NEWBURYPORT — On Mother’s Day weekend, May 11-12, the Cantemus Chamber Chorus will explore four types of love in a concert titled “love is love is love.”
Cantemus will perform “love is love is love” at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Beverly on Saturday, May 11, at 7:30 p.m. and at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Newburyport on Sunday, May 12, at 4 p.m.
Under Artistic Director Jason Iannuzzi, the 38-member chorus will sing of love among friends, between lovers, between parent and child, and love for all humankind.
Iannuzzi chose the theme and the title after reading Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2016 Tony Award acceptance speech for his musical “Hamilton.” Delivered the day after a mass shooting at a nightclub in Florida, Miranda wrote “… love is love is love … [It] cannot be killed or swept aside … . Now fill the world with music, love and pride.”
Cantemus’ program mixes modern arrangements of traditional songs with tender songs by such well-known composers as Pablo Casals and Eric Whitacre. Cantemus accompanist Jeffrey Mead will be joined on the piano bench by Cantemus member Patty Clark while the singers perform four humorous favorites by P.D.Q. Bach. Cantemus singers Jeremy Satchell and Byron Winn will be featured in Leonard Bernstein’s moving “To What You Said,” with text by Walt Whitman.
Guest soloist Varun Sasisekharan, baritone, will be featured in a rousing musical adaptation of a West African proverb. The chorus will sing composer Linthicum-Blackhorse’s arrangement of a Lakota lullaby, which he dedicated to the victims of the 2022 mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“We live in an incredibly divisive time – hatred often underscores our national politics, acts of unthinkable violence regularly fill the airwaves, and armed conflicts around the world threaten the cause of freedom and tear families apart. As an antidote, this evening’s program exalts lovein all its forms,” Iannuzzi said.
For more information about the program and to purchase tickets, visit www.cantemus.org/concerts. Tickets may be also be purchased at the door.