Savannah's Christ Church marries classic and contemporary with "To Build a Home" concert
Do four walls and a roof make a home, or is this place of comfort and safety more complicated?
According to Christ Church Director of Music and Musica Atlantica Art Director George Fergus, the physical structure is just the beginning of what a home should be.
“Having a community or a place to go where you're safe and loved is what it means to have a home,” Fergus said. “It’s not your mailing address. It could be, but there's so much more than that.”
Those deeper definitions of “home” are the main subject of Musica Atlantica and Bridge Voices’ “To Build a Home,” a free concert proving art isn’t frozen in time but shifts with the rest of humanity.
When Fergus moved to Savannah in 2022, he wanted to create a space offering community and collaboration for anyone looking for a place to support excellent music. The idea came to fruition in the Friends of Music committee, an organization housed within Christ Church, and Musica Atlantica. Still in its early years, the group has made quick work of high-quality collaborations with other choral groups like Baltimore’s Bridge Voices.
Bridging the classics with contemporary pieces
In Bridge Voices’ early years, founder Gilbert Spencer focused on contextualizing centuries-old classical music with contemporary pieces. At first, this meant drawing parallels between the technical components, rhythms and patterns. As the group grew and evolved, Spencer found that historical composers were inspired by issues that felt all too familiar in the modern world.
Rather than plan a concert with a theme, Spencer and Fergus relied on the sage advice to select the music and let a theme arise organically in “To Build a Home.” One connection that stood out was the recurring discrimination and issues that once faced people centuries ago and continue to affect us today. More specifically, they noticed strong connections between the English Reformation and modern society.
Fergus and Spencer were well-prepared to discuss the connection. Before the English Reformation in the 16th century, the Catholic Church mandated services in Latin even though the average person couldn't understand Latin. Without access to printed materials, there was no way to understand the texts included in mass and choral productions. In retaliation, the English Reformation created a religious practice based on the common tongue. The music of the time followed with simpler arrangements performed in a language everyone could understand.
“To Build a Home” focuses on similar efforts to encourage conversation and increase accessibility, starting at admission. All community members are invited to enjoy free, unticketed music events like “To Build a Home.” Without the stress of cost, each guest’s only concern is where they want to sit.
Still, a few curious minds might wonder how Musica Atlantica manages concert expenses without charging admission. Like most things surrounding “To Build a Home,” the answer lies within community support right here at home.
Most of the parish was on board with fundraising efforts from the start, as were the CEO of Byrd’s Cookie Company and her husband. The couple offered their help wherever needed, and Spencer and Fergus were quick to note that 2024 is the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death and the 100th anniversary of the Byrd Cookie Company.
While free concerts make the arts more accessible, the show's theme tackles accessibility on a broader level. Across the program, “To Build a Home” tackles what it means to have a safe home and what it means to lack a safe home due to race or economic status.
The first piece Spencer and Fergus highlighted is English Renaissance composer William Byrd’s “Vigilate.” This fast-paced composition is intended to mirror the tension of being on high alert should the master of the house return home unexpectedly. Although the text is specific to a certain time, the anxieties behind it continue to linger.
To bring the conversation into the realm of contemporary music, the program highlights Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw. The selected pieces in this concert follow her reflection on the Statue of Liberty and its pairing with the Emma Lazarus sonnet “The New Colossus,” which promises a life discordant with immigrants’ lived experiences.
Similarly, singer and composer Jonathan Woody’s “Intense” chronicles housing discrimination that Baltimore’s Black residents have faced for centuries. Co-commissioned by Bridge Voices and the woman-led Baroque orchestra Apollo’s Fire, the piece arises from a Baltimore and Cleveland court stenographer’s account of racist remarks used to prevent Black people from moving into predominantly white neighborhoods. By setting contemporary discrimination against the chamber organ style of the 1600s, the piece poses a pertinent question: “Have we really come as far as we thought?”
“Our society is incredibly divided right now. People don't want to talk about things that are incredibly important to talk about,” Spencer said. “The banner I choose to carry is to open conversation and show others that we, as people, are more powerful together than we are apart.”
Rather than simply presenting audiences with a beautiful concert, Fergus and Spencer hope to inspire a frame of mind that lingers long after the final note.
“The biggest opportunity for us as performers is to create an experience for somebody that allows them to be a bigger player in their world in some way, that it's changed them, that they leave with a new perspective or an enhanced version of their perspective on an issue or a feeling,” Spencer said.
To deepen those experiences, concert programs will include translations of the performed texts, and both groups welcome conversations after the show.
“That really is at the heart of what it is about for me—a one-on-one exchange, connection and transformation,” Fergus said. “If we can facilitate that through our music, we're doing something worth doing.”
If You Go >>
What: To Build a Home
When: 4 p.m., April 28
Where: Christ Church Episcopal, 28 Bull St.
Tickets: Free, but donations are appreciate
Info: christchurchsavannah.org/concerts
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: "To Build a Home" free concert at Savannah's Christ Church
