Music Box
June 11, 2023
Sophia Gonzalez, mezzo soprano
Cathryn Wilkinson, piano
Prelude
La flûte de pan (Panpipes)……Claude Debussy
Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson……Aaron Copland
There came a wind like a bugle
Heart we will forget him
Psalm 127, Nisi Dominus……George Frederick Handel
Cum dederit dilectis (He gives his beloved sleep)
Laudamus Te from Mass in B Minor……J. S. Bach
Joy……Ricky Ian Gordon
Offertory
Panis Angelicus (Bread of Angels)……Cesár Franck
Closing Blessing
An Iona Blessing: “The light of God to lead us”……arr. Philip Fox
Postlude
Chant de Joie (Song of Joy)……Jean Langlais
Welcome back to guest musician Sophia Gonzalez!
A new music specialist, Sophia is a mezzo soprano established in opera, musical theater, and art song. Sophia is also an educator and co-founder of the California Summer Performing Arts Academy, a non-profit music summer camp experience for K-8 students in the Bay Area.
Today’s songs are some of Sophia’s favorites and connect with themes of joy and assurance.
“La flûte de pan” (Panpipes) is from the song cycle Chansons de Bilitis (1897) by Claude Debussy, set to poetry by his contemporary Pierre Louÿs. Handel’s motet Nisi Dominus (1707), originally set for soloists and double string orchestra, treats the complete text of Psalm 127, “Except the Lord build the house.” Laudamus te (We praise you, we glorify you,) is an excerpt from the Gloria of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Written in 1749, the year just before he died, it is one of Bach’s largest and grandest works. “Joy” is one of many Langston Hughes poems that Ricky Ian Gordon set to music.
