Why is it that we can recall the lyrics and melody of a song from our childhood, but we struggle to find our keys in the morning, or find ourselves unable to remember peoples’ names? Time and age can cause organized memories to gradually become a maze of fragments, but music often remains the one thing that helps us to remember who we are. In Wanting Memories, Cantus explores the unique and enduring relationship between music and memory in all of our lives. Through selections that include timeless tunes like “Over the Rainbow,” “What a Wonderful World,” and Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen,” and anchored by Ysaÿe M. Barnwell’s “Wanting Memories,” this performance traverses the realms of nostalgia and family, loss and love, grief, laughter, fear and hope.

Program:

What a Wonderful World | Bob Thiele (1922-1996) & George David Weiss (1921–2010)

When I Grow Up from Matilda | Tim Minchin (b. 1975)

Fifteen | Taylor Swift (b. 1989)

I Would Live in Your Love | Christopher H. Harris (b. 1985)

Wedding Qawwali | A. R. Rahman (b. 1967) arr. by Ethan Sperry

I Remember It Well, from Gigi | Alan Jay Lerner (1918–1986) & Frederick Loewe (1901–1988)

Landslide | Stevie Nicks (b. 1948)

Wanting Memories | Ysaÿe M. Barnwell (b. 1946)

INTERMISSION

Traumlicht | Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

Gagot | Sydney Guillaume (b. 1982)

Ain’t No Sunshine | Bill Withers (1938–2020)

Spes (Hope) | Mia Makaroff (b. 1970)

When We Sing | Rosephanye Powell (b. 1962)

Light of a Clear Blue Morning | Dolly Parton (b.1946)

Over the Rainbow | Harold Arlen (1905-1986) & E.Y. Harburg (1896–1981)

I’ll Be Seeing You | Sammy Fain (1902-1989) & Irving Kahal (1903–1942)

CANTUS
Jacob Christopher, Alexander Nishibun, Paul John Rudoi, Paul Scholtz, tenors | Rod Kelly Hines, Jeremy Wong, baritones | Samuel Boulanger-Green, Chris Foss, basses

Approximate run time: 70 minutes, plus one short intermission

Subject to availability, $12 Student Rush (with student ID), $35 General Admission, $45 Preferred, and $85 Premium tickets may be purchased at the box office on the day of the concert. The box office will open one hour before the concert begins, and hall doors will open for seating 30 minutes before.

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