When you think "oratorio," your mind may go to Handel and Mendelssohn. They're definitely on the short list. But the Grammy-award-winning Austin choral group Conspirare has just released a brand-new oratorio by composer Robert Kyr, called "Earth Vigil." It's on an album released just a few days back, in June of 2024. The group's Artistic Director, Craig Hella Johnson, shared some with us and talked about it.
"It's a tender and moving story of two people, and their own journey and great challenges that were caused by the climate crisis," he says, stressing that it's close to the heart of Kyr, the group's longtime collaborator.
It's taken some years to put together. "We're now so happy to be releasing this," says Johnson. "It's been a long journey, a labor of love for sure. We felt in the performances the intensity of care, concern, and love that people feel for mother Earth."
The result — sumptuous music, performed with exactitude and passion, and sparklingly produced — should by all rights make its way onto that oratorio short list.
