Cover Artwork ©Amy Stone

On October 3rd, Bruce Broughton’s Two Sermons for choir and winds was performed at the University of Michigan in a collaboration of the Symphony Band and the top Choirs at the School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Two Sermons is Broughton’s musical interpretation of two poems by American writer and civil rights activist, James Weldon Johnson (June 17, 1871–June 26, 1938): “The Creation” is a narrative retelling of the Creation story in Genesis, but with the Creator character speaking in a familiar language with a distinct personality; and “The Judgment Day” is a dramatically descriptive narrative of the Apocalypse. The original poems are patterned after traditional African-American religious oratory, and Broughton’s Two Sermons is a powerful and vibrant work that expresses each of these themes to their fullest.

This special collaboration, led by both Director of Choirs, Eugene Rogers, and Director of Bands, Jason Fettig, can now be enjoyed online in this streaming YouTube video: