I Will Sing of Life - Composed by Adolphus Hailstork & Text by Rev. Arthur Graham

Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland
Performed October 13, 2024 at Rose City Park United Methodist Church
We began our concert with “I Will Sing of Life,” with words by Rev. Arthur Graham, a Baptist pastor, and music by Dr. Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941). Hailstork’s passion for choral music dates from being a boy soprano in the cathedral choir in Albany, N.Y., but his musical studies at Howard University, Manhattan School of Music, and Michigan State have enabled him to compose operas and works for solo voices and instrumental ensembles large and small as well. He has taught and served as composer-in-residence at both Old Dominion and Norfolk State University. In this song, the middle of the work recognizes the reality of pain and setbacks before reclaiming and praising life.