Kalamazoo Choral Arts is closing its season on a powerful note — and a full house. Music director Chris Ludwa joins Cara Lieurance to discuss the ensemble's May 19 performance of Considering Matthew Shepard, a "fusion oratorio" by composer and conductor Craig Hella Johnson.
The concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. at First Congregational Church in downtown Kalamazoo, a venue Ludwa calls ideal for the piece. Johnson's work draws on the true story of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was the victim of a brutal hate crime in Wyoming in 1998. Ludwa describes it as a passion — in the tradition of Bach — that reclaims Shepard's full humanity rather than reducing him to a headline. A movement called "Ordinary Boy" catalogs the things Shepard loved: baseball, fishing, theater. "Recasting that story is so beautiful," Ludwa says. "How often do we really go into who was the person that died, and what was their relationship with their mother like, and what were the things that they loved to do?"
The 85-to-90-minute work features an 80-voice choir, a 10-piece orchestra, and 15 guest singers from Queer Chorus of Kalamazoo. Soloists are drawn entirely from within the ensemble. Ludwa praises Syd West, director of the Queer Chorus and a Western Michigan University graduate, who performs a solo called "The Innocence."
The performance also includes an audience participation element: each attendee receives a piece of flannel shirt, which they may bring to a fence post — a symbol of where Shepard was left to die — and leave in memory of someone lost or in support of someone living.
"If there ever was a piece that is Kalamazoo Choral Arts living into its mission to create, enrich, and transform," Ludwa says, "this piece is absolutely it." He adds that while the evening will be heavy, its final word is one of inclusion: "All of us belong here."
For more information, visit kalamazoochoralarts.org.
The interview was summarized by Claude AI and edited by the author.
