BYU-Idaho to take "Tree of Life" oratorio on the road

www.byui.edu/sacredmusic 

A new sacred music oratorio entitled "The Tree of Life: Redemption" will be performed by more than 300 students from Brigham Young University-Idaho in Salt Lake City, Logan, Pocatello and Rexburg during March.

The oratorio by Eda Ashby, a composer and music faculty member at BYU-Idaho, was premiered before more than 3,000 people March 3 in Rexburg.

Under the direction of Kendell Nielsen, the 72-member BYU-Idaho Symphony Orchestra combines with more than 250 voices from the Collegiate Singers and the Men's and Women's Choirs to present the musical performance.

The oratorio will be performed at Stephens Performing Arts Center in Pocatello, Idaho, March 15, at 7:30 p.m.: Kent Concert Hall in Logan, Utah, March 16 at 7:30 p.m.; and Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City March 17 at 8 p.m.

Free tickets for Pocatello and Logan are available by calling the BYU-Idaho Ticket Office at (208) 496-2230. A fee of $7 will be charged for the Salt Lake City performance and tickets may be ordered by calling (801) 355-ARTS.

Final performances in Rexburg will be held in the Barrus Concert Hall March 24 at both 2 and 7:30 p.m.

For more information, see the university Web page at www.byui.edu/sacredmusic.

"Elder Bruce R. McConkie once pointed out the three gardens critical in the history of the earth: Eden, Gethsemane, and the empty garden tomb," said the composer. "Building on those gardens, we see common elements in the most important spiritual events of the earth: gardens, the water of life, and trees, especially the tree of life."

Ashby was commissioned by BYU-Idaho to compose this scripture-based musical oratorio. "Separated from the tree of life and the Garden of Eden by the fall," she said in describing the work, "we begin the journey back, and find that the tree of life is accessible only by the divine aid of the Messiah, who invites us to partake of it once again."

Soloists include soprano Maria Stacey of Fort Collins, Colo.; soprano Debra McKinney of Lynnwood, Wash.; alto Kathryn Kinjo of American Fork, Utah; tenor Blake Howard of Teton, Idaho: tenor Ross Graham of Mechanicsville, Va.; baritone Steven Spiel of Idaho Falls, Idaho; and bass Jon Linford of Rexburg and a member of the BYU-Idaho voice faculty.

Ashby devoted more than two years to writing the work. She attributes her ability to even complete the task to heavenly influences that gave her the inspiration she needed to put scriptural passages to new music.

Musical tunes would come to her in many ways. She recalls driving through Montana and having a musical theme come into her mind.

"I'm very much aware this was a concerted effort from beyond the veil to bring this about," Eda says. "I must not take credit for this. All good things are from the Lord."

Interestingly enough, she had been working on an oratorio many years before she was officially commissioned by the university to write this piece. It was about the time she arrived in Rexburg to teach music at the university in 1999 that the idea came to her to someday write an oratorio. In her spare time, she would work on the project, never dreaming she would be asked to officially write something for the Sacred Music Series.

She would work on the project nearly every day for the next two years. Sometimes it would only be for an hour, other times for longer stretches of time.

Ashby says she often get up very early in the morning when there were fewer distractions and she seemed more creative.

"But not before 4. I had to get some rest. If it was after 4, I'd get up and work until I had to go to school," she says.

During those two years, there would be no vacations or trips. "I didn't even go home for Christmas and I turn down most social invitations," she admits.

She then asked composer Merrill Jenson, who wrote the Ricks College oratorio in 1999, to write the parts for orchestra.

But much of her work would be finished on Christmas Day 2006 at her home in Rexburg. However, her work was not totally finished. Not only has she written it, but as director of the Women's Choir, she was obligated to teach the music to her own students.

As for its impact, she says, "I hope it inspires people to greater faith and faithfulness and for the application of the gospel in deeper ways in their lives."

She explains that on the surface, the work is an allegory that represents the Plan of Salvation. But on a more personal level, "it's about us," she says.

BYU-Idaho began commissioning Latter-day Saint composers biennially to create religious oratorios based on scripture in 1989. The sacred music series has since contributed significantly to the body of sacred music works.