The Symphonic Story of Home: A Hymn-Sing Concert explores the meaning of home in two different contexts: the first half is about our current home, as in Holland and the USA; the second half is about our eternal home from the biblical perspective. The concert begins by featuring American music through the sound worlds of Michael Kamen and Morten Lauridsen—two world-renowned American composers who continue to be deeply influential to the development of the American sound but in markedly different ways. The former was highly sought-after as an arranger in the realms of pop and rock music, the latter “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide.” (“The Eternal Light of Morten Lauridsen.” USC Thornton School of Music. Retrieved 2024-09-07.) Following two contrasting pieces of American music, the orchestra then turns its attention to the well-known Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, an artwork inspired by the American landscape and American folk music during the composer’s time in the U.S.

Yet, as grateful as we are for our beautiful home in Holland, MI, and in the United States, we learn to look beyond the temporal to the eternal as we experience the meaning of home through biblical lenses. After the intermission, the Hope College Orchestra invites the audience to join in hymn singing and making music together as the community celebrates the beautiful gift of an eternal home.

Concert Program

M. Kamen: An American Symphony (Excerpts) from Mr. Holland’s Opus (arr. by C. Custer)

M. Lauridsen: O Magnum Mysterium (arr. for orchestra by S. Pang)

Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” - movement IV

~Intermission~

Invitatory

All People That On Earth Do Dwell

Confession of Sin

Amazing Grace

Pardon and Peace

Great is Thy Faithful Faithfulness

The Lord Leads Me

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

The Earth is the Lord’s

This is my Father’s World

My Soul Magnifies the Lord

How Great Thou Art

Lord, now let your servant depart in peace

When Peace like a River

I Believe

I Know that My Redeemer Lives

The Prayers

We Gather Together

Spera in Deo (Alma Mater)

Holy, Holy, Holy

Dismissal and Grace

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow