STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Caritas Chorale will celebrate Spring with “Songs of Earth and Sky” in two free concerts this coming weekend.

The first concert will be presented at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 30. The second, at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 31. Both will be presented at the Church of the Big Wood at 100 Saddle Road across from the Wood River YMCA.

Both concerts will feature accompaniment by a Chamber Orchestra.

The concerts have been titled “Rising: Songs of Earth and Sky.”

"We are creatures of the earth that are rooted in soil and stone, and nourished by rain and river. But something in us also reaches upward: toward the light, toward the vast and shining unknown,” said Joel Bejot, who co-directs the choir with R.L. Rowsey.

Rising: Songs of Earth and Sky is a concert built around that tension, and that hope. Opening with the gentle, inevitable climb of Vaughan Williams' The Lark Ascending and closing with his searching Toward the Unknown Region, the program traces a journey through the natural world, and through the human heart, according to Chorale member Richard Stahl.

“Along the way, we'll wade into still waters and wade back out again. We'll visit the Scottish highlands and see wild mountain thyme. We'll feel the pull of the spiritual tradition in Wade in the Water. We'll rest in the warm, humming wonder of Lauridsen's Dirait-on. And we’ll stand still in the night air with Barber's Sure on This Shining Night, looking up — grateful just to be alive beneath so many stars.”

Ticheli's luminous Earth Song sits at the heart of it all, Stahl added: “It's a reminder that singing together is itself an act of belonging. We belong to each other, and to this remarkable world.”

While the concerts are free, donations are welcome.