“Voices of Jubilation” — Westchester Chorale live performance in Larchmont

With “Voices of Jubilation” the Westchester Chorale announces its first concert since 2019. On Saturday, May 7^th the glorious sounds of choral singing will once again ring from the rafters of Larchmont Avenue Church.

Their performance of works by two contemporary composers, Douglas Kostner and Dan Forrest, expresses musically our broader community’s exultation at our emergence from the “Covid fermata” which has silenced our voices for more than two years.

The concert will open with a newly commissioned work, Come…and Dance, by Maestro Kostner. This piece draws on the text of a play by William Butler Yeats to communicate our desire to return to life in the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic. Kostner leads us musically out of Yeats’ ‘dull house’ to ultimately to a joyous ending in which the choral voices join an explosion of triumphal wind instruments so that we finally “dance upon the mountain like a flame”. Mr. Kostner, who has served as Music Director for the Westchester Chorale for the past twelve years, is also Director of Music Ministry for Larchmont Avenue Church.

While Kostner needs only one language, English, to convey joyous optimism, Dan Forrest employs seven – from Arabic to Zulu –in his Jubilate Deo, which he wrote in 2016. This stunning global celebration of joy pulls from the traditional Psalm 100 text to bring all the earth singing as one, “omnis terra, jubilate!” In Westchester Chorale’s presentation Jubilate Deo becomes 45 minutes of pure exuberance performed by the full adult choir with soprano and alto soli, the Westchester Children’s Chorus, and a full orchestra.

The “Voices of Jubilation” concert will be held at Larchmont Avenue Church, 60 Forest Park Ave., Larchmont, NY. General Admission: $25, Students: $10.

Information: www.westchesterchorale.org or email WestchesterChorale@gmail.com.