Concert Choir Performance: Toward the Light

The CU-Bloomsburg Concert Choir will present Toward the Light: Songs of Faith, Memory, Journey, and Joy on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in Carver Hall, K.S. Gross Auditorium.

Toward the Light: Songs of Faith, Memory, Journey, and Joy is built around the human search for hope, connection, and light. Under the direction of Dr. Amelia Garbisch, the program moves through moments of reflection, remembrance, faith, struggle, and ultimately celebration.

At the heart of the concert are selected movements from Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna, a luminous work whose title translates to “eternal light.” The theme of light becomes a thread connecting music from a wide range of traditions and composers. The program includes the powerful spiritual tradition represented by Moses Hogan’s O Lord, Hear My Prayer and The Battle of Jericho, Rollo Dilworth’s energetic Walk in Jerusalem, Eleanor Daley’s deeply moving In Remembrance, and Michael John Trotta’s Ecce Ancilla.

The concert concludes on a note of warmth and joy with Aaron Copland’s distinctly American and playful I Bought Me a Cat. Together, the works create an emotional journey—from contemplation and longing toward hope, community, and celebration.

Rather than telling a single story, Toward the Light explores an idea that crosses cultures, traditions, and musical styles: that even in moments of uncertainty, grief, or struggle, people continue to seek something brighter. The concert celebrates the ways music can help us remember, believe, persevere, and find joy together.