Vox Humana – William Bradley Roberts – Choral Ensemble at River Road Church – Richmond, VA

Vox Humana
William Bradley Roberts, Director

Program Of Birds and Flight

The program brings together a wide variety of works exploring humanity’s fascination with birds and their ability to fly. The centerpiece, Eric Whitacre’s “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine,” portrays the great Renaissance polymath and his obsession with inventing a birdlike machine that would let him fly. The music ranges widely in style, from Renaissance composer Orlando Gibbons (“The Silver Swan”) to the Beatles (“Blackbird”). Also featured is Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw, a native of neighboring North Carolina, whose setting of Psalm 84 includes the verse “the sparrow has found a house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young.”

Vox Humana is a twelve-voice choral ensemble of professional singers, based in Richmond. Some of our singers are full-time professional musicians, while others, after extensive training and experience have gone into other vocational fields while continuing to sing professionally. All of them are performing musicians in their own rights, who love joining with other accomplished singers to create Vox Humana, a group that began in 2020. We do a wide range of music, both sacred and secular, covering various periods of music history and diverse cultures.

William Bradley Roberts, founding music director of Vox Humana, is a conductor, composer, and singer and has spent much of his life as an Episcopal church musician. His last church music position was at St. John’s, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. Prior to that he held similar positions in Tucson, Ariz., Newport Beach, Calif., Louisville, Ky., and Houston, Tex. He has taught at Indiana University, Southeast, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Southern Seminary, and Mars Hill College. He has done workshops across the country from New York’s Juilliard School to the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Before moving to Richmond in 2020 he was professor of church music and director of chapel music for thirteen years at Virginia Theological Seminary (Episcopal) in greater Washington DC. During his time at VTS, he was ordained an Episcopal priest by Bishop Shannon Johnston. While in the L.A. area he sang for seven years with the professional Los Angeles Master Chorale and the L.A. Philharmonic, where he enjoyed performing under some of the great conductors of the world. His formative years as a horn player season his work with orchestras. Throughout his career, he has conducted numerous major choral works with orchestra, and his own compositions are published by Augsburg, Church Hymnal, MorningStar, Paraclete, St. James Music Press, and Selah. His doctoral dissertation is on the choral words of French composer Darius Milhaud, and he is author of the book “Music and Vital Congregations.” A recording of Roberts’ choral music is available on the Gothic label and may be obtained from Gothic or any of the standard download services by searching his full name. He is done sabbatical study at two monasteries in France, the Abbey at Solesmes and the Taizé Community, as well as in Cambridge, UK, and with vocal pedagogue Richard Miller. He studied mid-career with composer Alice Parker and was a Fellow of her organization Melodious Accord for twenty years. Roberts currently sings with the Richmond Symphony Chorus.

Free parking across River Road and behind the church

From the earliest days of River Road Church, it was the intention of the founders that the music ministry be of the highest quality. Music at River Road Church is rooted in the work of time-honored composers of the “classical” tradition, while embracing a wide range of styles and periods.

The majestic Sanctuary at River Road Church has long been a favorite venue for lovers of traditional church music. This concert will also provide the church an opportunity to share the result of a recent restoration of its magnificent M.P. Möller Company pipe organ. The sanctuary has also received upgrades to its lighting and sound systems, further enhancing the church's worship of God through music.

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