U-M Chamber Choir Premieres Craig Hella Johnson's "Song from the Road"

A joint commission on behalf of Chorus America, “Song from the Road” is an anthem composed by Craig Hella Johnson, one of today’s leading choral conductors in the United States.
In addition to conducting Conspirare and the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, Johnson is also a composer and arranger. Of “Song from the Road,” Johnson has written: “More often than not, we live lives of forgetting-forgetting who we are, forgetting our deepest, simplest
essence. Embedded in this piece is a gentle call to remembrance-to remember our original happiness, our original essence.”
Long on this journey
Long in these shadows
Far from the only home
Low all our hoping
Deep the undoing
Just for this forsaken road
Voices we dream of
Echoes remember
We all together there
Heaven was once
Our song to be singing
Hearts’ every word
In wonder and joy
I am how your heart discovers
All the hopes that sleep in you
I am every silence calling
I am Fountain I am Meadow
I am every secret door
Sing your ships into their harbors
Sing them bring them heal them home
Murmur every holy river
I am Blossom I am Harvest
I am leaves around your soul
Come from the shadows, into the gleaming,
Dawn of the day in us;
Open our lives to everything growing-
How shall we say this grace?
World we are watching, world we are,
Keep us in life with you.
How do we answer? How do we know?
Love brings us closer. Mercy us home.
I am how your heart discovers
All the hopes that sleep in you
I am every silence calling
I am Fountain I am Meadow
I am every secret door
Sing your ships into their harbors
Sing them bring them heal them home
Murmur every holy river
I am Blossom I am Harvest
I am leaves around your soul
Love brings us closer. Mercy us home.
Home…
Michael Dennis Browne (b. 1940)

[@victoriahart1630]

Just heard this performed by the Oberlin College Choir (in Oberlin, Ohio). Very well done! A deeply touching piece written by Craig Hella Johnson and conducted by Brian Bailey (... who directed me to this beautiful rendition on KZbin).

[@stephenbeaudoin7924]

Just stunning. Beautiful music, beautifully interpreted and performed.

[@hervich]

J'aime. Il y a une douce humanité dans cette musique.

[@johnweatherspoon6075]

D'accord Athénaïs. C'est beau !

[@JocelynHagenComposer]

A gorgeous performance of a beautiful piece.

[@Petunia81]

Truly stunning. 🌟💙

[@Petunia81]

Truly lovely.

[@spubby5046]

anyone else notice the alarm going of right around here? 5:23

[@Petunia81]

I’m sure they were mortified lol

[@kevindaymusic]

Magnificent!

[@ccampbell7]

Man, a few counties in Ohio did this song for a fine arts festival a few months ago, and we did this song and 3 others, and MAN... Learning how to sing this song the correct way was equivalent to getting tortured XD

[@msyumyum6113]

We really did lol

[@ccampbell7]

@@msyumyum6113 Wait a second... O*****, is that you!?!!!

[@msyumyum6113]

Yes lol

[@ccampbell7]

@@msyumyum6113 Heya! 😎

[@TheWCutter]

Adrianna!!!!

[@andogg4682]

3:25