Following up on the sold-out success of the Herring Chamber Ensemble’s performance of a bluegrass mass in 2017, the Chorale is very excited to open the season with a little “high lonesome” and “swing” in our step. The program will open with “Come Away to the Skies: A High, Lonesome Mass,” by Wes Ramsay and Tim Sharp, which has enjoyed national acclaim as a wonderful example of the bluegrass mass genre. Joining the Chorale will be the incredible Chuck Nation Bluegrass Band from Gainesville, Georgia. This collection of music is a winsome set of folk-hymn arrangements originating in the mid-19th century collections of the Sacred Harp and Southern Harmony, and organized around a significant liturgy of the church.
The second half of the concert will feature music from three “Sacred Concerts” composed for various commissioned occasions for the jazz great Duke Ellington. The Greenville Jazz Collective Big Band will join the Chorale for these works that combine big band jazz sounds with sacred texts. Tickets are $40 adults, $20 students