Cross Currents

The Program

With Guest Conductor and Composer Marques L. A. Garrett

These concerts conclude our 41st season, Confluence. We’ve spent a full year exploring the musical implications of pairings. Streams became a river in October. Darkness and light complemented one another in December. February found the movement inside sound. April put water to work against brass and gearing. May is downstream of all of that energy, arriving and culminating here.

CrossCurrents is a program of rich and meaningful American choral works, assembled and conducted by one of our country’s rising choral stars, Marques L. A. Garrett.

Featured works include Marques’ own Cor Amoris (2026), co-commssioned by Ars Nova Singers and presenting the Colorado premiere at these concerts. The theme of the work is love, including some of its different expressions such as birth, the Divine, unity, sacrifice for another, eros, and celebration. Other works include Hold Fast to Dreams by Blake Morgan; Gently, Lord, O Gently Lead Us by R. Nathaniel Dett; Arise, Beloved by Rosephanye Powell; and more.

We are also pleased to feature the Astrodon String Quartet, the graduate string quartet in residence at CU Boulder, on the Garrett premiere.

Guest artist Marques Garrett joins Ars Nova Singers for the season’s final two performances.

Featured Artist

Marques Garrett

[ Artist bio and photo to be added — awaiting materials from Kim ]