On Sunday, June 23, Baton Rouge Gallery’s Sundays@4 series is delighted to welcome the Opus Vocal Ensemble, for a musical performance and discussion. As with all Sundays@4 performances, this will be free and open to the public.

Opus Vocal Ensemble presents Sea.Star, a choral soundscape inspired by the Ave Maris Stella hymn, the ocean, and journeys. The program features works by the infamous John Cage (the 4’33” Guy wrote some notes we promise!) and historical footnote, Giovanni Animuccia, nestled among music by brilliant living composers Joanne Metcalf, Fahad Siadat, and Kathryn Rose. Joanne's work diffracts the medieval chant through a mid-90s lens while Kathryn offers an entirely new chant, setting a medieval English translation of the original Latin. Fahad offers us the opportunity to travel across the ocean's tumultuous waves, carried on his modern interpretation of the original prayer, tone clusters, and rich overtones.

Both performance and interactive installation, Sea.Star offers the audience an opportunity to participate in creation, to listen intently, to let the mind wander, to pray, to doodle, to catch up on some sudoku puzzles, perfectly at home surrounded by this month's combination of artists at the gallery. This concert combines familiar sounds of Renaissance polyphony and chant with some of the weirdest mouth sounds we can make.

Opus is a collaborative chamber choir dedicated to sharing choral favorites as well as vocal music from the fringes: long-forgotten gems and cutting-edge compositions by living composers. We marry these works to explore a narrative, concept, or vague vibe, often to widespread praise. The ensemble has been featured by the Louisiana ACDA conference and Christ Church's Third Sunday Series as well as in weddings, funerals, recitals, concerts, and classrooms throughout Southeast Louisiana.

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