This review was originally written by Lawrance Bernabo for the Duluth News Tribune on February 21, 2020.
“We tell each other stories, so that we will remember.”
This weekend (February 21 & 22), the Twin Ports Choral Project is doing a pair of encore presentations of the oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard at the NorShor Theatre. Thursday night’s dress rehearsal made it obvious why they are giving more people an opportunity to experience this moving story.
Beautiful music, singing and dancing all work to make “Considering Matthew Shepard” a powerful piece of rhetoric.
The oratorio begins with “Cattle, Horses, Sky and Grass,” a tone poem establishing the open spaces of Wyoming.
To his parents, Matthew was Matt. His plaid shirt lies on the fence where he was left to die. At times, that shirt is worn by different singers and a dancer, as each becomes Matt for those moments.
The soloists are not identified in the libretto. The words and the music — and Matt — are what matter.
Bianca Aspin, an alto, sings during a recent rehearsal for the Twin Ports Choral Project production of “Considering Matthew Shepard” at First Lutheran Church in Duluth. (Clint Austin / caustin@duluthnews.com)