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Classical Review: "Justice" in Song, from the St. Louis Chamber Chorus
World premiere by a past SLCC composer-in-residence featured
George Yeh of St. Louis Arts Scene
February 18, 2026
This past Sunday (February 15), the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus (SLCC) and its artistic director Philip Barnes gave its most recent concert at Salem United Methodist Church in Frontenac, on a bright, sunny, and unseasonably warm day to an audience of ~160-170. The concert’s theme was "Justice", with selections from a diverse range of 12 composers (plus one popular music band), focused mainly on the 20th century. However, the program featured a substantial nod to the 21st century, with a world premiere with the composer present. Besides the world premiere, eight works on the concert were new additions to the SLCC’s repertoire, to up the demands of this particular program.
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The first half closed with the world premiere of Suite Justice of Melissa Dunphy (born 1980), a former SLCC composer-in-residence and obviously an old friend of the ensemble. Its four movements, "Voice", "Our Country", Novus ordo seclorum", and "Youth" respectively set texts by Zona Gale (1874-1938), Anna Louise Strong (1885-1970), Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, a.k.a. "Vergil", 70 BCE-19 BCE), and Langston Hughes (1901-1967). To at least this reader, the texts by Gale and Strong read as more than a bit mawkish (even if sincere), in contrast to the sharp concision of the Hughes. However, also likewise to this ear, Ms. Dunphy’s use of an almost "swinging"- or "sea-shanty"-like pulse in "Our Country" mitigates the sentimental nature of Strong’s text. Ms. Dunphy sets "Youth" in a very high-spirited manner, with a hint of spirituals. Both these movements contrast with the more restrained tone of the first and third movements. SLCC soprano Heather Fehl was a featured soloist. This work was a commission by the Haubein family in honor of former SLCC singer Suzanne Ramsey Haubein, who took the stage for a bow at the end of the work along with Ms. Dunphy, as shown in the picture at the top of this article. Using the obvious pun in Ms. Dunphy’s title of 'Sweet' Justice, while the texts of her composition aren’t necessarily "sweet", the family gesture of this commission in honor of its matriarch with this commission clearly is sweet.
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