Throughout history and across cultures, composers and poets have been inspired by the subject of love, in all its magnificent complexity. The repertoire that I selected this evening celebrates love as humanity’s most universal and enduring emotion through the rich medium of choral music. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did planning it.

     Our program opens with three pieces that establish the concert’s romantic foundation, starting with two in Spanish, one of our greatest “romance” languages: Amor de mi alma (Love of my soul), Gala de dia (Finery of the Day). These works will immediately immerse you in love’s passionate depths, with Amor de mi alma especially giving an exploration of love that transcends mere attraction to profound devotion. We then have a stark poetic & musical texture contrast with love lost in The Lady in the Water.

     The second set continues this emotional exploration with You stole my love, Oeuvre ton coeur, and then O Whistle and El Vito. Here, I ventured into love’s more complex territories – loss, longing, invitation, and even passionate hate. You stole my love acknowledges love’s power to both elevate and devastate, while Bizet’s Oeuvre ton coeur (Open your heart) serves as a tender plea for vulnerability. My goal was for these pieces to demonstrate how different cultures express similar emotional truths through their unique musical languages.

     The concert’s middle section features some of the evening’s most profound moments. The Sun Never Says, drawing from the mystical poetry of the Persian poet, Hafez, explores love’s spiritual dimensions, suggesting that true love gives without expectation of return. Let My Love Be Heard continues this theme of generous, unconditional love, even in the face of loss.

As I thought about what I wanted to achieve tonight I tried to design a concert with emotional pacing but also stark variety and sudden shifts – much like how love works in our lives. The Men of the Chorale present two differing takes; Ständchen, bringing Schubert’s classical elegance to the program, which is then quickly tossed aside as we sing about something that is “…not like any other.” There Is Nothing Like a Dame from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “South Pacific.” This beloved musical theater number provides delightful comic relief while celebrating romantic attraction with great humor and energy. I thought that the inclusion of musical theater would demonstrate that love songs transcend classical boundaries, finding expression in popular culture with equal validity and appeal.

     Billy Joel’s And So It Goes is one of the most gorgeous pop ballads to make its way into the choral genre and Kirke Mechem’s The Lighthearted Lovers maintains a more playful atmosphere, acknowledging that love isn’t always serious business—it can be fun, spontaneous, and joyfully (un)complicated. These pieces remind us that healthy relationships include laughter and lightness alongside deeper emotional connections.

     The concert concludes triumphantly with the Verdian opera chorus Brindisi, that celebrates love through communal joy. This finale promises to transform the entire audience into participants, as brindisi literally means “toast”—an invitation for everyone to raise their voices in celebration of love’s victories, both great and small.

     The choir and I want to give you, the audience, a broad emotional experience. Rather than focusing solely on romantic love’s passionate heights, I want to acknowledge love’s full spectrum: spiritual devotion, playful attraction, heartbreaking loss, generous giving, and communal celebration. I hope this concert provides more than entertainment, and serves as a reminder of love’s central role in our shared human experience, expressed through the incomparable beauty of voices joined in harmony.

Amor de Mi alma

Randall Stroope

Gala De Dia

Carlos Guastavino

The Lady in the Water

Eric William Barnum

Liebeslieder Walzer, op. 52

Johannes Brahms

1. Rede Mädchen
2. Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut
3. Ein kleiner, hübscher Vogel
4. Wenn so lind dein Auge mir
5. Am donaustrande
6. Nein, es ist nicht auszukomen
7. Ein dunkeler Schact ist Liebe

Gretchen am spinnrade

Franz Schubert

Liebesbotshaft

Franz Schubert

You Are My Everything

Anjanette Navarro and Sarah Huff

You Stole My Love

Walter MacFarren

Ouvre ton Coeur

Georges Bizet

O Whistle and I’ll come to ye

arr. Mack Wilberg

El Vito

arr. Mack Wilberg

The Sun Never Says

Dan Forrest

Let My Love Be Heard

Jake Runestad

Make You Feel My Love

Bob Dylan

I’ll Tell the Man in the Street

Richard Rogers & Lorenz Hart

The Luckiest

Ben Folds

Ständchen

Franz Schubert

There is Nothing Like a Dame

Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein II

Taylor the Latte Boy

Zina Goldrich

And So It Goes

Billy Joel, arr. Audrey Snyder

The Lighthearted Lovers

Kirke Mechem

Brindisi (from La Traviata)

Giuseppe Verdi