Sangre de Cristo Chorale to sing NM premiere of 'The Opposites Game'

Mar. 5—Inspired by events in his own English classroom, the writer and teacher Brendan Constantine penned "The Opposites Game."

The poem traces an exercise where students identify antonyms for each word from the title of Emily Dickinson's poem "My Life had stood — a Loaded Gun."

The composer Dale Trumbore turned that text into a choral piece. Santa Fe's Sangre de Cristo Chorale will sing its New Mexico premiere in "Pilgrimage of Hope" concert at St. Bede's Episcopal Church on Saturday, March 9.

The classroom discussion weaves around, with the music mirroring the debate, ranging from the confrontational to the poignant, from harmonious to discord.

"The students go back and forth," said George Case, music director. "They settle on the opposite of the gun is wherever you point it."

Case chose the work because it reflects the current disjointed state of the world.

"It's to acknowledge that there is a lot of violence and brokenness in the world," he said.

The poem ends with the line, "Your death will sit through many empty poems."

Despite that theme, Case insists the concert is anything but a downer.

"We're not going to leave anybody depressed, I promise," he said.

The program also includes "Sing Gently" by the Grammy Award-winning composer/conductor Eric Whitacre, "Justorum animae" by the English Renaissance composer William Byrd, "Pilgrim's Hymn" and "The Road Home" by American classical composer Stephen Paulus.

The singers also will perform "Requiem" by Eliza Gilkyson with arrangement by Craig Hella Johnson, Dolly Parton's "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" and Carly Simon's "Let the River Run."

The concert will end with "Sure on this Shining Night" by National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen.

Now in its 46th season, the amateur chorale consists of about 40 members of all ages hailing from around Santa Fe and as far away as Las Vegas, New Mexico. It reigns among the largest continually performing independent choruses in New Mexico.

Case teaches voice and diction at the New Mexico School for the Arts and is a staff singer at the Church of the Holy Faith. He was formerly associate professor of music and director of choral activities at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.