In the early decades of the Republic, small towns forged their musical identities through hymn books—collections of homegrown counterpoint that served as the communal heartbeat of a nascent society. When these songs emerged, they were born of necessity: among many functions, they were a means to process collective grief, articulate moral responsibilities, and meditate on their place in “the wheels of time.”

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Driven by fervent, full-throated music-making, these hymns are “suggestive of the strife, the commotion, the battle cries of a transitional period of society, struggling onward toward dimly seen ideals” (Harriett Beecher Stowe). 

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The centerpiece of this concert is a new commission by Celeste Oram. Working with texts from contemporary authors, she finds inspiration in the political potency of these hymns at times of political crisis: their music sparks various imaginaries of the pasts and futures of America, its social organization, and the spiritual thirst to bring Heaven down to Earth.

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Ruckus, with Tim Eriksen (acclaimed for his work on the Cold Mountain soundtrack)  John Taylor Ward, Linnea Sablosky and Lily Hammond form an ensemble of elite singers and instrumentalists from the American early music and ‘shape note’ traditions. Together, they highlight the time-honored tradition of making new from the old, treating the act of performance as a ritual of remembrance and an exercise in moral resonance.