Where have we been? And where are we going?

Resonance Works returns to a work close to our hearts: An Anchor In Time, composed by Gilda Lyons and originally commissioned for our 10th anniversary season. Drawing on texts by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Søren Kierkegaard, Christina Rossetti, and the words of children speaking to memory, the present moment, and their tomorrows, this luminous piece looks in both directions at once, honoring the past while reaching toward the future, and considering the idea of memory and perspective. The work will be recorded as part of our ongoing multi-year recording project, which began last season with Nancy Galbraith’s Flute Concerto. 

An Anchor In Time will be presented with Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite, in its original version for 13 players. Echoing our very first season, this beloved classic—written for Pittsburgh-born dancer and choreographer Martha Graham—explores the distinctly American tension between tradition and change.

Rounding out the evening, our chorus traverses centuries, conjuring moments in time through choral music from the Renaissance to the present day, from Monteverdi to Pittsburgh musical legend Robert Page, and more.

Mezzo-soprano Timothi Williams and baritone Daniel Teadt join the Resonance Chamber Orchestra and Chorus for an afternoone that celebrates everything live music can hold: memory, hope, and the shared human experience of moving through time together.

Every time you do something
you drop an anchor in time.

And when you drop them every year
in the same way
the anchors become connected.

They are heavy and strong
and they are one.

And you can conjure that moment—
of all those combined anchors—
from anywhere, in any time.

— Seamus Hagen, 11