Antiphon

Composer: Gordon Kerry
Composed: 2010 Duration: 3 mins.
Instrumentation: Viola Solo
Exam Grade: AMEB Viola Grade 6,
AMEB Viola Grade 8,
HSC Viola
ISMN: 979-0-720100-52-4 Catalogue: RM623
Level: C Country: Australia

In 2000, the World Community for Christian Meditation held its annual John Main Seminar in Belfast. The theme for the seminar was ‘The Way of Peace’ and it was addressed by, among others, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the then president of Ireland Mary McAleese and the group’s current leader Fr Laurence Freeman. Australian violist Sheelah Treflé Hidden asked me for a short piece to perform at the event’s opening at the Waterfront Hall. In Catholic liturgy an antiphon is the single verse of a psalm repeated at various points to crystallise the main idea of that day’s psalm and readings.