I Believe! | Credo by Margaret Bonds

Watch the Recording on YouTube

First Unitarian Choir will be performing the New England Premiere of Credo, a large-scale, multi-movement work for chorus, baritone soloist, and piano by the African American composer Margaret Bonds. Bonds was a 20th-century composer who grew up in Chicago and spent most of her life in New York City. She was a virtuoso keyboard player, the first Black pianist to solo with the Chicago Symphony. She wrote many art songs, anthems, and cantatas, as well as orchestral works and chamber music. Bonds sets the words of the writer, activist, and philosopher W. E. B. Du Bois, who lays out his vision of a world where pacifism, racial harmony, and the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, one of our core Unitarian Universalist principles, might become a reality.

Our performance of Credo will feature tenor soloist Christon Carney, who regularly performs with the chorus of the Boston Lyric Opera. He is a frequent recitalist, having been featured at the Music at Trinity Music Series, Mechanics Hall’s Concerts Plus Series, and at the College of the Holy Cross. He is currently Education and Community Programs Coordinator at the prestigious Mechanics Hall, and is spearheading the new Many Voices Young People's Chorus at Mechanics Hall.

We are also delighted this Music Sunday to be introducing our new Young Artist-in-Residence, William Ryan, a violinist, pianist, and composer attending Burncoat Senior High School. William is a member of multiple ensembles in Worcester Youth Orchestras and the Joy of Music Program, as well as the Burncoat Robotics Team.