Healing an Old Wound

This October, the Minnesota Chorale and partnering artists from diverse disciplines, all under the direction of Kathy Saltzman Romey, present the world premiere of Ah, Nagasaki: Ashes into Light by the American composer Robert Kyr. The performance and adjacent education events are being cosponsored by The O’Shaughnessy and Planet Ordway.

The cantata was commissioned by the Nagasaki Peace Museum to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. The text, written in both Japanese and English, is a collaboration between Kyr and the Japanese writer Kazuaki Tanahashi. The work is being premiered here to celebrate the fifty-year sister-city relationship (the first of its kind in the United States) between St. Paul and Nagasaki. Joining the chorale will be the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the chorale’s own Minneapolis Youth Chorus, taiko (traditional Japanese) drummers from Mu Daiko, members of the Gaia Philharmonic Choir and Yokohama Chamber Choir from Japan, and various vocal soloists.

Kyr describes his piece as a work of witness, a journey from suffering to reconciliation that is beyond politics and ideology. It features two choruses that are physically separated on stage for most of the work. The first movement, titled “Light into Ashes,” evokes August 9, 1945, the actual day of the bombing. The second movement, “Lament,” features various forms of Japanese chanting and taiko drumming. The final movement, “Ashes into Light,” emphasizes peace-making. During this movement, the two choirs are brought together in a visual representation of healing. Oct. 11. The O’Shaughnessy, College of St. Catherine, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul, 651-690-6700