Counterpoint, a professional Vocal Ensemble based in Montpelier, VT, will perform a free concert, “Act of Remembrance.”

The eclectic musical program features choral elegies from various faith traditions exploring the ways we mourn and honoring those whom our communities have lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. The music will be interspersed with poetry readings, combining the universality of choral music with the intimacy of poetry to reflect on our shared experience of loss and comfort.

Musical selections include the Funeral Hymn by Gustav Holst, based on an ancient Hindu text, Ludwig van Beethoven’s consoling Elegiac Song, the setting of an Ancient Greek invocation to the rulers of the Underworld by Felix Mendelssohn, and Pete Seeger’s humane meditation on the approach of death. In addition, the concert will include works arising directly from the pandemic: Argentine composer Ana Leira Carnero’s moving lament for health-care workers, a set of madrigals inspired by Covid isolation by Brian Banks, and a specially commissioned work by Burlington composer Don Jamison and Vermont poet Abigail Carroll.

Founded by legendary choral director and arranger Robert De Cormier in 2000, Counterpoint is dedicated to performing choral chamber music and engaging with student musicians in Vermont and beyond. Praised for “clarity, skill” and “sophisticated musical expressiveness,” they present concerts throughout New England and beyond and have released 11 CDs.

Please join us for this special concert and poetry reading reflecting on the past five years.

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There is limited space for participation by local poets. You are invited to read a poem – one of your own or written by another – during the performance. Please submit your proposed choice via this FORM by April 1. You will be notified about the results of the selection process by April 6.