Speech in Song: Beauty, Artistry, Power
2019 Academic Symposium
Dorcas Chapel
William Shakespeare’s writings have challenged and inspired artists, writers, and audiences for centuries. Yet do we become dulled or even indifferent to their sound over time? Can the infusion of music revive and refresh our sense of these winsome writings. This session will present seven Elizabethan texts – six of Shakespeare, one of Marlow – in a fresh and innovative musical arrangement by jazz composer George Shearing. The settings are for four-part, mixed chorus, piano, bass, and drums. The Marian Chamber Singers sing the settings and interpolate their own reflections on the process of encountering these texts as musicians and students.
Prof. David Hein with the Marian Chamber Singers