Concert: Dona Nobis Pacem, May 2025

Vallejo Choral Society presents Dona Nobis Pacem, featuring works by

Ralph Vaughan Williams • Williametta Spencer
Eric Whitacre • Stacey Gibbs • Brandon Williams

Artistic Director Julia Morris conducts the VCS Symphonic & Chamber Choirs & Orchestra

Tickets: $20 in advance, $30 at door, STUDENTS FREE

TICKETS ON SALE SOON

The centerpiece of our season finale concerts is the Ralph Vaughan Williams’ cantata Dona Nobis Pacem, a powerful musical evocation of the destruction and death brought about through war and violence, with an overarching message of peace and reconciliation. Balancing the program, Brandon Williams’ “A Jubilant Song,” featuring text by Walt Whitman, is a shout of joy—and a proclamation that we can choose love for each other. “Fix Me, Jesus,” arranged by Stacey V. Gibbs, is a plea for inner
strength to lead us toward a more promising future. “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners,” by Williametta Spencer, is an invigorating setting of John Donne’s poem about judgement day, asking for pardon and grace. Spencer is a contemporary composer, but her musical setting seems to imagine how a musical contemporary of Donne may have imagined his text put to music. “All Seems Beautiful to Me,” by Eric Whitacre, is a selection of Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road.” Finally, “Ndikhokhele Bawo” is a traditional Xhosa prayer song that asks God for guidance through the troubles of the world.