My first work for choir, organ and brass will be premiered in the San Diego area: Easter Anthem was commissioned by the Village Church of Rancho Santa Fe, CA and their director of music ministries Juan Carlos Acosta, and will be premiered at the 10:30 am service on Easter morning.

I’ve set the Easter story as told in the opening paragraphs of Matthew 28, using sounds inspired by Sacred Harp music and early Renaissance choral music (which share some surprising harmonic similarities) to dramatize the narrative. Many of the great church anthems in the British tradition, such as Greater Love by Ireland and O Thou the Central Orb by Wood, have a very strong sense of narrative – I was inspired by these works in this piece, but hoped to capture the drama in my own way.

Update: the section leaders and musicians premiered this piece on their livestream worship service on Easter morning.