Sanctuary

Sunday, March 2 & Monday, March 3, 2025
Bel Canto Company & Gate City Voices
Welborn E. Young, Artistic Director and Conductor
Christ United Methodist Church, Greensboro, NC

Digital Program Order, Texts & Translations
(PDF – Zoomable for Low Vision)

Conductor’s Ruminations

Planning a concert usually begins with one or two pillar works that excite my imagination and cause me to explore their texts for deeper or more comprehensive themes or meanings. Upon my first encounter with both Sacred Place by Alex Berko and Proud Music of the Storm by Jake Runestad my heart and mind began the exploration. The composers lovingly wove together their expression of words into musical landscapes that are both visceral and enduring. The pairing of these works reminds of the glories of nature but also the need to protect it and prevent its destruction. Berko’s structural choice of a Jewish service as a scaffolding for the varied secular texts focused on ecological preservation elevates to a holy place his reverence for nature and the need to protect our precious Earth. One of Runestad’s compositional strengths is his ability to create cinematic journey’s in his works. Walt Whitman’s poem Proud Music of the Storm is a multilayered depiction of the “elemental forces of nature as a grand orchestration” and is a perfect text for Runestad’s skill.

With an eye toward illuminating and preserving our world’s natural gifts, I soon recognized that other “gifts” need our attention. The state of choral music education in North Carolina and, I would argue, across the US is such that illuminating and preserving/promoting it is essential now more than ever. So, we honor public school choral music educators whose lasting impact on their students and the quality of their music making must be recognized.  Over our two concerts, four high school choral music educators will be honored. In this small way, we endeavor to illuminate and preserve/promote the choral programs in our state and emphasize their importance to their communities and the thousands of students who benefit from the care of our choral music educators. 

Sanctuary features two pillar works, performed by Bel Canto Company and Gate City Voices. 

Sacred Place by Alex Berko – Scored for chorus, violin, cello, and piano, the central themes of this six-movement work are ecological preservation and healing set within the structure of a traditional Jewish service. Although each movement is titled after a different pillar of the service (Opening Prayer, Amidah, Shema, Mi Sheberach, Kaddish, Closing Prayer), none of the text is in Hebrew. Rather it is a collection of the writings of several environmentalists and poets exploring their relationship with the earth, including Wendall Berry, John Muir, William Stafford, and Rabindranath Tagore. (Read More at alexberko.com)

Proud Music of the Storm by Jake Runestad –  Performed by Bel Canto Company, Gate City Voices, and Voices of Valor (Monday) and conducted by Bel Canto Artistic Director Welborn Young, this piece is based on Walt Whitman’s poem of the same name celebrating the sounds of our world, from nature to music. Runestad describes it as an “ode to all sounds that make up Whitman’s world and how they inspired him to create.” Like many of Runestad’s works, it evokes a deep love for nature and implores the listener to protect its sacred beauty.

We are also pleased to honor four excellent high school choral conductors this weekend for their dedication to choral music education:

Michael Martinez
Forbush High School, East Bend, Yadkin County

Conducting Bel Canto’s performance “Ballade to the Moon” by Daniel Elder on Sunday, March 2, 2025

Michael Martinez is a choral conductor, music educator, and church musician. He currently leads the choral program at Forbush High School in East Bend, and serves as a staff musician at Centenary United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem. Currently he is the director of the Forbush High School Concert Choir Choir and the Youth Choir Collective at Centenary United Methodist Church. Previously, he led the Young Voices of Austin, a nonprofit afterschool program supporting underserved youth in Texas. He has presented at conferences and universities, including NCACDA, NCMEA, UNC Greensboro, Wingate University, SoJam, and VoiceJam, sharing his expertise in contemporary a cappella and choral music education. He holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from UNC Greensboro. 

Marshall Johnson
Grimsley High School, Greensboro, Guilford County

Conducting Bel Canto’s performance of “Hear My Prayer” by Henry Purcell on Monday, March 3, 2025. The Grimsley Madrigal Singers will also perform “Haec Dies” by Wiliam Byrd and “Migildi Magildi” arranged by Grayston Ives.

Marshall “MJ” Johnson is proud to continue the Grimsley High School Madrigal tradition begun nearly 60 years ago and cultivated by his friend and mentor Ms. Marta Force.  A native North Carolinian and graduate of Needham B. Broughton High School in Raleigh, Mr. Johnson completed his Bachelor of Music Education degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting at The Ohio State University under Hilary Apfelstadt.  A Grammy Award nominated singer with internationally acclaimed San Francisco based vocal ensemble Chanticleer, Johnson is happiest at home in North Carolina as Vocal Music Director and Music Department Chairman at Grimsley where he has been teaching since 2004.  He also currently serves as Lead Teacher for High School Choral Music in Guilford County Schools. Johnson achieved National Board Certification in 2010 and held previous teaching positions at Broughton High School and Myrtle Beach High School.  His passion for music extends beyond the classroom as a performer, composer, arranger, clinician and adjudicator.  West Coast performing credits include San Francisco Chanticleer, the San Francisco Grace Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys, and the Carmel Bach Festival.  Notable among numerous New York performing credits include The Choir of Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church (dir. Bill Trafka), The New York Virtuoso Singers (dir. Harold Rosenbaum), The New York Concert Singers (dir. Judith Clurman), The Collegiate Chorale (dir. Robert Bass), Bachworks (dir. Anthony Newman), The Brooklyn Philharmonic (dir. Robert Spano), and The Orchestra of Saint Luke’s (dir. Sir Charles MacKerras).  Since 2017 Mr. Johnson has served as a Music Director at West Market Street United Methodist Church in downtown Greensboro, leading the praise and worship band Rising West. MJ sings and plays guitar in a local cover band Bandemic and writes original rock and country songs for original project Flash Jackman. He resides in the heart of Greensboro with his wife Denise and daughter Greta.

Lemar “LJ” Martin
Wheatmore High School, Trinity, Randolph County

Conducting Bel Canto & Voices of Valor’s performance of “To Sit and Dream” by Rosephanye Powell on Monday, March 3, 2025. Voices of Valor will also perform “Do Not Stand and Weep” by Greg Gilpin.

 LJ Martin is a North Carolina based music educator and choral conductor. LJ currently serves as the choral director at Wheatmore High School in Trinity, NC where he directs Voices of Valor. LJ also serves as Lead Choral Music Instructor for the west campus of the NC Governor’s School. He is also Music Director at Hinshaw United Methodist Church in Greensboro, NC. Outside of teaching and conducting, LJ is a regularly performing vocalist and gigs throughout NC with various ensembles. LJ graduated from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he received his B.M. in Music Education and secondarily studied American Sign Language.

Marlo Nall
Rockingham County High School, Reidsville, Rockingham County

Conducting Bel Canto and Rockingham County High School Concert Choir’s performance of “You Do Not Walk Alone” by Elaine Hagenberg on Monday, March 3, 2025. Concert Choir will also perform “Ma Navu” by Audrey Snyder.

Marlo T. Nall is currently in her 25th year as a music educator, and her 11th year as the Choral Director and piano instructor at Rockingham County High School where she is director of Rockingham County High School Concert Choir among other ensembles.  She earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with an emphasis in piano from Converse College in Spartanburg, SC, and also holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of South Carolina.  She is in her 10th season singing with Bel Canto Company in Greensboro.  She also acts as musical director for extra-curricular musical productions at Rockingham County High School in collaboration with the theatre teacher, and has been musical director for the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County and at the Barn Dinner Theatre in Greensboro.  Marlo has been an active member of NAFME since college.  She has two children, Garnett (14) and Melody (12), two dogs, and an incredibly supportive husband, Greg.