The Kearsarge Chorale will present a concert entitled Music of the Spirit at the First Baptist Church in New London on Sunday, May 11, at 3 PM. From Franz Schubert’s youthful Mass in G, composed in 1815, through works of Mendelssohn and Faure, to a brand new composition by David L. Almond, the concert seeks to examine the universal striving for peace and reconciliation. Each piece on the program takes the listener on a journey that ends in a vision of unity and serenity. This is music shining with hope.

Schubert’s Mass in G was composed when the composer was but 18 years old. The original score was not printed until 1845, some years after Schubert’s death. Famous as a composer of German song, Schubert shows his talent for text-painting in this youthful work with his remarkably effective use of harmony.

Famous for the lovely soprano solo, O for the wings of a Dove, Felix Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer was composed almost 30 years after Schubert’s Mass in G. The work is mini-cantata. It opens with a prayer for aid in adversity. The soloist’s adversaries are represented by the chorus in the dramatic middle section of this work. The work ends with a quiet sense of assurance.

Gabriel Faure, like Schubert, was a young man when he composed Cantique de Jean Racine in 1864-5. The piece won Faure the first prize when he graduated from the Ecole Niedermeyer in Paris. This lovely work will be accompanied by the strings.

The concert will conclude with the first performance of a new work for narrator, chorus, and chamber ensemble. Reflections – A Tribute to Dietrich Bonhoeffer by David L. Almond was composed to honor the life of this great 20th century pastor and theologian. Imprisoned by the Gestapo in 1943, Bonhoeffer was hanged in 1945, not long before the end of World War II. Like the protagonist in Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer, Bonhoeffer battled the forces of evil with prayer. The work makes use of two hymns Bonhoeffer knew and loved.

The Kearsarge Chorale, led by Artistic Director David L. Almond, will feature soloists Joanne Weatherson, soprano, and William Wieting, baritone. A chamber ensemble featuring the Take Two String Quartet will accompany the chorale. The quartet will also perform works by Mendelssohn and Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Kearsarge Chorale is an all-volunteer organization now entering into its sixth year of performing fine choral music. We draw our singers from many towns in the Kearsarge/Lake Sunapee region. David Almond has been director of music at First Baptist Church, New London, for eight years. This concert is supported by contributions and by a grant from the Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley.

Admission is free; a free-will offering will be received. Call 526-4559 for further information.