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About the Composer
Dominick DiOrio
Dominick DiOrio (DD3 Publications)
Our Wildest Imagining (SATB Choral Score)
Honoring gay rights icon Bishop Gene Robinson in his own words.
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Our Wildest Imagining
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Our Wildest Imagining
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Our Wildest Imagining
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Our Wildest Imagining
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Our Wildest Imagining
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Our Wildest Imagining
SATB, organ, brass quintet OR SATB, organ, wind quintet
This is the SATB Choral rehearsal score to be used with either version.
Composer Dominick DiOrio has compiled a libretto out of words from sermons, stories, and sayings by the Right Reverend V. Gene Robinson, as well as quotations from the 27th Psalm. The resulting work was commissioned by churches around the world in celebration of Bishop Gene and exists in five versions to be as broadly accessible as possible.
Version 1 – SATB, organ, brass quintet
Version 2 – TTBB, organ, brass quintet
Version 3 – Solo voice (high) and organ
Version 4 – TTBB, organ, wind quintet
Version 5 – SATB, organ, wind quintet
For each version, you will need: Choral Score (SATB or TTBB), Full Score, and Set of Parts. There is optional congregation participation – a congregation card is available, and can be used with any version.
Composer’s Notes
As a young gay man growing up in the Catholic Church, I often felt that there was no place for me. I went off to college in 2002 not sure about what my life would be, not sure about how I would navigate the many paths ahead of me, and not sure if I should continue to spend my life as a pale reflection of my inner self, a “black and white” version of the me who could exist in true color.
I remember fondly the news in 2003 of Gene’s election as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal church. Suddenly, I felt like there was hope. If one of the major Christian denominations in the world could welcome him as a faith leader, surely there were paths for my own life that I had not yet imagined.
When Michael Pettry approached me in the Summer of 2024 with the seed of an idea to honor Gene with a work, I jumped at the opportunity. While Gene didn’t know it at the time, he provided a strong model for me about how to live openly a life of truth and pride. Indeed, he has made the point countless times that we are loved beyond our wildest imagining. What a joy it was to spend time in his many texts and turns of phrase, as I drew upon them to create this libretto, this distilled version of Gene’s essence for this work! Our Wildest Imagining is ebullient and extroverted, propulsive and proud, full of fire for the energy, majesty, and mystery of God’s love.
My fervent hope for this work is that it celebrates the man who has left a legacy of hope and possibility for so many in this strange, beautiful, fractured world.
– Dominick DiOrio, January 2025
Text
Be held, my friends! A new day is dawning!
We are called to face the humble truth,
if we are to rise to the challenges of the future.
Be still, my friends! A first fire is lighting!
We are called to speak a calming word,
if we are to quell the storms which rage in our midst.
Be loved, my friends! A spring seed is sprouting!
We are called to joy against impossible odds,
if we but hold in our hearts the certainty of God’s love.
My friends, the psalmist proclaims:
The Lord is my light and my salvation:
whom then shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
Behold, my friends, a new day is dawning,
and we will rise to the challenges of the future,
because fighting for justice is always dangerous business.
Behold, my friends, a first fire is lighting,
and we will quell the storms which rage in our midst,
because we were not made to simply vanish in the night.
Behold, my friends, a spring seed is sprouting,
and we will hold the certainty of God’s love in our hearts,
because they tried to bury us without knowing that we were seeds.
My friends, the psalmist affirms:
Now my head is lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
And I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
My dear, beloved friends, let us sing this miraculous promise:
When one is certain of God’s love,
there’s no end to what one can bear.
I am love, and you are love, and God is love…
and we are all loved beyond our wildest imagining.
– Libretto compiled by the composer out of words from sermons, stories, and sayings by the Right Reverend Gene Robinson, as well as quotations from the 27th Psalm.
$4.00 per licensed PDF
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