Music by Antonín Dvořák and Alex Berko
featuring UNLV Singers
Joseph Svendsen, conductor
Artem Alexanyan, keyboard

Bearing Witness brings side by side two choral works that speak from different centuries but share a common concern: the act of declaration. Antonín Dvořák’s Mass in D draws on the language of communal worship, shaped by tradition, ritual, and shared belief. Alex Berko’s Modern Oaths confronts the present moment, giving voice to the promises and convictions we choose to make today.

Heard together, these works trace a line from inherited faith to personal commitment, from ancient text to modern testimony. This program invites listeners to hear the choir not only as an ensemble, but as a collective voice—bearing witness through music to belief, responsibility, and the power of shared expressio.

Alex Berko is an American composer known for choral works that address contemporary ethical, social, and spiritual questions. His music frequently blends direct textual delivery with expressive harmony, treating the choir as an active, speaking collective rather than a purely lyrical ensemble. Berko’s works are widely performed by collegiate, professional, and community choirs and are recognized for their immediacy, clarity, and engagement with modern life and language.

Antonín Dvořák was a Czech composer whose music bridges Classical forms with the rhythms and melodies of Central European folk traditions. Internationally renowned during his lifetime, he served as director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York and played a key role in shaping American musical identity at the turn of the twentieth century. Dvořák’s sacred works reflect a deeply personal faith, marked by lyricism, restraint, and an emphasis on communal expression rather than monumentality.