As part of the 2020 Adelaide Festival there was a concert series (now concluded) called 150 Psalms, featuring The Tallis Scholars (UK), Netherlands Chamber Choir, The Song Company (Australia), and The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir. The concerts took place across five venues: St Peters Cathedral, St Francis Xavier Cathedral, Pilgrim Uniting Church, Adelaide Hebrew Congregation and Adelaide Town Hall.
‘3,000 years ago, 150 songs were gathered together to become the Hebrew Bible’s Tehilim, then the Old Testament’s Book of Psalms. Songs about justice, humanity, compassion, liberation and power. Of people struggling with leadership or passing on responsibility; humans using and exploiting the environment; refugees desperately look for a safe haven.’
And of course, these Psalms are about the sovereign God who loves and cares for his creation. Humanists seek to deflect meaning away from God, but the Psalms themselves can’t help but shout the faith that continues to sustain God’s people.
‘These poems are etched on humanities psyche and their concerns still burn hot. They represent not the word of God, but of humankind; shouting or whispering its fears, its worries, its anger, its sorrows, its thanksgiving and joy to the universe.’
In conjunction with the 150 Psalms concert series there is a photographic exhibition being held in the Goyer Galleries of the Adelaide Festival Centre. Entry is free and the exhibition runs until Friday 27 March. This ‘150 Psalms’ artistic concept is evidence that the scriptures continue to connect with people today.
‘The photographs, provided courtesy of the photo archive of The Australian newspaper, are each paired with a Psalm, showing us that the world we know today is not so different to the one described and celebrated in the Psalms. The Psalms are a reflection of contemporary life.’