Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow
Presented by the Radix Vocal Ensemble
Amy Stuart Hunn, director
featuring Laura Zaerr, harp
Saturday, May 16, at 7:00pm
Leaven Community Center
5431 NE 20th Ave., Portland
Tickets $5-$25
In the spring of 2026, Radix has a very special project planned: the Oregon premiere of Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow by British composer Imogen Holst (1907-1984). This multi-movement work for treble choir and harp was commissioned for the 1950 Aldeburgh Festival by Benjamin Britten, who described the set as “six little treasures.” Long overshadowed by her famous father, Imogen Holst is just now beginning to receive more attention from performers and audiences for her significant talents. Radix is proud to present this beautiful work as the centerpiece of our spring 2026 concert, a program devoted to the interplay of opposites: joy and sorrow, night and day, life and death, mourning and celebration. In addition to the Holst set, the program will include “Dirge and Hymeneal, H.124” by Gustav Holst (which hilariously describes a meeting of funeral and wedding processions at a church door) and Shruthi Rajasekar’s “Ushās - Goddess of Dawn,” as well as music by Ēriks Ešenvalds, George Gershwin, Linn Andrea Fuglseth, the Wailin’ Jennys, Ysaye Barnwell, George Snow, and the Indigo Girls. Visit www.radixvocalensemble.org for more information and to purchase tickets.