As we struggle to understand and overcome the challenges of living in a divided and divisive world, the concept of community is more important now than ever. In this time of conflict and dissent, The Esoterics are proud to release a new disc of three choral works on the theme of community: to inspire reflection and respect, creation and renewal, inclusion and support.
In The wheel of time, the dance (2014), Aaron Jay Kernis chose to set four poems by the environmental activist and Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry. After departing the initial bustle of the city, Berry’s verses pay homage to the cycles found in time and nature, life and love, with images of light and darkness, field and forest, land and air, water and weather. For Kernis, the wheel of time allows for “the sweet enclosure of the song,” and inspires an eternal dance with everyone – our families, friends, neighbors, and departed ancestors. Through this dance, we gain an emotional connection to our own geography and genealogy, and even after losing ourselves, we are still able to find our own way home.