LENOX, MA. — The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present a performance of KING DAVID IN WORDS AND MUSIC Saturday, June 3rd at 7:30pm at Trinity Church, 88 Walker Street in Lenox. The concert will feature live readings by Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks. She will be reading from her latest international best-selling novel “The Secret Chord” about the life of King David as the choir sings music for chorus and full orchestra based on corresponding texts by and about King David.

On the program will be music from the Handel Oratorio Saul, the Coronation Anthem Zadok the Priest, music by Salamone Rossi, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Honegger (from King David) and the choral masterpiece When David Heard by the immensely popular composer of contemporary choral music- Eric Whitacre.

Geraldine Brooks is the author of five novels, her latest, The Secret Chord, the Pulitzer Prize–winning March and the international bestsellers Caleb’s Crossing, People of the Book, and Year of Wonders. Caleb’s Crossing was the winner of the New England Book Award for Fiction and the Christianity Today Book Award, and was a finalist for the Langum Prize in American Historical Fiction. People of the Book was named the Australian Book Industry Book of the Year in 2009. In 2010 she received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

On Sunday, Ms. Brooks will be reading from The Secret Chord at Temple Anshe Amunim’s Spring into Summer Brunch on Sunday, June 4, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. at Temple Anshe Amunim in Pittsfield. Reservations for the brunch are $36 per person and may be paid for by mailing a check to Temple Anshe Amunim, 26 Broad Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Checks can also be dropped off at the Temple Office. Note that checks must be received by May 30, 2017.

Concert tickets are $30 adults, $20 seniors and free for children 12 and under. To purchase tickets or request information visit www.cantilenachoir.org. Phone: 518-791-0185 or email satbchoir@yahoo.com.

The Cantilena Chamber Choir is comprised of 24 dedicated singers of the highest caliber, who possess vocal training, excellent sight-reading skills and considerable choral experience. Now in its thirteenth season, the Choir is the recipient of a Peers grant award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the only Berkshire choir so honored. It is also a two-time winner of the prestigious Choral Arts New England’s Alfred Nash Patterson Award for unique programming. Andrea Goodman, the founder and director of the choir, also serves as the Music Director for the annual summer Saratoga Choral Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York.

“Brooks has an uncanny ability to hear and transform characters from history, and this beautifully written, unvarnished saga of faith, desire, family, ambition, betrayal, and power will enthrall her many fans.” (Penguin/Random House Books)”
“Not only did I enjoy it,” said the temple’s rabbi, Josh Breindel, “but it fit right into the Jewish tradition of midrash – new stories that give background and depth to biblical characters. Her book was an inspiration for me to teach a class on King David for OLLI last spring. I’m really looking forward to hearing her speak!”