Aaron is delighted to announce his appointment as Composer-in-Residence for the Canadian Men’s Chorus for their 2017-2018 Season. His first commission ‘Per Aspera Ad Astra’ will be featured at the choir’s upcoming concert ‘One Sky, Many Destinies’ on Saturday, November 11 at 7:30 PM at Church of the Redeemer, in Toronto.
In choosing a jumping off point for his first commission, Jensen looked to the heavens. Excerpted from Composer’s Notes:
2017 marks the 40th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2. Their mission: to study the outer Solar System, and to act as a time capsule for the human species. Carl Sagan and his team installed golden phonographs within the bellies of the probes, containing sounds and images that portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. Sagan considered the Voyager probes a “message in a bottle thrown into the cosmic ocean”. The Golden Records were designed to be an idealized snapshot of Earth and its inhabitants. It is beautiful but sobering to imagine that, well after all life on Earth has vanished, these Voyager probes may still be pressing forward into the unknown, carrying our messages of hope and well wishes. To date, Voyager 1 has travelled 18.8 billion kilometres from Earth.
This evening reflects on the themes of injustice, remembrance, and hope. Though no human-made object has traveled further from our planet-bound struggles and inequalities, The Golden Records speak to us across time and space as a reminder of what we believe we can be. Perspective is a great equalizer. When you zoom out far enough to see the Earth from a distance, the differences between us seem incidental. The Golden Records challenge us to live up to our potential, and to be the best versions of ourselves that we can be.
Click here for concert tickets:
https://www.universe.com/events/one-sky-many-destinies-tickets-toronto-C8BPLZ?ref=universe-discover