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The Crossing Choir on WRTI: The First "Month of Moderns" Concert, August 27 at 4 PM

Becky Oehlers Photography
The Crossing in front of the Crane Arts Center

Join us on Sunday at 4 pm for The Crossing chamber choir's first concert in their annual Month of Moderns choral festival, recorded live at The Icebox at Crane Arts Center in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia on June 11th, 2017, and conducted by Donald Nally.

This concert’s subject is “the earth" with five works on the program, including two world premieres. Two works are based on Native American prayers, and the major world premiere is inspired by the wind.

Joshua Stamper's ‘mid the steep sky’s commotion is the second chapter of the composer's four-part Elements series, exploring the enigmatic and impenetrable quality of wind, its singular and intimate relationship to the detritus of a city, and the ways in which that detritus exists as an echo of the movements, relationships, and dreams of the city of Philadelphia.

Joshua Stamper’s unique, colorful, evolving music captures ‘what the wind says’ in this first collaboration with The Crossing.

Wind is the epitome of mystery: it is a force of both destruction and preservation; its origins are inscrutable and its destination is unknown. Its presence echoes through our poems and dreams, yet its patterns and path remain impenetrable—invisible save for its effect on the world around it.– Joshua Stamper

Also from the concert:
Born (world premiere) by Klaus Sandvik
Earth, Teach Me Quiet by ?riks Ešenvalds
‘mid the steep sky’s commotion (world premiere) by Philly composer Joshua Stamper
The First Tears by ?riks Ešenvalds

From the archives:
Seneca’s Zodiac by ?riks Ešenvalds, from Month of Moderns 2011

The Crossing's Month of Moderns concerts no. 2 and no. 3 will air in September and October on WRTI.

More about The Crossing.