“The first half of the St. Louis Chamber Chorus’s Sunday concert “ended with a ‘song of hope and faith,’ the world premiere of the complete version of celebrated English composer Judith Bingham’s setting of Psalm 121, ‘I Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto the Hills,’ ” writes Eric Meyer in Monday’s (2/17) St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Commissioned by a consortium of six area choral organizations led by the SLCC, the composition is dedicated to longtime Post-Dispatch classical music critic Sarah Bryan Miller. Miller was diagnosed with cancer about a decade ago. Recently hospitalized, she was able to attend the concert. Bingham’s … complex music proved worthy of the text and provided an appropriate emotional context, weighty yet comforting. Soprano Christine Guthrie performed poignant solo work…. The crowd … stood for an extended, emotional ovation in appreciation of the piece, the performance and in honor of Miller, who was clearly moved by the experience.” Chorus Artistic Director Philip Barnes “praised Miller for her ‘tireless efforts’ to cover classical music in St. Louis…. The second half of the concert featured composers Howard Helvey, Viktor Kalinnikov, Dobrinka Tabakova and Steven Stucky and included Swedish composer Ingvar Lidholm’s ‘a riveder le stele (a river of stars).’ ”
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