How To Go On - First Presbyterian Church of Dallas | Art&Seek

“How To Go On” will feature two compelling works by contemporary American composers Dale Trumbore and Christopher Cerrone, each rooted in the thematic foundation of self-actualization in the face of despair and crisis.

In The Branch Will Not Break (2015), Cerrone sets the words of seven excerpts from poet James Arlington Wright’s book of the same name. Raw and penetratingly descriptive, Wright’s poetry is a quest for meaning, driven by themes of the enduring human spirit. Inconsistent meditative tranquility, the piece gently oscillates in mood from melancholy to conscientious optimism. The work was commissioned by Milwaukee-based Present Music for their annual Thanksgiving Concert.

Trumbore's How To Go On (2016), the piece for which Verdigris’ concert program is named, also finds its forging inspired by modern American poetry. Following the death of a loved one, poet Barbara Crooker questioned, “How do we go on, knowing the end of the story?” Trumbore’s musical work of the same name functions as a sort of secular requiem, endeavoring to answer that question over the course of eight distinct movements. The text material of the piece comprises the work of three living poets: Crooker, Amy Fleury, and Laura Foley. The piece is malleable and customizable. The performance notes call for the middle six movements to be ordered, or even some exempt from the piece altogether, as the conductor and performers see fit.

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