The world premiere of Blue Pearl: A One World Oratorio, composed by Steve Banks and performed on 14th May 2022, at St Giles’ Cripplegate, London.
Blue Pearl is an ground-breaking new oratorio for choir, four solo singers and orchestra. It is inspired by the writing of American mystical philosopher, Ken Wilber, and his ‘Integral’ vision (though you don’t need to be familiar with his work to appreciate the piece). It conveys a contemporary view of spirituality which transcends individual religious traditions, embracing humanity, and the earth, as a whole. ‘Blue Pearl’ is the earth, as seen from space: a unity; our precious home.
The music is beautiful and moving, tuneful and harmonic. It moves between diverse styles, integrated by
unifying musical motifs, and by the Integral vision of unity-in-diversity. It includes innovative use of musical structures and motifs to evoke themes in the text. At times it leads into meditative silence.
Blue Pearl can be performed as a whole; or individual movements, or a selection of movements can be
performed, some of which can be arranged for smaller instrumental forces.
Text by Ken Wilber, Thich Nhat Hahn and Steve Banks. Music by Steve Banks.
To read the lyrics and a synopsis, download a PDF of the world premiere programme here.
About Stephen Banks
Steve is deeply immersed in Ken Wilber’s ‘Integral’ theory and has presented at the Integral European Conference. In 2013 Steve set out to compose a large-scale choral work giving expression to the Integral view of humanity and our place in the Kosmos. The result is ‘Blue Pearl: A One World Oratorio’, a ground-breaking, inspirational work which will have its world premiere on 14.5.22 in London and streamed online live and on demand. Ken Wilber has described the oratorio as a ‘A superb, exhilarating, magical piece of music.’ You can listen to a demo recording of Blue Pearl, and read more about it, at Steve’s website, www.stevebanks.info. As a violinist, drummer and singer, Steve has performed classical, folk, and world music with ensembles as diverse as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Carnival Band. He has been writing and arranging songs for 30 years. Alongside music, the other main stream of Steve’s life has been a rich and varied journey of psycho-spiritual healing and exploration. This included training as a Psychosynthesis counsellor, which he went on to apply in leadership development. He has been practicing meditation in the Buddhist tradition for many years.