Commissioned by the pharmaceutical company Zyma for its 75th anniversary, Et la vie l’emporta (And Life Prevailed) is a meditative triptych on suffering and illness. It opens with an Imploration, based on a free-verse poem by Maurice Zundel, La Complainte du Malade (The Lament of the Sick). The central part is built around a translation of Luther’s famous chorale Christ lag in Todes Banden (Christ Lay in Death’s Bonds): « It was a wondrous battle when Life and Death fought. Through life, the Spirit prevailed: Death was driven back into the ground. »

The third part, Offrande (Offering), ends with a luminous prayer: « May the day dawn for you — today, tomorrow, and forever — and may the shadows vanish… »

Opening the program, Vivaldi’s Gloria, radiant with joyful brilliance, will offer a striking counterpoint to the dramatic intensity of Martin’s work. In between, Charles Ives’s The Unanswered Question will provide a suspended moment — a meditation on the meaning of life.