Tim Keyes Consort celebrates its 30th year by presenting a number of new works
including the Suite for Flute and Orchestra, “Now Until Twilight,” an “Irish Overture” and an oratorio, “The Pool” on Saturday June 14, at Richardson Auditorium. Princeton. 

“The Irish Overture” is composed by a Rutger’s Mason Gross student and Concert Master Amelia Cunningham and features the full orchestra. This one movement work is filled with Irish dance melodies cleverly interwoven into a highly energized work. Program length is approximately seven minutes.

The work, “Adagio,” will be conducted by the Consort’s new assistant music director, Kathryn Dauer, who was a member of the Consort for many of her formative years. The “Adagio” is an orchestration of the second movement of a work for organ composed for Metuchen Cathedral director Thomas DeLessio in 2020.  Program length is approximately four minutes.

The Suite for Flute and Orchestra, “Now Until Twilight,” was composed by Tim Keyes for the evening’s principal flute soloist Paulette DiNardo. The work also showcases the flute against a variety of beautiful textures in the orchestra. Program length is approximately seventeen minutes.

“The Pool” is the third oratorio of a triptych of oratorios by Keyes exploring three scriptural stories in John’s Gospel which illuminate Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman at the well, where he offers himself as the Living Water;  Jesus healing the man born blind, where he gives himself as Light of the World, and Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, where he reveals himself as the Resurrection and the Life.

“The Pool” examines the story of Jesus curing the Man Born Blind at the pool of Siloam.  This healing dramatizes the meaning of being able to see, highlighting the fact that those who can see with their eyes are often blind to the reality of the world around them.  Jesus chastises those who condemn the Man Born Blind by exposing their own blindness and inability to see the truth, that he is the Messiah.

This oratorio is scored for orchestra, choir and four soloists: Tenor Justin Connors (Jesus), Mezzo Soprano Victoria Lotkowictz (Mother of the Man Born Blind), Baritone Gary Gavula (the Man Born Blind) and Bass Graig Corveleyn (the Pharisee).  The drama unfolds over 12 movements and lasts approximately one hour.

The two other oratorios in the triptych are “The Well,” which was premiered in 2016 and highlights the story of Jesus and the woman at the well and “The Stone,” which was premiered in 2024 and explores the raising of Lazarus from the dead.

The Tim Keyes Consort is directed by Tim Keyes, a New Jersey-based composer and conductor and currently pastoral assistant for Music and Liturgy at The Catholic Community of St. Charles Borromeo, Skillman. The Consort is composed of both professional and amateur singers and instrumentalists from throughout Central New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.

Tickets are available from the Richardson Box office at: (609) 258-5000 or online at http://www.princeton.edu/richaud .  Ticket price is $25 General Admission.