The San Luis Obispo Master Chorale and Orchestra, led by Music Director Thomas Davies, will present “The Poets Speak" on Sunday, April 24, 2022, at 3:00 pm. This wonderfully diverse concert will include three musical masterpieces by one of England’s most revered composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams, inspired by the poetry of Walt Whitman and George Herbert.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Vaughan Williams’s birth in 1872, the SLO Master Chorale and Orchestra will perform Fantasia on the “Old 104th” Psalm Tune, Five Mystical Songs, and Dona nobis pacem. Soloists for the concert include Joel Balzun, baritone; Alba Franco-Cancél, soprano; and Susan Azaret Davies, piano.

Leading up to the Sunday concert, the SLO Master Chorale will host two free educational presentations as part of the “Beyond the Notes” lecture series given by Dr. Eric Saylor, professor of music history and musicology at Drake University in Iowa.

On Friday, April 22 at 6:00 pm, “The Composer in Wartime: Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Music of Conflict” will discuss how the two World Wars inspired creative responses to Vaughan Williams’s personal experiences.
Location: room 218 of the Davidson Music Center, Cal Poly campus, 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo

On Saturday, April 23 at 3:30 pm, “The Letter and the Spirit: The Religious and Visionary Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams,” learn how and why Vaughan Williams engaged with sacred and mystical texts over the course of his career, despite his own lack of conventional religious faith.
Location: First Presbyterian Church, Wilson Hall, 981 Marsh Street, San Luis Obispo

“The Poets Speak" will be held in Harold Miossi Hall at the San Luis Obispo Performing Arts Center on the Cal Poly campus. Tickets are available at www.pacslo.org or by calling the PAC box office at 805-756-4849.