Quorum Choir Concert (scroll down for program)
Quorum, a collaborative ensemble of 12 singers and 2 pianists, will perform their second concert on Saturday, February 15 at 7:30 pm mountain time. The concert is at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church:
2015 Glenarm Place
Denver, CO 80205
Tickets are at least $10, but you may choose to pay more. If you want to buy tickets for multiple people at once, just make the purchase and send me an email listing how many people are coming with you; lower left corner of this page.
Quorum is committed to singing music that reflects the diverse reality of our world, and to sharing the power and beauty of the human voice with listeners who can’t otherwise access live singing. We work in a collaborative, non-hierarchical structure, and wish to educate ourselves and others about cooperative music making and business practices.
Purchasing eight copies of sheet music can cost from $16 - $100. We could commission a local composer to write new music for our choir, which could cost from $300 - $1,000. Your generosity can help us fund future concerts.
Since Quorum shares the duties that are normally performed by a single conductor/director, we are able to share money equitably. We are each paid the same hourly rate for the different skills we use to bring a choir concert to life.
Concert Program Supplement
Song Texts:
To Sit and Dream - words from "To You" by Langston Hughes
To sit and dream. To sit and read. To sit and learn about the world.
Outside our world of here and now.
Outside our world, our problem world.
To dream of vast horizons of the soul, of dreams made whole.
Unfettered, free. Help me.
All you who are dreamers too.
Help me make the world anew.
I reach out my hand to you.
Walking in the Snow - poems by John Buxton
I was in the far woods
Where spruce trees throw
Still blue shadows
That seep across the snow.
I was in the woods again
Walking in the snow.
And there was silence:
No voice spoke there,
No bird among the branches,
No wind in the air,
No sleeping animal
Stirred in its lair.
No leaf or bud of green:
The snow’s patterned crystals
Were all that might be seen,
They split the silver sunlight
Their glassy fronds between.
And I was alone again,
With no one there to know
Where my last step was planted,
Where my next must go.
Oh! Let the snowflakes settle
So lightly in your hair
As if the wind has won you
Jewels from the air
And brought them now by hundreds
To glitter in your hair.
And let your hair go flying
About your cheeks and eyes
To veil them so a moment,
Then again surprise
With all the sudden beauty
Of your uncovered eyes.
Freedom Night - poem by Jennifer Gurney
I am yearning
To be filled to the brim with
Effortless contentment
That floats in
And wafts about—
Invisible yet seen
You sense its presence
When you're able to
Just let life unfold
And you know its there
When you feel at peace with all
And with yourself
I am yearning
To be filled
To the brim
Mid-Winter Songs - poems by Robert Graves
1. Lament for Pasiphaë
Dying sun, shine warm a little longer!
My eye, dazzled with tears, shall dazzle yours
Conjuring you to shine and not to move
You, sun, and I all afternoon have laboured
Beneath a dewless and oppressive cloud--
A fleece now gilded with our common grief
That this must be a night without a moon
Dying sun, shine warm a little longer!
Faithless she was not: she was very woman
Smiling with dire impartiality
Sovereign, with heart unmatched, adored of men
Until Spring's cuckoo with bedraggled plumes
Tempted her pity and her truth betrayed
Then she who shone for all resigned her being
And this must be a night without a moon
Dying sun, shine warm a little longer!
2. Like Snow
She, then, like snow in a dark night
Fell secretly. And the world waked
With dazzling of the drowsy eye
So that some muttered 'Too much light,'
And drew the curtains close
Like snow, warmer than fingers feared
And to soil friendly;
Holding the histories of the night
In yet unmelted tracks
3. She Tells Her Love While Half Asleep
She tells her love while half asleep
In the dark hours
With half-words whispered low:
As Earth stirs in her winter sleep
And puts out grass and flowers
Despite the snow
Despite the falling snow
4. Mid-Winter Waking
Stirring suddenly from long hibernation
I knew myself once more a poet
Guarded by timeless principalities
Against the worm of death, this hillside haunting;
And presently dared open both my eyes
O gracious, lofty, shone against from under
Back-of-the-mind-far clouds like towers;
And you, sudden warm airs that blow
Before the expected season of new blossom
While sheep still gnaw at roots and lambless go--
Be witness that on waking, this mid-winter
I found her hand in mine laid closely
Who shall watch out the Spring with me
We stared in silence all around us
But found no winter anywhere to see
5. Intercession in Late October
How hard the year dies: no frost yet
On drifts of yellow sand Midas reclines
Fearless of moaning reed or sullen wave
Firm and fragrant still the brambleberries
On ivy-bloom butterflies wag
Spare him a little longer, Crone
For his clean hands and love-submissive heart
In Winter's House - text by Jane Draycott
In winter’s house there’s a room
that’s pale and still as mist in a field
while outside in the street every gate’s shut firm,
every face as cold as steel.
In winter’s house there’s a bed
that is spread with frost and feathers, that gleams
in the half-light like rain in a disused yard
or a pearl in a choked-up stream.
In winter’s house there’s a child
asleep in a dream of light that grows out
of the dark, a flame you can hold in your hand
like a flower or a torch on the street.
In winter’s house there’s a tale
that’s told of a great chandelier in a garden,
of fire that catches and travels for miles,
of all gates and windows wide open.
In winter’s house there’s a flame
being dreamt by a child in the night,
in the small quiet house at the turn in the lane
where the darkness gives way to light.
Pine Needles - text by Clark Ashton Smith
O little lances, dipped in grey,
And set in order straight and clean,
How delicately clear and keen
Your points against the sapphire day!
Attesting Nature's perfect art
Ye fringe the limpid firmament,
O little lances, keenly sent
To pierce with beauty to the heart!
Lunar Lullaby - text by Kathleen Nicely
The moon settles in the dusky sky.
The gentle eyes of the north star
rest upon your sleeping face
and the heavens gaze upon you.
In this moment, I know;
You are not from the ground on which you tread,
but of the stars!
You are my radiant, my celestial child.
As night is drowned by morning
you remain at my side,
accompanying the sunrise
until night swells again across the sky!
Then, dreaming, you return to the stars,
You are my radiant, my celestial child.
We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace - African-American Spiritual
We shall walk through the valley in peace.
For Jesus Himself will be our leader.
We shall walk through the valley in peace.
We will meet our loved ones there.
For Jesus Himself will be our leader.
We shall walk through the valley in peace.
There will be no trials there.
For Jesus Himself will be our leader.
We shall walk through the valley in peace.
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind - text by William Shakespeare
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man’s ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember’d not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.
Our collaborative pianists for this concert:
Joseph O'Berry
Known for his musical sensitivity, imaginative registrations as a collaborative artist, and superb choir-training skills, JOSEPH O’BERRY nurtures the reputation of a first-rate musician and is Associate Director of Music and Organist at Saint John’s Cathedral, Denver, Colorado. Mr. O’Berry previously held Director of Music positions in Seattle, Washington; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Atlanta, Georgia.
Joseph was Organ Scholar at Blackburn Cathedral and Truro Cathedral in England (2014-2016). Whilst in England he participated in over 800 services, some of which included the attendance of dignitaries, His Majesty King Charles III and The Queen Consort, and dozens of concerts with both Blackburn and Truro Cathedral Choirs. In 2016, Mr. O’Berry shared playing the organ and conducting Truro Cathedral Choir and St Mary’s Singers in a broadcast on BBC Spotlight celebrating Queen Elizabeth II 90th birthday. Joseph has performed with The Royal Northern Orchestra, The London Symphonia, and Truro Symphony Orchestra. He shared responsibilities in playing the daily offices of Choral Evensong and Eucharist, training the probationer boys, conducting the Cathedral Choirs, and was administrator of the music departments which included Cathedral Music Outreach. On several occasions Joseph has appeared on BBC Spotlight accompanying Truro Cathedral Choir and is a featured organist on the Priory Records Label (the largest producer of church music in the United Kingdom) for Blackburn Cathedral Choirs newest CD entitled “Natus: Music for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany”.
Preceding his appointments in England, Joseph lived in Atlanta and was Director of Music at Holy Trinity Parish (Episcopal), Chapel Organist for the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and sang with the professional Schola at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Philip- during which time the Schola went on pilgrimage to England singing two week residencies at St Paul’s Cathedral, London and Canterbury Cathedral, respectively.
Joseph’s undergraduate studies were in organ performance with emphasis in early music and collaborative piano from The Townsend School of Music at Mercer University. He is a Colleague of the American Guild of Organists and has performed extensively as a solo and collaborative recitalist throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and England in the notable venues of Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral, London, Worcester Cathedral, Blackburn Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, York Minster, Truro Cathedral, Canterbury Cathedral, Liverpool Cathedral, Lancaster Priory, and Ripon Cathedral.
Anastasiia Pavlenko
Anastasiia Pavlenko is an accomplished Ukrainian pianist who received both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Piano Performance at the University of Colorado Boulder, studying under Dr. Jennifer Hayghe.
Anastasiia maintains a thriving career as a sought-after collaborative pianist in the greater Denver metro area. She recently joined the music faculty at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She serves as the staff pianist for the prestigious Colorado Children’s Chorale, performing and touring with the ensemble. She is also a frequent collaborator with the Colorado Symphony Chorus, most recently contributing as a rehearsal pianist for the Too Hot to Handel production at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.
Anastasiia is passionate about contemporary music and has recorded world-premiere works by composers Jordan Holloway and Joshua Maynard, which are available on major streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.
Anastasiia’s scholarly interests reflect her passion for cultural justice and social change. From 2020 to 2022, she participated in the Hidden Voices research project, which focused on documenting and recording works by African American women composers from the Walker-Hill Collection at the American Music Research Center at CU Boulder. In 2023, she was invited to present at the Denver Area Music Teachers Association Fall Course, which centered around world music and its influence on social movements. Her presentation was titled The Fight for Identity: Ukrainian Music.
With more than eight years of teaching experience, Anastasiia has built a successful piano studio at the Parlando School of Music in Boulder, CO, where she is dedicated to helping students develop their skills and cultivate a love for music.
Whether performing on stage, teaching the next generation of musicians, or bringing attention to lesser-known musical treasures, Anastasiia is deeply committed to the transformative power of music—for both her students and the communities she serves.