The Rochester Oratorio Society will perform “The Ordering of Moses” at Hochstein Performance Hall in Rochester on Thursday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m.
The piece is by R. Nathaniel Dett, who was the first Black graduate of the Eastman School of Music, president of the Rochester NAACP, and director of music at Trinity Presbyterian (now Trinity Emmanuel) and Two Saints Episcopal churches. He was also a mentor to Rochester’s William Warfield.
Dett completed “The Ordering of Moses” in 1937, having begun it as his master’s thesis at Eastman. The oratorio’s rich, emotional orchestration offers a symbolist portrait of Moses from the burning bush up to his deliverance of the Israelites through the Red Sea.
The concert will feature Eastman graduates Alexis Peart, Holden Turner, and Christina Faye, as well as School of the Arts graduate Emmett Tross. Sarah Joyce Cooper and Thomas Warfield round out the cast of featured artists.
The Rochester Oratorio Society Chorus and Orchestra will be joined by the the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, Canada’s first professional choral group dedicated to Afrocentric music of all styles, and their director, Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, as well as The Roberts Wesleyan Chorale, directed by Adam Potter.
Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and are available at https://ROSsings.org/dett or at 585-743-2234. Advance ticket purchases are strongly encouraged.
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