Friday, March 11, 2005 | 8:40 a.m.
"Requiem" is a choral and orchestral reflection on life and death. "Down a River of Time," an oboe and string concerto, is a meditation on the same topic.
To contrast the profundity of the two pieces, Peterson decided to add Mozart's joyous "Exultate Jubilate," then end the program with three of Rutter's spirituals: "Steal Away," "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" and "Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit."
The program, titled "Down a River of Time," will be presented Sunday by the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society at UNLV's Ham Hall. Performing the works will be a 32-piece orchestra and the 60-voice Musical Arts Chorus. Guest artists are Juline Barol-Gilmore, Amy Cofield and Stephen Caplan, the principle oboe player for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.
"All along I've been thinking about doing the oboe concerto with Stephen Caplan," said Peterson, musical director of the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society. "Two years ago I was in Seattle for a conductors convention. I heard this piece and I thought, 'Wow, I'd like to do this.' It's kind of a nostalgic piece. It goes for 22 minutes and has three movements."
Of "Requiem," a mass for the dead that celebrates eternal life, Peterson says, "It's accessible and it's very heartfelt. You cannot be around this music and not be moved by it. It has elements of the Catholic church mixed with passages from the English book of common prayer.
"Singers love this work because John Rutter's work is very appealing and it's not all that simple."
Soprano Cofield, an opera singer from the New York City area, performs "Exultate Jubilate." Cofield has performed in several concerts of the Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society. Mezzo-soprano Barol-Gilmore, an award-winning singer who has also performed with the company, will sing Rutter's spirituals.
Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society has a personal history with "Requiem," written in Latin and English in 1985 by the British composer. In 1988, 12 singers from the group went to Warwick, England, to perform the "Requiem" under the direction of Rutter himself.
It is one of Rutter's largest choral compositions. Ewazen's "Down a River of Time" concludes with a message of hope.
"It's about looking back at the past and feeling good about it," Peterson said. "There's quite a bit of reflection in the whole piece."
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