GR Choral to perform

GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Glen Ridge Community Concerts will conclude its 2015–2016 season with choral works by Anton Bruckner, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein in a musical tribute to the beauty of the earth.
Thomas Mustachio, music director, will conduct and accompany this musical celebration of life, Earth Day, and the arrival of spring. The Glen Ridge Choral Society will be joined by a brass ensemble, percussion and soloists to perform Bruckner’s “Te Deum,” a piece the composer himself called the pride of his life.

As Gustav Mahler wrote about the piece, “Te Deum” is “for the tongues of angels, heaven-blest, chastened hearts, and souls purified in the fire!”

The program also includes “Locust Iste,” a piece Bruckner composed in 1869 to celebrate the dedication of the votive chapel of the New Cathedral in Linz, Austria, where he had been the cathedral’s organist.

The tribute moves into the 20th century with pieces that include Copland’s “The Promise of Living,” from the opera, “The Tender Land,” and Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow,” the final number from “Candide.”

“Give Thanks to the Earth” will be held on Sunday, April 24, at 3 p.m. at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church, 195 Ridgewood Ave., Glen Ridge. Admission is charged. For more information, call 973-743-5596.