RECOMMENDED
This is the fourth year that the new music ensemble CUBE—which is celebrating its twentieth anniversary this season—has offered a concert of sacred music by contemporary composers, but this year’s program has a slightly more secular tone to it, designed to “explore the profound and profane themes that inspire us to search for meaning and explore spirituality,” according to founding members Patricia and Philip Morehead, with composers selected to “give voice to the collective passion of a world that has shared the suffering of the millions of victims of war and tyranny.” Among the diverse and eclectic composers whose music will be heard are French Roman Catholic mystic Olivier Messiaen, who developed a deep sense of the serene while spending time in a prison camp during World War II where he wrote ethereal music that profoundly transcended his confinement and circumstances, to the pulsating, rhythmic and tribally influenced music of young black South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen. Other composers featured include late German organist and composer Helmut Walcha, whose lack of sight contributed to his introspective Bach interpretations, Canadian composer Jack Behrens, CUBE’s own Patricia Morehead, choral master and composer Daniel Pinkham (best known for his “Christmas Cantata”) and Hermann Schroeder. Guest artists include Canadian mezzo-soprano Chantelle Grant, Lutheran School of Theology organist Daniel Schwandt, trumpeter Jon Webber and violinist Elizabeth Bakalyar. (Dennis Polkow)
Sunday, February 3 at Augustana Chapel