Concert Program

On Sunday, March 24 (Palm Sunday) at 7:30pm, the ECSO will perform a free concert at the Cathedral of St. Patrick in Norwich, CT.

The evening will begin with a composition written by the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus Director, Dr. Daniel McDavitt, titled Lux Aeterna. The composer was quoted as saying “for many years, I’ve written numerous sketches in a composition book I keep on my piano for a short companion piece to Mozart’s Requiem. After conducting the Mozart in Baltimore in 2022, I promised myself I’d finish the piece the next chance I got. Then Toshi Shimada, music director of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, programmed the Mozart for the annual Palm Sunday performance with the symphony chorus, which I direct, and the time was right finally to bring this idea to fruition. 

I brought the work to its final form while on a weeklong retreat in a cabin in the Rangeley Lakes area of Maine in the summer of 2023. A number of storm fronts passed through the mountains during the week, and the view out the large wall of windows provided the perfect backdrop for this work focused on the concept of eternal light — and certainly a driving force behind the work. In the coming years, I expect I will complete my own Requiem, and this Lux aeterna will be the closing movement. 

Other than the instrumentation and the opening key, the work doesn’t quote from Mozart nor is it meant to be stylistically similar. Using the idea of clear, unfiltered light as inspiration, I aimed for clarity rather than complexity. There are no key signatures or accidentals in the score; even the look of the score and parts is intended to have the feeling of clarity and purity.”

Following this work is Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K. 626, sung by local star soprano, Jūratė Švedaitė, mezzo-soprano, Caroline O’Dwyer, baritone, Gregory Flower, and tenor and ECSO Principal Trombone, Terrence Fay. Švedaitė is a graduate of the Lithuanian Academy of Music who teaches at Connecticut College. This work will unite the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Chorus and the orchestra, as they perform together in the glorious Cathedral of St. Patrick once more.

Cash or check donations collected at the event will equally benefit the ECSO and the St. Vincent de Paul Place in Norwich, CT. This concert is generously sponsored by the Edward and Mary Lord Foundation.