The world premiere of Steve Butler’s “Resurrection Oratorio” celebrates the Easter season at Masterworks, a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 26, First Presbyterian Church on the corner of State Street and Constance Avenue. The performance is free and open to the public and features the Westmont Orchestra, College Choir and soloists.

The Resurrection Oratorio is a complete setting of the 11 eyewitness accounts of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. “There are many beautiful works that present the Passion of our Lord,” says Butler, who chairs the music department at Westmont. “My struggle with them has been that in the end of the great Passions, we leave our Savior placed in the tomb. My desire with this piece is to pick up where the Passion ends and celebrate the Resurrection.”

The piece is approximately 80 minutes long, organized in 12 movements. The first 11 are based on prescribed morning readings from the gospels in the Christian liturgical tradition. The 12th is a setting of the Pascha (Easter) reading, the first 17 verses of the gospel of John.

For more information, contact the music office at 805.565.6040 or music@westmont.edu.