by Deborah Sarbin

Baz Luhrman’s new film Elvis features the star and his band singing the hymn “I’ll Fly Away” before they begin a performance–apt melding of the sacred and secular that so informed the phenomenon that is Elvis. The hymn, written in 1929 by Oklahoma farm worker and Gospel composer, Albert Brumley, gained quick popularity and retains its power in contemporary Christian worship. 

Its soaring energy and lyrics that promise ‘a land where joy shall never end’ inspired Texas choral ensemble, Alium Spiritum, including vocalists, Diane Walters, soprano, Lauren McAllister, mezzo-soprano, Wilson Nicholls, tenor, and Sean Taylor, bass, to include the hymn in a collaborative performance entitled, “I’ll Fly Away.” 

Memoirist Deborah Burghardt and I had the pleasure of weaving our prose and poetry together with songs selected by Alium Spiritum and written by Barber, Bach, and Handel among others. In three sets that culminate in Sean Taylor’s arrangement of “I’ll Fly Away” a tapestry of humanity’s journey from love to loss, adventure to betrayal, in search of faith and what lies beyond our earthly existence. 

Please join us for this unique musical and spoken word performance on Sunday, July 24 at 3 pm in the Brookville Presbyterian Church.