Westmont Magazine A Work of Grace

Westmont’s Choral Masterworks Concert Feb. 8 featured the premier performance of “Grace,”a new work by Professor Steve Butler.

Dedicated to the inauguration of Stan D. Gaede as Westmont’s seventh president, the piece is written for a 53-piece orchestra, 20-voice children’s choir and a 60-voice adult choir. Performers at the premier included the Santa Barbara Children’s choir (Rebecca Leftwich Hodson ’85, director), the Westmont College Choir (Steve Hodson, director), and four soloists: soprano Mary Dombek, mezzo-soprano Carol Randolph, tenor Grey Brothers and baritone Kevin Dalbey.

The text includes Psalm 143, lines from a prayer by Fr. Gregory Petrov and a verse from the Gospel of Luke.

Butler is an award-winning composer whose works have received funding and commissions from numerous arts organizations.