"Rejoice! Rejoice!" While these were the words with which vocal soloist Joy Barnum launched her role in the Bermuda School of Music's presentation of the earth mass 'Missa Gaia' at the Anglican Cathedral on Sunday, as the work progressed they also became the message.

For as passing inhabitants of this great planet of ours, the reminder to rejoice at the awesome wonders of nature which daily surround us was timely.

Envisioned by composer Paul Winter as "an ecumenical and ecological celebration through music which would embrace all life on earth", 'Missa Gaia' more than fulfilled its mission. Segment by segment, it unfolded as a profoundly beautiful and immensely exciting work whose tapestry of rhythms, instruments, mixed voices and animal sounds were as richly interwoven as the myriad colours in the Cathedral's great stained glass windows.

Indeed, despite the sauna-like conditions, the great gothic structure proved an inspired setting. With shafts of pale gold afternoon sun settling on the faces of some musicians and young singers in one area, and a prism-like tower of rainbow pastels reflected on a wall of Warrior's Chapel, it was as if a divine blessing was being bestowed along with the music.

Featuring the BSM's adult Bermuda Chamber Choir, its children's Treble Choir, the Sounds of Nature Ensemble (Oliver Grant, piano; Steve Crawford, guitar; Don Macpherson, cello; visiting soprano saxophonist Zach Chadwick, Julio Cesar, Dr. Larry Trott, Dr. Karen Simons, and Aden Peets, percussion; Brian Swan, double bass; Shelton Bean, drums) and the Bermuda African Dance Company (drummers Kevin Bean, Ivan Broadbelt, Prof. Alvin Lee, Aamuaakhu Sahnera, and dancers Dawn Broadbelt, Nicole Burch, Amani Flood, Angela Ming-Bean, and Aisha Ralph), this was a huge undertaking, and no mean feat for the dynamic conductor and organist Ryan Ellis, whose energy and passion were remarkable. Like a nimble ringmaster, and with every note of the entire score committed to memory, he was, quite literally, a moving force between the choirs, musicians, soloist, and organist, keeping it all together and flowing beautifully. Since the concert was dedicated to the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals and ecology, the public responded enthusiastically to the invitation to bring their pets for a special blessing by Canon Martin Ashworth and Father David Rath. Thus it was that the long nave was filled with panting dogs of all sizes and pedigrees, gerbils, birds, and cats – on leads, in carriers and cages – as their loving owners awaited the gentle laying on of clerical hands and a quiet word.

No doubt St. Francis would have smiled, as did we when, during the concert, some dogs contributed vocally, and even formed their own howling, barking chorus in response to the recorded animal sounds.

All in all, a wonderful event with magnificent, beautifully-performed music that will hopefully be repeated sometime in the future.