About the Artwork:
The Gift II
Melissa Weinman
Charcoal and gold leaf on paper
42 x 32 in.

About the Artist:
Melissa Weinman is an American artist who grew up in her mother’s painting and ceramic studio, on the prairies of southwest Minnesota, where buffalo and prickly pear cactus are native. Weinman went to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where she double majored in creative visual arts and Chinese studies. She spent her junior year at Princeton University and studied painting with New York City artists Arthur Cohen and Howard Buchwald. Weinman pursued her M.F.A. under artists Ruth Weisberg and Ron Rizk at the University of Southern California, where she studied painting and printmaking. Her teaching career began as an assistant professor at the University of Richmond, Virginia, and at the University of Maryland. Her thirties brought Weinman to the Pacific Northwest, where she taught at the University of Puget Sound for fourteen years. In recent years, she has been a teaching artist at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle, Washington. Currently, Weinman offers atelier-style, solvent-free oil painting instruction in her studio. Her solo museum exhibitions include the Frye Art Museum in Seattle; the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Brunswick, Maine; and the Arnot Art Museum in Elmira, New York. A solo gallery show of Weinman’s was reviewed by Eleanor Heartney in Art in America.
http://www.melissaweinman.com/
https://www.joewadefineart.com/weinman.shtml

About the Music #1:
“The Word Was God” from the album For God So Loved the World

Lyrics #1: (Lyrics from John 1:1–3)
In the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through Him all things were made;
without Him nothing was made
that He has been made.

About the Performers #1:
The St. Olaf Choir with Anton Armstrong (conductor)

The St. Olaf Choir, with seventy-five mixed voices, is a premier a cappella choir in the United States. For over a century, the choir has set a standard of choral excellence and remained at the forefront of choral artistry. Conducted since 1990 by Anton Armstrong, the St. Olaf Choir has set a standard in the choral art, serving as a model for choirs of all levels. The ensemble’s annual tour brings its artistry and message to thousands of people across the nation and around the world. The St. Olaf Choir has taken fourteen international tours and performed for capacity audiences in the major concert halls of Norway, France, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and the Twin Cities.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/choir/

Anton Armstrong is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Chair in Music, professor of music at St. Olaf College, and conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, a position he assumed in 1990. A graduate of St. Olaf College, Armstrong earned a M.A. at the University of Illinois and a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Dr. Armstrong is widely recognized for his work in the area of youth and children’s choral music. In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy. In 2005, the St. Olaf Choir shared the stage with the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square in presenting the finale concert for the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association at the Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, California. In 2006, Baylor University selected Anton Armstrong from a field of 118 distinguished nominees to receive the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching. He spent February–June 2007 in residency at Baylor University as a visiting professor. In 2014, the St. Olaf Choir and Dr. Armstrong received a regional Emmy for the PBS special entitled Christmas in Norway with the St. Olaf Choir.
https://www.stolaf.edu/profile/armstrong

About the Composer:
Rosephanye Powell (b. 1962) is an American choral composer, singer, professor, and researcher. Powell has been hailed as one of America's premier composers of choral music. She has a diverse and impressive catalog of works published by some of the nation's leading publishers. Her compositions include sacred and secular works for mixed chorus, women's chorus, men's chorus, and children's voices. Her style of composition has been characterized by beautiful melodies, strong rhythmic emphasis, rich harmonies often derived from African American popular styles, and varied vocal textures including counterpoint. Her influences include African American musical styles; the choral works of J. S. Bach, G. F. Handel, Mozart, and Verdi; the art songs of William Grant Still, Undine Smith Moore, Fernando Obradors, and Emmanuel Chabrier; and the spiritual arrangements of H. T. Burleigh, J. Rosamond Johnson, Lena McLin, and Roland Carter. She is in constant demand as a composer-in-residence, clinician, adjudicator, conductor, and performer.  Dr. Powell’s research focuses on the art of the African American spiritual and voice care concerns for voice professionals (specifically, music educators, choral directors, and choral singers). She travels the country and internationally presenting lectures, song demonstrations, and serving as a workshop clinician, conductor, and adjudicator for solo vocal competitions/auditions, honor choirs, choral workshops, and festivals.
http://rosephanyepowell.com/biography/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosephanye_Powell

About the Music #2:
“In the Beginning Was the Word” from the album Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas

Lyrics #2:
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
And the Word was God.
In Him was life,
and the life was the light of men.
And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us,
Full of grace and truth;
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God with us.
Ring out, ye crystal spheres,
once bless our human ears,
If ye have power to touch our senses so;
And let your silver chime,
move in melodious time,
And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow;
And with your ninefold harmony,
make up full consort to the angelic symphony.
Such music (as 'tis said) before was never made,
But when of old the sons of morning sung,
While the Creator great,
his constellations set,
And the well-balanced world on hinges hung,
And cast the dark foundations deep,
And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep.
Yea, truth and justice then will down return to men,
Orbed in a rainbow; and,
like glories wearing,
Mercy will sit between,
throned in celestial sheen,
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;
And heaven, as at some festival,
Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.

Vaughan Williams’ work from the album Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on Christmas
is a brilliant mosaic of musical styles set to poetry from the most diverse sources. Texts by Milton, Hardy, and George Herbert reflecting various Christmas experiences are bound together by a narration of the nativity story sung with a number of soloists and choir. With its gripping blend of mysticism, heavenly glory, and human hope, the music flows with a vitality and inventiveness that belie a work written in Vaughan Williams’ late period.

About the Performers #2:
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with Elizabeth Gale (soprano), Robert Tear (tenor), and Richard Hickox (conductor)
 
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), founded in 1904, is the oldest of London’s symphony orchestras. As a self-governing body, the orchestra selects the conductors with whom it works. At some stages in its history, it has dispensed with a principal conductor and worked only with guest conductors. Among the conductors with whom it is most associated are Pierre Monteux, André Previn, Claudio Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, and Valery Gergiev. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in the Barbican Centre in the city of London. The LSO claims to be the world’s most recorded orchestra; it has made recordings since 1912 and has played on more than two hundred soundtrack recordings for the cinema. It is probably best-known for recording John Williams’ score for the Star Wars movies. This film and its sequels attracted a new group of admirers of the orchestra and consolidated the period of film music activity for the orchestra, which continues unabated to this day. The LSO also recorded other Williams’ film scores including Superman, Harry Potter, and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
https://lso.co.uk/

The London Symphony Chorus is a world-class symphony chorus, based in the city of London, where they have been inspiring audiences and members alike since 1966. Originally created to complement the work of the London Symphony Orchestra, today the vibrant chorus is made up of one hundred sixty amateur choral singers that partner with the very best conductors, orchestras, and soloists across the globe. Diverse and deeply committed, the chorus performs, records, and commissions a varied repertoire to the highest standard. They regularly perform with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre, as part of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, and are fortunate to tour internationally, sharing their passion for choral music wherever they perform by creating memorable experiences for their audiences.
https://lsc.org.uk/about-us/

Elizabeth Gale (b. 1948) is a British soprano known for her work in the opera world.  She studied with singer Winifred Radford amongst others and received the John Christie Award in 1974, a scholarship to be presented annually for advanced study as a singer, producer, conductor, or repetiteur under contract and in consultation with Glyndebourne Festival Opera.
https://www.wcomarchive.org.uk/--john-christie

Robert Tear, CBE (1939–2011) was a Welsh tenor singer, teacher, and conductor. He first became known by singing in the operas of English composer Benjamin Britten in the mid-1960s. From the 1970s until his retirement in 1999, his main operatic base was the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, though he appeared with other opera companies in the UK, Europe, the US, and Australia. Generally avoiding the Italian repertoire, which did not suit his voice, Tear became known in leading and character roles in German, British, and Russian operas. Tear's concert repertoire was wide, extending from music from the seventeenth century to contemporary works by Britten, Tippett, and others. As a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music he was well regarded by colleagues and pupils.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tearpupils

Richard Hickox, CBE (1948–2008) was an English conductor of choral, orchestral, and operatic music. In 1967, Hickox founded and became the president of the ongoing Wooburn Festival, which features music, drama, and the visual arts. He founded the City of London Sinfonia in 1971, remaining the music director until his death, and also founded the Richard Hickox Singers and Orchestra in the same year. The Richard Hickox Singers are featured on singer-songwriter Kate Bush's album Hounds of Love on the song "Hello Earth." In 1972, aged twenty-four, he was appointed as organist and master of music at St. Margaret's Church, known as “the parish Church of the House of Commons.” He was associate guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) from 1985 until his death. Hickox was chorus director of the London Symphony Chorus from 1976 to 1991. In 1997 he won the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording for his recording of Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes. He garnered five Gramophone Awards: for recordings of Britten's War Requiem (1992), Frederick Delius's Sea Drift (1994), William Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1995), and Charles Villiers Stanford's Songs of the Sea (2006). Awarded a doctorate of music from Durham University in 2003, he received two Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards, the Evening Standard Opera Award, and the Association of British Orchestras Award.
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Hickox-Richard.htm

About the Composer #2:
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958) was not only a composer of the utmost importance for English music but also one of the great symphonists of the twentieth century. Following his father’s death in 1875, he was brought up in Surrey and educated at the Royal College of Music and Trinity College, Cambridge. At the turn of the century he was among the very first to travel into the countryside to collect folk songs and carols, notating them for future generations to enjoy. As musical editor of The English Hymnal, he composed several hymns that still remain popular today. Williams volunteered for the army during the 1914–1918 war and was sent to France in 1916, serving as a wagon orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps. The carnage and the loss of close friends such as the composer George Butterworth deeply affected him and influenced his music after the war. He was widely read, and heavily influenced by poets and writers including Shakespeare, Bunyan, Blake, and Walt Whitman. In a long and productive life, he wrote nine symphonies; concertos for piano, violin, oboe, and tuba; five operas; chamber, ballet, and film music; a large body of songs and song cycles; and various important unaccompanied and orchestral choral works. His orchestral works include such popular favorites as The Lark Ascending, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus, The Wasps Overture, and the English Folk Song Suite.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_

About the Poetry & Poet:
Kathleen Jesse Raine (1908–2003) was a British poet, critic, scholar, and translator. Widely published throughout her lifetime, Raine first embraced poetry due to its foundational role across multiple generations of her family. Her poetry won her numerous accolades including The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry (1972) and Commander, Order of the British Empire (2000).  Raine was a founding member of the Temenos Academy, an educational charity, and her poetry has been adapted into music by composers like David Matthews, Geoffrey Bush, and Joseph Phibbs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathleen_Raine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temenos_Academy
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/kathleen-raine
 

About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Jeannine Hanger
Assistant Professor
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University

Jeannine Hanger teaches at Biola in the area of undergraduate Biblical Studies (NT). Her research and writing interests focus on John's Gospel, and more specifically on the sensory aspects of texts. She and her husband Garrick live in the South Bay, where Garrick pastors (Coastline Covenant), and where they love spending time with their kids, Bella, Emery, and Garrison. Jeannine also enjoys rainy days, good books, and strong coffee, preferably all three at once.