A Song of Peace

For the last three years, the Chattanooga Boys Choir has been a leader in the #AVOICE4PEACE movement, presenting community concerts each year commemorating the International Day of Peace. (Watch a clip from a past event here.) Joining the Chattanooga Boys Choir for this year's concert is a special ensemble of some of Chattanooga's finest music educators and choral musicians. We hope you'll join us for an hour to promote a peaceful world through music. 

Chattanooga Boys Choir members are also especially proud to present local composer Ethan McGrath’s composition Malala’s Dream, which is a setting of inspiring words of Malala Yousafzai, the young schoolgirl who was attacked by the Taliban in 2012 for voicing her support of equal treatment and opportunities for young women in Pakistan. In surviving the attack and continuing to speak out against injustice, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at just 17 years old.

Members of the project choir – comprised of music educators from around the region – will present Moses Hogan’s arrangement of the African-American Spiritual Deep River and the original composition Prayer by René Clausen, which is based on a text by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The group will perform Wana Baraka, a joyful expression of hope and health from Kenya and Javier Busto’s Et in Terra Pax (“And on earth, peace”). This ensemble will also present McGrath’s setting of Every Valley Shall Be Exalted, with a text from Isaiah 40 that was highlighted in Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech in August of 1963.

The program will close with all in attendance to join the choir in a recording of Ukuthla, a South African song of peace that has become a centerpiece of the #AVoice4Peace movement. The song will be taught on site prior to the start of the concert. This event is free and open to the public.