LONGING FOR PEACE: A concert by Voices Chorale NJ, with the Berks Sinfonietta, is centered around music focused on peace. Artistic Director David A. McConnell directs.

On Saturday, April 30 at 8 p.m., Voices Chorale NJ presents an in-person and live-streamed concert that was originally planned for the spring of 2020 but was postponed due to the pandemic. At Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Street, the chorale will be accompanied by pianist Akiko Hosaki and the 16-piece Berks Sinfonietta, an intergenerational chamber orchestra co-founded and directed by Voices Artistic Director David A. McConnell.

The chorale will perform various pieces from Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary periods. These works express the longing for peace through distinct approaches. Though little known, Handel’s rarely performed Anthem on the Peace contains musical themes echoing his other works. Selections by Mendelssohn and Haydn reflect peace within the context of Christian musical traditions. Contemporary pieces include And for a Breath by Ryan Main, A Prayer of Compassion by Gwyneth Walker, and 1000 Beautiful Things by Annie Lennox of the Eurhythmics.

Voices Chorale NJ originally planned to perform this selection of music in the spring of 2020. That makes performing together in person even more relevant, especially due to current world events. “We will accomplish something good if we have people thinking about their role in creating peace,” said McConnell. “If they leave comforted and challenged by the texts, we will have made the words speak more clearly through the music.”

McConnell added, “The idea of peace is something I think about a great deal. These days I can barely stand to listen to the news, because at its core, most of the stories we hear are about an inability or unwillingness to get along with others. People have disagreed with one another surely since the beginning of time, certainly as long as I have been alive. And yet, I cannot recall another time where the idea of disagreeing led to viewing the other side as the enemy.”

The aim of the concert, McConnell said, is to work toward peace, and “get people thinking about peace and their role in creating it. That is our goal — to make the words speak more clearly through the music. Hopefully, our music-making only makes the message of those words resonate more strongly.”

McConnell founded Vox Philia in 2012, a chamber choir comprised of professional and gifted amateur singers, and co-founded the Berks Sinfonietta chamber orchestra in 2014, both of which feature an intergenerational approach. He teaches music courses at Pennsylvania State University, Berks Campus, and Alvernia University in Reading, Pa. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Pianist Hosaki, accompanist with Voices Chorale NJ, has worked with several opera companies in the U.S. and Japan and is an active chamber musician. She is the head of vocal staff accompanists and the pianist coordinator at Westminster Choir College, and senior choir director/organist at Hillsborough Reformed Church at Millstone, where she runs the concert series. She holds degrees from Musashino Academia Musicae in Japan, Westminster Choir College, and University of Minnesota.

Advance general admission tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children and students through the website. At the door, tickets are $25 and $15. Livestream or on-demand viewing is $20 per household. Visit voiceschoralenj.org