Universe's unfolding story set to music in composer's new oratorio

Passionist Fr. Thomas Berry, the cultural historian and early prophet of the current environmental crisis, encouraged artists and musicians throughout his lifetime (1914-2009) to tell the magnificent 13.8 billion-year history of the universe through music, poetry and dance.

Berry wrote that we are direct ancestors of the stars and we humans collectively share a role as compassionate beings, to protect and to heal the earth. Creative artists, he argued, can bring us to this point of conversion quickest of all.

One person who has heard this message clearly is Sam Guarnaccia, a composer, classical guitarist and environmentalist who debuted a major musical ritual based on an intimate look into the universe, in Cleveland on June 30. "Emergent Universe Oratorio," tells the story of the universe from the Big Bang to present day. Read more about it here.

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