May 8—“We really grappled with finding the most appropriate music to properly celebrate the 250th birth of our nation, given the poor behavior of our nation over the last few decades.” So began Jen Pearl, chairman of the board of the Schiller Institute New York City Chorus, and director of its Chorus of Eastern Massachusetts, in her opening remarks to a concert audience of about 50 at First Baptist Church of Wollaston in Quincy, Massachusetts, on Saturday, May 2.

She continued, “But when you look at the program of this concert and the other concerts we are performing, you may be perplexed and ask yourself why there are no American patriotic songs on here if we are celebrating the 250th birth of our nation? I assert that all the music you will hear tonight represents the real concept of the United States, and, hopefully, by the end you will get that idea as well.”

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Her point was that the concept that founded the United States, the universal principle of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” served as an inspiration for poets, artists, composers, and political leaders throughout the world. This was reflected in the cohesion of the program; a beautifully interwoven dialogue of music of China, South Africa, Western Europe, the United States, and Cuba, interspersed with readings from great Americans that reflected that inspiration in various ways.

The concert opened with two choral works, the spiritual “Ride the Chariot” and Johannes Brahms’s “Dem Dunkeln Schoss,” followed by a series of solos including Antonín Dvořák songs, sung by soprano Michelle Erin.

Kevin Pearl, of the Schiller Institute, then gave remarks on John Quincy Adams and Friedrich Schiller. “Friedrich Schiller, for whom the Schiller Institute and this chorus are named, proposed that each individual should strive to become both a patriot and a world citizen. Few Americans have so fully embodied that ideal as John Quincy Adams. Proficient in nine languages, he served our nation as President, Congressman, and Secretary of State, and later argued the landmark Amistad case against slavery before the United States Supreme Court.”

He then read an excerpt from John Quincy Adams’s July 4, 1821 speech about America, which is best known for his assertion, “…she goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

These remarks and readings had a powerful effect, to which the audience responded strongly. Given that this concert took place in Quincy, Massachusetts, where the John Quincy Adams family resided, the population even to this day has a connection to that history. At least four different audience members inquired as to where the quotes could be found, so as to study and re-read them. Some commented on how very appropriate Adams’s comments are to today.

This was followed by Sarastro’s aria from Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, sung by bass-baritone Carlo Miguel Bunyi. Mozart, a supporter of the American Revolution, set these words for Sarastro to sing:

In these sacred halls

one knows not of vengeance.

And when a man is fallen

Love leads him to duty.

Within these sacred walls

No traitor can be lurking

because one forgives the enemy

Baritone Juan Suarez beautifully and powerfully sang Brahms’s “Von Ewiger Liebe” and “Los Gardenias,” a Cuban bolero. This was followed by Michelle Erin singing the African American spiritual, “Balm in Gilead.”

More Readings, Remarks and Music

One of the highlights of the program was the choral performance of a popular Chinese folk song, “Half Moon Rising,” performed in Mandarin, about the growing half moon. As Cloret Ferguson of the Schiller Institute remarked in her introduction, the growing half moon is a metaphor of a growing love for one’s beloved. She remarked that the Moon holds great significance in Chinese culture and causes us, just as did the Artemis II mission (April 1–11, 2026), to look upwards and outwards into the universe.

This was followed by “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” (Lord, Bless Africa), a beloved hymn composed in 1897 in South Africa, which became a song of resistance to Apartheid and is now one of South Africa’s national anthems. A few more spirituals followed, and then the Schiller Institute’s Bill Ferguson read the following excerpt from the speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” given in New York on April 4, 1967, exactly one year before he was killed.

These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression, and out of the wounds of a frail world, new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.” We in the West must support these revolutions.

It is a sad fact that because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch antirevolutionaries. This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has a revolutionary spirit. Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions that we initiated. Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores, and thereby speed the day when “every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.”

The concert ended with a resounding “Rejoice, Oh Judah” and “Hallelujah, Amen!” from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus.

How To Celebrate the 250th Anniversary

Many responses and much excitement came from audience members, many saying they had been unsure how to celebrate America’s 250th birthday under today’s circumstances. One chorus member said that we helped her think about things differently, particularly the 250th birthday, and that she wants to look deeper into the history. Some Chinese audience members were deeply moved by the singing of “Half Moon Rising,” commenting on the quality of sound of the chorus. They were struck by the profundity of the whole event.

Several audience members commented to singer Michelle Erin that they especially loved “Balm in Gilead,” implying that the song brought solace and relief in this difficult world. Some of the audience members seemed astonished by how relevant and apposite to today are the “old thinkers” presented by the event.

The hour-long concert gave the audience and musicians a chance to reflect upon the true nature of the United States in the world and in history by experiencing a thoroughly composed dialogue between music and historical thinkers. The Schiller Institute is committed to continuing that dialogue with the upcoming Schiller Institute New York City Chorus concert on May 17, in Manhattan, and with other concerts planned throughout this year. You can watch the full concert here.

For more information:

Boston area: schillerchorusma@gmail.com

New York area: sinycchorus.com