The Commission
To celebrate its 50th anniversary season, Oakland Symphony Chorus has commissioned Bay Area composer and conductor, Sanford Dole, to compose a major new work for mixed chorus and piano. With a theme of finding peace within community, specifically that which derives from participating in choirs, The Fabric of Peace draws on diverse texts for the five-movement work. The 30-minute composition includes settings of a brief passage from the Rig Veda about uniting for the common good, a poem by Alameda poet, Elisabeth Eliassen, about weaving our spirits together into a fabric of peace, a quote from William Byrd citing reasons to sing, and a portion of the Akethist of Thanksgiving (Glory to God for All Things) by the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Tryphon. OSC's wonderful accompanist, Susan Soehner, is featured with a bravura piano part during three of the movements. She also plays a quiet solo piano interlude titled "Reverie." The middle movement, setting Byrd's exhortation to sing, is a cappella.