired by Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms paintings.
Hear John Meyers’ “In Search of the Bridges,” at Trinity Church in Lakeville on Friday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. (tickets here) or at Saint James Place in Great Barrington on Sunday, April 30, at 4:30 p.m. (tickets here).
