PEORIA, IL -- Once again, Peoria musicians have proved that music is the strongest art form in the area. On Sunday, Nov. 24, the Bradley University Community Chorus and Symphony Orchestra presented a fabulous 21st century oratorio, Jubilate Deo! by Dan Forrest, a 41 year old composer.
The venue, St. Mary's Cathedral, has great music acoustics, and was packed with audience members despite little publicity about the event. And they were in for an unusual treat.
Jubilate Deo! is a work in seven movements -- in a different languages with lively classical music to match. The lyrics are in Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Mandarin Chinese, Zulu, and Spanish. All are passages from the Christian Bible, in the tradition of works by Bach, Mozart, Handle and others.
But the music of the various languages reflect their culture. The Middle Eastern and African sections were the most original and exciting, but all were lovely.
The lyrics speak of optimism -- "sing for joy, dance in gladness," for example. (The program provided helpful translations.) That optimism is difficult to feel just now with the Earth endangered by war, climate change and terrible politics in many nations. But the music was wonderful.
Mastering this piece must have presented a huge challenge for the singers and players, and they performed flawlessly.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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