Rochester-area composer and (585) writer Glenn McClure concludes a whirlwind Eastern Seaboard tour of his choral works with a concert by the Rochester Oratorio Society Saturday, May 18.
Over the course of three months beginning in January, university choirs in Alabama, Virginia, and Pennsylvania performed his Voices of Freedom. In April in the midst of these performances, “Kyrie” from his St. Francis in the Americas: A Caribbean Mass was performed at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. A SUNY Geneseo chorus also performed Beatrice in Paradise. Meanwhile, the Northern Lights Choir performed Voices of Timbuctoo at Saranac Lake May 11.
McClure’s national tour concludes with the Rochester Oratorio Society singing The Emancipation Oratorio, May 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Hochstein Performance Hall.
The performances are a part of what McClure calls the Emancipation Again! series, roughly following the route of the Underground Railroad from Alabama to Rochester to celebrate the 150 anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
“Singing these texts reminds us of how far we have come in the struggle for universal freedom, and how far we still need to go,” says the composer.
Learn more about the Emancipation Oratorio at the Emancipation Again! website and through Kickstarter.
