On Sunday, June 28, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church will premiere a new work of music by composer Allan Robert Petker that was commissioned and inspired by the artwork of renowned Chinese Christian artist He Qi (pronounced Hoo Chee). The 30-minute work calls for choir, orchestra and a multimedia presentation and will be shown twice; once at 3 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. in the St. Andrew sanctuary.
David Irvine, director of worship at St. Andrew, proposed the idea of creating such a work in 2005 and the church eagerly signed a contract with Petker to create the musical piece. “While attending a concert in Oregon, I was stuck by the idea of creating a new piece of music,” said Irvine. “I’d already been exposed to the artwork of He Qi and when I shared the idea with Allan (Petker), he became as excited as I over the challenge of setting artwork to music.”
Dr. He Qi was raised in Communist China and during the Cultural Revolution there, he was assigned to paint portraits of Chairman Mao. It was at that time that he was introduced to Christianity. Following the Revolution, He Qi began to paint images from the Bible and is now a world-renowned artist. He was the first among mainland Chinese after the Revolution to earn Ph.D. in religious art. He has guest-lectured around the world in Germany, Switzerland, and the U.K. and in the United States at Princeton University and Yale University.
Allan Petker is a prolific composer from the Los Angeles area. With over 500 works to his credit, he is well known in choral circles as a composer of great skill and insight. Petker will be conducting the premiere, which will be sung by the St. Andrew Singers, the popular choir at the church.
Once the church gave Irvine permission to raise the money, he began inviting people out for coffee and over to dinner to talk about his plan and ask for contributions. He quickly raised $10,000 for the commission.
The title of the commissioned work is “Touch.” It will be presented in three movements: “God Touches Us,” “We Touch God” and “We Touch Each Other.” The orchestration calls for flute, oboe, strings, harp, piano and percussion.
Both Qi and Petker will attend and speak at the concerts about their individual processes as artists and about how the piece came to be composed. Qi will have several of his paintings on display, as well, for viewing between the two performances.
For Petker, the challenge of creating a work of this nature was significant but also one that he couldn’t resist. “The request that came from David (Irvine) was quite uncommon,” said Petker. “When asked to compose a piece of music I usually work with a text – either a poem or a bit of scripture. So to interpret art into sound was a new experience for me.”
Petker and Irvine played off of each other, brainstorming over a number of years until an idea came to them – touch. Petker has created the three movement concepts and selected nine of He Qi’s paintings to fit those concepts while depicting the whole life of Christ.
“The entire approach to this has been very different. I’ve had to keep the paintings in my mind at all times to make sure they stayed in the forefront,” said Petker, who also saw fit to include elements of Chinese music wherever possible.
The end result is a multimedia and multicultural production including music, artwork and digital images that are visually stimulating and tied to the concept of touch. “David has given me a tremendous opportunity with this project. It’s been a huge part of my life for the past couple of years and I can’t wait to show it to audiences,” said Petker. Irvine expects to sell out both performances.
Qi said he is excited to see the performance. “It is a great honor,” he said, “to have my work put to music and I’m looking forward to meeting those responsible.”
The two performances will be at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the St. Andrew Presbyterian sanctuary at 16290 Arnold Dr. Tickets are available for $15 at Pharmaca at 303 W. Napa St. in Sonoma. For more information, call 707.938.2963.
