‘Every human being is to not be subject to hate’: Gonzaga Chamber Chorus to perform ‘Considering Matthew Shepard’ with Kantorei

The Gonzaga Chamber Chorus will perform Craig Hella Johnson’s “Considering Matthew Shepard” in collaboration with Spokane Kantorei during an event livestreamed from the Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center at Gonzaga at 3 p.m. Sunday.

A timely performance on the heels of the Vatican’s recent disavowal of gay marriage and the LGBTQ+ community, Johnson’s oratorio, a semi-staged musical, chronicles the life and death of Matthew Shepard, a young gay man who was beaten, tortured and left to die outside Laramie, Wyoming, on the night of Oct. 6, 1998.

Shepard, 21, was eventually discovered and taken to a hospital, but his injuries were too severe. He died six days later, and his two attackers are each serving two life sentences for the hate crime that made national headlines.

“It’s been a journey,” said Timothy Westerhaus, Gonzaga director of choirs and vocal studies. “Processing and learning, allowing time for reflection on the subject matter, so that when we’re focused on learning the music, the rhythms, the notes, we’re able to work in a different, more mathematical mode … the way it’s composed really pulls at the heart.”

Although Gonzaga is a Jesuit Catholic university, it’s also an affirming community, Westerhaus said, when explaining why the choir would perform the piece that supports the LGBTQ+ community.

“This is a real issue,” he said. “It’s something that our students, our faculty and staff, that I am grappling with – the tension between this larger umbrella Catholic church teaching and Gonzaga, which is a very affirming, supportive place for many people.

“At this moment, we’re trying to encourage or open the conversation for a third way that lives in that tension but still embodies the idea that every human being has dignity and is worthy of kindness and to not be subject to hate. That’s something that can surpass ideological differences.”

Johnson tells Shepard’s story with a mix of recitation and song. Using tools from a range of genres – classical, musical theater, country, gospel and soul – “Considering Matthew Shepard” poses questions with its music alone.

Listening to it, Westerhaus said, makes for an uncommonly powerful experience; preparing the piece, even more so.

For a conductor, once a piece is selected, rehearsals usually tend to run more or less smoothly when you’re working with professionals and dedicated music majors. But this time, it was different.

“I found that if I didn’t spend time with the music myself outside of rehearsals … it was just really hard to focus,” Westerhaus said, explaining the similar reactions he had heard from the 22 students and eight members of Spokane Kantorei who will be performing during the Sunday afternoon livestream.

The tragedy of Shepard’s story was compounded by the rise of the Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas group known for picketing the funerals of American soldiers with the goal of eliminating the acceptance of those who identify as LGBTQ+. The church notably picketed Shepard’s funeral, and the oratorio depicts this. The church staged protests in Spokane in October 2018.

“We have to sing some things that are really unpleasant, things that we don’t believe in – you almost have to disassociate,” Westerhaus said. “But that’s an important part of the story.”

Despite these moments of real darkness, the piece is largely uplifting.

“It ends with this sense of possibility in reclaiming a more loving, compassionate world,” he said. “It’s a call to empathy in action whether that’s kindness on an individual, daily level, or it’s becoming active within our LGBTQ+ community or speaking out against hate in any and all forms.”

Westerhaus hopes that the music and the message of the work will encourage listeners to ask questions and bring attention to the cultural factors still negatively contributing to situations like Shepard’s.

“My hope is that people who watch this have ripples of kindness that affect the lives of others,” he said. “It doesn’t need to be a major national event; we can make a change in the lives of the people right around us.”

For information on accessing the livestream, go to gonzaga.edu/musicevents or email music@gonzaga.edu.