Location: Trinity Episcopal Church on the Green
Temple Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Open to: General public
Admission: Free
Description: Gabriel Jackson: Passion, Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor
The long-awaited ‘Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ’ by Gabriel Jackson received its world première in the first concert of the ‘Passiontide at Merton’ festival, Oford, UK, and its US premiere a week later at Trinity Church, Wall St, New York, in 2014. Scored for soloists, choir and ten-part instrumental ensemble, Jackson’s new work is sure to earn a significant place in the repertoire.
Written for the Merton Choirbook, the work is divided into seven movements, beginning with Palm Sunday. It consists of passages from the Gospels, a number of Latin liturgical texts, and some verses of poetry. To link this major commission with the College’s 750th anniversary, each of the poets is a former member of the College, representing different periods in its history.
The coincidence of Merton’s anniversary with the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War is marked by a contribution from Edmund Blunden, whose poetry enables the listener to juxtapose Jesus’ agony in Gethsemane with the experience of the trenches. After the crucifixion, the final stanza of TS Eliot’s ‘Little Gidding’, set to music in this work for the first time, points towards the resurrection, and the hope that ‘All shall be well’.
~text from ChoralNet