Holly Sedillos and Jon Lee Keenan join The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s to present two of the twentieth century’s greatest works for solo vocalist and orchestra. Taking his cue from a prose poem by James Agee, Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer 1915 is steeped in nostalgia and childlike depictions of the American South. Benjamin Britten wrote the Nocturne for Tenor, 7 Obbligato Instruments and Strings as a companion piece to his Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings. It is full of evocative poetry, dazzling instrumental textures, and glorious vocal writing that capture the many moods of the night, from relaxing calm to fear and foreboding. Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Charterhouse Suite, based on English folk songs and dances, rounds out this offering.

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