By Lisa Cooper.
Considering Matthew Shepard touches each part of my identity: Mother, Wife, Friend, Teacher, Singer. I cannot sing the words of this libretto without the faces of people I know and love flashing by.
I see the face of my two and a half year old son, who loves to sing and help and smile, and is an “ordinary boy” just like Matt.
I see the face of my wife, whose spirit is most at peace by the lake in Wolfeboro, when I hear “All the times our laughter rang in summer. All the times the rivers sang our tune.”
I see the faces of my friends who make the burdens of life seem lighter as we sing “Will you lay down your burden/ Lay it down, come with me/ It will never be forgotten/ Held in love, so tenderly.”
I see the faces of my students who are struggling to find their way in this world as we sing “if you could know for one moment how it is to live in our bodies within the world.”
I see the faces of my fellow singers and think of how much our lives are enhanced together each Sunday as we sing “We’ll sing on through any darkness and our Song will be our sight. We can learn to offer praise again, coming home to the light.”
But most of all, I see the faces of those no longer with us, whose presence and absence have changed me forever, when we sing “And we’ll dance with the all the children who’ve been lost along the way. We will welcome each other, coming home, this glorious day.”
Performance Details
Saturday, June 29 at 7:30PM – First Church Congregational: 115 S. Main St, Wolfeboro, NH as part of the Great Waters Music Festival
Sunday, June 30 at 4PM - Plymouth Congregational Church: 4 Post Office Square, Plymouth, NH
The New Hampshire Master Chorale, led by Dr. Dan Perkins, is a non-profit choir established in the spring of 2003. This premier chamber ensemble is dedicated to excellence in the art of choral music performance. Members of the group are trained singers, auditioned from throughout New England, who have performed as soloists and in choral ensembles throughout the world. You can get a taste of the NHMC on our SoundCloud page: soundcloud.com/nh-master-chorale or find us on facebook and twitter: www.facebook.com/NHMasterChorale and twitter.com/nhmasterchorale.
Tickets available at nhmasterchorale.org and at the door — $35 general.
Free admission for undergraduates and students in grades K–12.
The New Hampshire Master Chorale also utilizes a “Pay What You Are Able” ticket policy so that anyone can attend regardless of financial ability. We welcome all donations to support this.
The New Hampshire Master Chorale is funded in part by a generous grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts as well as through support from MegaPrint and Holiday Inn Concord NH Downtown.