The Triangle area premiere of Gwyneth Walker’s “My Girls”, on texts by the African-American poet Lucille Clifton.

This concert brings you musical images of the City. When most people lived on farms, the city was often an idealized image, a utopia of heavenly or earthly delight they might never see. More recently, we have seen ghettos as sinks of suffering, oppression, and danger.

The first part of today’s program presents images of Jerusalem—Zion, the holy city, a metaphor for the people of Israel, or for Heaven. The second part visits the city in modern, secular terms: it is the place where pleasurable excitement, even wickedness, may be enjoyed. Performed on Sunday, February 4, 2001.