If you no longer want to receive our e-mails, you may unsubscribe here. Join The Esoterics for VOTIVITA Promising love and life to one another In these times, when controversies over marriage provoke conflict and hatred, The Esoterics will celebrate Valentine's Day by celebrating the dimensions of love that are common to all humanity. Sensual verses of love poetry from the Old Testament's Song of Songs provide a common thread to the repertoire of VOTIVITA, in settings by Dutch composer Ton de Leeuw (Car nos vignes sont en fleur [While our vineyards are in bloom]), French composer Daniel Lesur (Le cantique des cantiques), Två dikter av Höga visan [Two poems from the Song of songs] by Swedish composer Gösta Nystroem, and the original Hebrew verses of Eric Banks' Shir hakhusim: a song of the senses. To complete the conjugal theme of this program, The Esoterics will premiere Martha Sullivan's Epithalamion, five odes by Edmund Spenser, inspired by the wedding vow - Time, Nocturne, Banishment, Silence, and Blessing. The Esoterics received a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to commission the full cycle of Epithalamion, as well as three other commissions to be presented in the 2009 season. Sullivan's setting of Spenser's musings on the marriage vow will provide a timely fulfillment of both the repertoire and portent of VOTIVITA, and the composer will attend the performances on February 14th and 15th. PLUS SPECIAL VALENTINE'S DAY RECEPTION! To toast Sullivan's accomplishment as well as the Valentine's season, The Esoterics invites the audience to a champagne reception following the February 14th concert at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. For a suggested donation of $5 at the door, concert attendees can join members of The Esoterics as well as VOTIVITA-featured composers Martha Sullivan and Eric Banks for champagne and homemade confections in the church's Fellowship Hall. The event provides an excellent opportunity to discuss contemporary a cappella choral music with singers, composers, or perhaps a new Valentine's Day friend. Please join The Esoterics for this celebration of the eternal commitment of love. The Esoterics' VOTIVITA performance dates and locations are as follows: Saturday • 7 February • 7 pm • Lynnwood Trinity Lutheran Church • 6215 196th St. SW Sunday • 8 February • 3pm • Tacoma Christ Episcopal Church • 310 N K St. Saturday • 14 February • 8 pm • Seattle St Joseph's Catholic Church • 732 18th Ave E ** PLUS post-concert reception Sunday • 15 February • 3 pm • West Seattle Holy Rosary Catholic Church • 4139 42nd Ave SW Tickets are $20 at the door, $18 in advance, $15 for students, seniors, the un(der)employed, and the differently-abled. Discounts are available for groups of five or more at $12 per person. Active singers of any choral group may attend for only $10. Advance tickets are available online at www.TheEsoterics.org (through PayPal.com), or reserved by phone at 206.935.7779. The Esoterics' Season 2009 has been made possible by grants from 4 Culture, ArtsFund, Classical King FM 98.1, The Horizons Foundation, Meet the Composer, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Nesholm Family Foundation, Nikko Media Center, The Norcliffe Foundation, The Seattle Foundation, Seattle's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and The Washington State Arts Commission. This e-mail was sent to you because you are on The Esoterics' mailing list. If you no longer want to receive our e-mails, you may unsubscribe here. Make sure our mail reaches you: add info@TheEsoterics.org to your address book. The Esoterics info@TheEsoterics.org