Celebrating the Bernstein Centennial with Chichester Psalms

Although Bernstein is probably best known for West Side Story, the composer, conductor, and pianist composed many pieces of music throughout his life including Chichester Psalms, an orchestral work with choir and boy treble. The ESO will be joined by the North Shore Choral Society and William Lewis, boy solo, to perform this Bernstein masterpiece.

Chichester Psalms is a choral composition in three movements with Hebrew text arrangements from the Book of Psalms. While atypical 7/4 and 10/4 meters are in the first and last movement respectively, the beginning of the second movement features the boy soloist with harp accompaniment.

The piece premiered on July 15, 1965, at Philharmonic Hall in New York City and was conducted by Bernstein himself, but the work was commissioned for the Southern Cathedrals Festival at the Chichester Cathedral, United Kingdom, and was performed later that same month.