Salisbury Singers Presents One Art

About this event

One Art, a poem by celebrated Worcester poet Elizabeth Bishop, offers a poignant meditation on loss, memory, and the places we call home. These themes resonate deeply with Worcester’s own history - a city shaped by generations of immigrants who arrived from distant lands, carrying with them their languages, traditions, hopes, and memories.

Worcester is, in many ways, a microcosm of America: a city built through successive waves of immigration and transformation. It has been a sanctuary, an industrial center, and a place of culture, community, and civic pride. This program traces a loose musical narrative through that history, beginning with people who crossed oceans in search of a new life. We follow their journeys, their longing for the homes they left behind, and their efforts to build new lives and communities in an unfamiliar land. From there, we encounter the successive waves of people who came to Worcester, each bringing new traditions and voices to the city’s evolving cultural landscape.

Together, these works form a musical tapestry of departure and arrival, longing and belonging, memory and home. Through them, we celebrate the many peoples and stories that have shaped Worcester, and the remarkable diversity of those who call it home.

From Salisbury Singers