Dr. T. J. Turner makes his professional debut at The Peace Center as the tenor soloist for Ralph Vaughan William’s “Hodie” under the baton of Dr. Bingham Vick, Jr.

November 2, 2024

The Peace Center, Greenville, SC

HODIE by British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams tells the Christmas story with enlightening poetry interspersed throughout. Brahms’ beautiful “Nänie” (Song of Lamentation) sets a poem by Friedrich von Shiller lamenting “even the beautiful must die,” but affirming the result of a life well-lived that the “beauty” of the departed will live on. J.S.Bach ended his ultimate masterwork, MASS IN B-MINOR, with a profound setting of “Dona nobis pacem” (Give us peace). In our world today, this affirming prayer is needed more than ever. Closing the program is “St.Patrick’s Hymn,” a work commissioned by the Chorale from composer Dan Forrest. The text is both a prayer and an affirmation that God will “pilot us” through difficult times; He will give us wisdom and protect and direct us and “always be ours this day and forevermore.”

Dr. T. J. Turner will be the tenor soloist for Ralph Vaughan William’s “Hodie.”