[NEohioPAL] Considering Matthew Shepard: Presented by Cleveland Chamber Choir

[Kira McGirr]

The 2023/24 Ninth Season of the Cleveland Chamber Choir, Northeast Ohio’s
leading professional choral ensemble, opens with Craig Hella Johnson’s
concert-length modern oratorio, *Considering Matthew Shepard.* Twenty-five
years ago, on Oct. 6, 1998, two men offered to give Matthew Shepard, a gay
student at the University of Wyoming, a ride home from the Fireside Lounge
in Laramie. Instead, they drove him to the middle of nowhere,
pistol-whipped and tortured him, tied him to a fence, and left him for
dead. After Shepard lay in a coma for eighteen hours, a passing cyclist–who
at first thought Shepard was a scarecrow–called for aid. Six days later,
Shepard died from the brain damage.



Craig Hella Johnson seamlessly weaves together passages from Shepard’s
personal journal, interviews with his parents, texts from Rumi, Hildegard
of Bingen, and a panoply of musical styles to create a work that *The
Washington Post *says “demonstrates music’s capacity to encompass,
transform and transcend tragedy.” The Choir will be joined by Lakewood
Symphonic Mixed Choir for these performances, under the direction of Rayna
Brooks.



“Matthew Shepard’s story touched so many of us, and remains shockingly
timely even as we approach the 25th anniversary of his death,” said Gregory
Ristow, the Choir’s newly announced Artistic Director. “Johnson’s
remarkable telling of it invites us all to a place of compassion and
understanding, that is only heightened by his music.”



Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 7:00pm, Avon Lake United Church of Christ, 32801
Electric Blvd., Avon Lake

Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 4:00pm, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave.,
Cleveland



Both concerts are presented free of charge, with the choir’s philosophy
that choral music is a vehicle for good in the world that should be
accessible and welcoming to all. Free-will donations accepted. Register for
your FREE tickets at clevelandchamberchoir.org



A portion of donations collected will be directed to QYou, a program
supporting queer youth through the LGBT Center of Cleveland. A pre-concert
talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire, PhD, from Oberlin College
& Conservatory, 45 minutes before each performance.


This concert is presented with generous grants from The Cleveland
Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, and Local 4 Music Fund and in collaboration
with Avon Lake UCC and Trinity Cathedral Cleveland.
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