Name: Music With Meaning Chorus Concert
Start: 2024-11-16T14:30:00-06:00
Location: Salem Evangelical United Church of Christ

Dr. Phyllis Robertson directs the Symphony Chorus performance of carefully curated songs that resonate with the hearts and minds of the audience. Each piece has deep meaning to stir the audience to contemplate, celebrate, and commemorate.
The concert observes the 200th anniversary of Ode to Joy, Beethoven’s testament to the power of music to uplift the spirit and draw worshippers closer to the divine through joyful praise. The Salem Handbell choir accompanies the chorus in a glorius arrangement of “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” which share’s Beethoven’s triumphant melody.
Kyle Pederson’s masterwork A Vision Unfolding elicits powerful declarations of a nation rooted in equality, freedom, and justice while seeking to build bridges of care and connection. This music articulates and explores what our country has stood for in its best moments. Movements include: Reach Down, Lord; Beat! Drums!; All of Me; Light Transforms the Darkness; and I Dream A World.
Pederson (b. 1971) is a Minneapolis-based composer, lyricist, pianist, and educator.
This concert also includes a salute to the 80th Anniversary of D-Day with Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and other meaningful works such as How Can I Keep From Singing, The Power of a Dream, and Elijah Rock.
The concert is sponsored by Kohl Wholesale, Klingner & Associates, and STARadio/WTAD and made possible in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Single concert tickets are available at the door, or in advance from Quincy HyVee stores, Sturhahn Jewelers, and the QSOA website. Single ticket prices are $18 for adults and $15 for seniors. Children 18 and under are admitted free to all concerts and are encouraged to attend.
Season tickets to the 77th Season are also available and offer a savings over single ticket prices.
The Symphony Chorus includes singers from all walks of life in Quincy and the surrounding area. New singers are welcome to audition for the spring semester which features Broadway Hits from Hamilton, Newsies, Wicked, and Jersey Boys by calling the QSOA office at 217-222-2856.