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The Church of the Red Rocks
-an Open and Affirming Congregation-
Directed by Dr. Ryan Holder, featuring Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers

PRESENT Craig Hella Johnson's:

CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD

A moving oratorio that honors and exploresthe life, death, and legacy of Matthew Shepard.

AUGUST 12 & 13 at 7:30PM in MESA
and AUGUST 14 at 2:00PM in SEDONA

This concert event is free to the public. All donations go to The Matthew Shepard Foundation.

[Trigger Warning In October of 1998, Matthew Shepard, a young, gay student at the University of Wyoming in Laramie was kidnapped, severely beaten, tied to a fence and left to die in a lonely field under a blanket of stars. Five days later, when Matt passed away, the world was watching.]

Approaching the eve of the 20th anniversary, Craig Hella Johnson has responded with his first concert-length work, Considering Matthew Shepard. This three-part fusion oratorio speaks with a fresh and bold voice, incorporating a variety of musical styles seamlessly woven into a unified whole. Johnson sets a wide range of poetic and soulful texts by poets including Hildegard of Bingen, Lesléa Newman, Michael Dennis Browne, and Rumi. Passages from Matt’s personal journal, interviews and writings from his parents Judy and Dennis Shepard, newspaper reports and additional texts by Johnson and Browne are poignantly appointed throughout the work.