The audience, waiting for the start of Friday night's concert

(Nov. 2, 2001 - Portland, OR) At 7:30 PM on a balmy night in Portland, a full house of lay and professional delegates to the fifth UUA Large Church Conference merged with members and friends of the First Unitarian Church of Portland to hear a concert of music that represented the best musical talent of the Unitarian Universalist community.

The trio of Alfred Muro, guitar, Bernardo Gomez, bass, and Otto Gaygax, percussion, performed "Asturias" by Isaac Alabeniz and Antonio Carlos Jobim's beautiful "The Girl From Ipanema" to open the performance. After a welcome by the Rev. Dr. Marilyn Sewell, Senior Minister of the congregation, the First Unitarian Church Choir performed "Tristeza" (Niltinho/Lobo) in Portuguese and "Cosita Linda" (Galan/Carbonel) in Spanish.

The Rev. Marilyn Sewell provided a welcome and the narration for the evening's major work, "By This We Live."	James R. Day, composer of "By This We Live"

As the jazz trio exited the stage, members of the Unitarian Church Orchestra took their places for the presentation of "By This We Live," a major commissioned piece written by James R. Day and set to the poetry of women as found in two books edited by Marilyn Sewell (and published by Beacon Press). Day, a native of Portland, has completed over one hundred compositions for orchestra, choir, solo voice, piano, organ and small ensembles. In 1995-96 he was named "composer of the Year" by the Oregon Music Teachers Association; his works have been written for the University of Portland, the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, and University Unitarian Church in Seattle, WA, among others. All the musical works were conducted by Mark Slegers, music director of First Unitarian Church, who oversees the congregation's nine music programs.

Mark Slegers conducting the First Church Orchestra and Chorus	Solists Julie Craft and Patrick Scofield, sang in "By This We Live"

"By This We Live" was first performed in the sanctuary of First Unitarian Church on Mothers Day, May 13, 2001. In the first part of the piece, Day uses Sewell's Introduction which says, "We come, literally, out of the flesh of another, and then we are held and rocked and fed and loved and taught, so that we might live. Because of our caretakers - we may go about our days in abundance and in thanksgiving."

Otto Gygax, percussionist	Music Director Mark Slegers accepts the applause of the audience at the conclusion of "By This We Live"

Poems by Joanne McCarthy, Denise Levertov, Alice B. Fogel, Lisa Colt, Jane Gentry, Jane Wilson Joyce, the meditations of Julian of Norwich, Maya Angelou, Jane Hirschfield, and the meditations of Hildegard of Bingen shaped the piece. Sewell added readings, and solos were performed by Patrick Scofield, bass-baritone, and Julie Craft, soprano.

A sample of the beautiful art offered through the Zimbabwean Art Project on display at First Unitarian Church in Portland.

Following the performance, the audience enjoyed a dessert reception, visited representatives of First Unitarian's programs, and purchased art to support one of the congregation's programs, the Zimbabwe Art Project (or ZAP!).

The Fifth Large Church conference of the UUA continues at the Portland Hilton through November 4.

Reported for the web by Deborah Weiner; formatted for the web by Julie Albanese.

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