Choral Arts Ensemble Presents: Earth, Sea & Sky

Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland opens its 58th season with a program that explores our relationship with the natural world and the communities that sustain us. Drawing on the writings of Wendell Berry, John Muir, and other voices who celebrate the beauty and restorative power of nature, Alex Berko’s A Sacred Place bridges the sacred and the secular, the individual and the collective, reminding us of the places that ground and unite us.

Jake Runestad’s Secrets of the Sea sets texts by Walt Whitman, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Inuit shaman Uvavnuk, taking listeners on a sweeping musical journey across the ocean’s beauty and mystery while contemplating humanity’s place within it.

Continuing our collaboration with Cascadia Composers and the National Association of Composers USA, the program also features four newly commissioned works by contemporary American composers inspired by these themes. Join us for an evening of music celebrating nature, community, compassion, and healing.