Hailed as “one of the great amateur choruses of our time” (New York Today) for its “full-bodied sound and suppleness” (The New York Times), the Dessoff Choirs presents Considering Matthew Shepard, Craig Hella Johnson’s three-part fusion oratorio about the young gay student who was kidnapped, severely beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die. The story is illustrated through a variety of musical styles seamlessly woven into a unified whole, with a range of poetic and soulful texts by poets Hildegard of Bingen, Lesléa Newman, Michael Dennis Browne, and Rumi. Passages from Matt’s personal journal, interviews and writings from his parents Judy and Dennis Shepard, newspaper reports, and additional texts by Johnson and Browne appear poignantly throughout the work.