The Road Home: Celebrating American Choral Composers brings together music that reflects the extraordinary breadth of the American choral tradition, spanning centuries, styles and stories.

From the early American sounds of William Billings to the spiritual traditions represented by R. Nathaniel Dett and William L. Dawson, the program travels through the music of Amy Beach, Samuel Barber, Alice Parker, Randall Thompson, Morten Lauridsen, Stephen Paulus, Jake Runestad and others. Along the way, familiar melodies such as Shenandoah and The Road Home explore themes of faith, longing, hope, belonging and the places, both physical and emotional, that call us home.

The program will also feature Craig Hella Johnson’s choral arrangement of Dolly Parton’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning. Written by Parton during a time of personal transition, the song looks beyond difficulty toward hope and the promise of a new beginning. Its message feels especially poignant following the loss of Parton this week, and Caritas is honored to include her unmistakably American voice among the composers and songwriters celebrated in this concert.

Join Caritas A Cappella Ensemble for an evening that traces the many paths of American choral music and reminds us that, across generations and traditions, music has a remarkable way of leading us home.