What People Are Saying: Charles Jonah
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Charles Jonah
Volunteer at SDG office
Chemist at Argonne Laboratory
Argonne, IL
What excites me about SDG:
I have been a choral singer since I was in fourth grade, and I know that is one way I can contribute to worship services. The creation of new, interesting and relevant sacred music is something that I feel is important for Church services and concert settings where one can "sneak in" religious themes and show God's beauty in the world.
My favorite SDG experience:
Probably my most fun time with SDG was the opportunity to sing the Alto Rhapsody with John Nelson conducting at an SDG fundraiser – I hate to say "with John Nelson" as I am not sure I contributed that much. I don't want to say what my favorite SDG commission is with all the fine works done by Peter Bannister, Daniel Kellogg and Jacob Bancks, but I will say I think the "funnest" piece I have heard was Dvorah by Paul Schoenfield.
My favorite sacred music:
Sometimes I think my favorite piece is the one I am doing now (or sometimes it is my least favorite piece!). Among my favorites today are Requiems by Fauré and Duruflé, Ein deutsches Requiem by Brahms and Saint Cecilia Mass by Gounod (the melodies are lovely, possibly not profound but lovely). The joy in the Vivaldi Gloria is infectious and the interesting sounds in Margaret Bond's The Brown King (libretto by Langston Hughes) provide musical joy. Probably tomorrow I would list different pieces.
A bit about me:
I was an undergraduate at Oberlin College in Chemistry and got my degree at Columbia University in New York. I spend more than 30 years working at Argonne Labs as a chemist on the effects of radiation on chemicals and biological materials and still continue working there after my retirement. I have always enjoyed music as we grew up singing around the piano at home, where my mother was quite a good pianist (of course, at that time, I thought every mother could play like she did).
