What do old nerds do on a Friday night to maximize their sense of geekiness? Not only do they go to the art museum, but they also go there to take in some 18th and 21st-century chorales. How could one go wrong listening to a chamber orchestra coming together with a choir come in the performance of Handel’s Dixit Dominus? There was one hiccup, but that has everything to do with perception and misperception because accompanying the first part of this evening’s performance was a projection of imagery on two walls that distracted me. You see, there was text blended in with the images which took me out of the thorough enjoyment of the music. It was only after getting to this point in front of the page that I came to understand the precise meaning of the texts we were shown. They were the English translations of the Psalm in Latin used by Handel for this piece. During the intermission, I’d even spoken with Nicole Belmont the executive director of the Phoenix Chorale and she told us that text related to the piece but it wasn’t clear that they were translations. Now I wish I could watch the performance again with this knowledge.

The second set of pieces to be performed this evening was Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Mass for the Endangered. The lyrical content in the form of a libretto was written by Sarah’s friend, poet and writer Nathaniel Bellows, and together they’ve created a compelling chorale for the modern age that instead of an appeal to god, looks to nature and its voiceless creatures asking that we consider their plight. The visuals that accompanied Mass for the Endangered were created by Deborah Johnson of CandyStations and reminded me of a mix between Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life and the photographic work of animals in motion from Eadweard Muybridge, they were the perfect accompaniment. Here is a glimpse if you are interested.

Following the performance, we were invited to stick around for a brief talk by Phoenix Chorale conductor Christopher Gabbitas, Deborah Johnson, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Simone Netherlands. Simone was on hand to speak about the Salt River Wild Horses Management Group and their newest endeavor to save another group of wild horses up in the Alpine area of Arizona. What a great night to get our nerd on.