Dominick DiOrio

There God Is

Celebratory Anthem for chorus, violin, and organ

• Instrumentation: SATB, organ, violin
• Completed: January 2008
• Duration: 7 minutes
• Texts: On texts of the Bible, the Mass, Rainer Maria Rilke, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Theresa, Muhammad, Buddha, and Gandhi.
• Commission:

  Commissioned by the University Church at Yale on the occasion of its 250th Anniversary.

  Martha Highsmith, pastor
  Erin Westmaas, director of music
  Kevin Zakresky, director of the University Church Choir
  Ryan Jackson, organist 

• Program Note:

  Dedicated to the mission of the University Church at Yale and to the open arms of the ecumenical message of Christ throughout the world.

  “Christians have to listen to the world as well as to the Word -- to science, to history, to what reason and our own experience tell us. We do not honor the higher truth we find in Christ by ignoring truths found elsewhere.”

  - The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924-2006) Chaplain of Yale University, 1958-1975 

• Texts:

  Where love is, there God is also. - Gandhi

  Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. - fromtheMass

  With these outflowing river-like with deltas that spread like arms to reach the open sea, with the recurrent tides that never cease will I acknowledge you, will I proclaim you as no one ever has before. - Rainer Maria Rilke

  Do you love your Creator? Love your fellow-beings first. - Muhammad

  At the center of non-violence stands thevprinciplevofvlove. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

  Better than a thousand hollow words is one word that brings peace. - Buddha

  Peace begins with a smile. - Mother Theresa

  Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. - 1 John 3:18 

• Performances:
  • April 6, 2008 (Premiere)
    Battell Chapel Choir - 250th Celebration
    Commissioned by the University Church at Yale
    Parker Kitterman, organ; Caroline Shaw, violin
    Dominick DiOrio, conductor
    Battell Chapel - Yale University - New Haven, CT