To Love

Love has countless expressions. Love for a partner. For a child. For home. For God. This concert celebrates love in all its forms through diverse and expressive vocal music, spanning from intimate closeness to profound universal longing.

Several of the works draw inspiration from the Song of Songs—a collection of erotic love poems written as a dialogue between Solomon and Shulamit. Although the poems describe the love between a man and a woman, they have also been interpreted over time as a metaphor for one’s relationship with God. An excerpt from the iconic Canticum Canticorum by Palestrina, who can celebrate his 500th anniversary in 2025, is naturally a central part of the program. Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur’s magnificent Cantique de Cantique from 1952 blends traditional Gregorian melodies with modern harmonic structures, creating a fascinating dialogue between the old and the new. David Lang’s minimalist For Love is Strong, written for Ars Nova and part of the ensemble’s Grammy-winning CD, explores the strength of love through its pure and intense musical form.

But the essence of love reaches further. Samuel Barber’s lush and evocative The Coolin celebrates the joys of love under open skies, while Libby Larsen’s humorous A Lover’s Journey, with texts by James Joyce and Shakespeare, portrays the many facets of love with both warmth and irony. Louis Andriessen’s poetic Un beau baiser (A Beautiful Kiss) offers a refined musical interpretation of one of love’s most simple and direct expressions.

The voice of the Renaissance resounds beautifully through Maddalena Casulana’s Morir non può ‘l mio core (My Heart Cannot Die), a piece by one of history’s earliest female composers. The music expresses a deep longing for the beloved, for whom the narrator would “die”—a subtle nod to the Renaissance’s double meaning of “death” as a metaphor for romantic climax. Caroline Shaw’s Dolce Cantavi from 2016 exemplifies how a modern composer can draw inspiration from the vocal richness of the Renaissance while making the style her own.

This program brings together music written to love across the centuries. A beautiful journey through the many facets of love, to be enjoyed alone or shared with someone you hold dear.

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