01:00 AM EST on Thursday, February 24, 2005

By CHANNING GRAY
Journal Arts Writer

Ma'at is a little like the Egyptian version of St. Peter. She weighs a feather against the heart of the dead. If the heart is the heavier, the deceased is in trouble.

Somehow, composer Trevor Weston became intrigued with this myth for his latest piece, Ma'at Musings, scored for chorus and percussion. The 20-minute work was commissioned by the Providence Singers.

"It's a very, very cool piece," said Julian Wachner, artistic director of the Singers, who'll be conducting the piece.

The idea behind Ma'at Musings, said Weston, who teaches at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, is that we have a responsibility to the order of the cosmos, not just to ourselves.

Weston's piece, which uses translations of ancient and modern Egyptian poetry, is part of a program of new music slated for tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon.

The program contains pieces set to e.e. cummings, Emily Dickinson and Weston's Egyptian death poetry, among other things. Wachner likes to point out that choral music is no longer necessarily sacred, but much more aligned with poetry, literature and the arts in general.

Most Providence Singers programs contain one or two contemporary pieces. But this one is a modern-music blowout with an all-contemporary lineup. Besides Weston's Musings, there is Wachner's prize-winning ode to e.e. cummings, sometimes i feel alive, and John Tavener's Song for Athene, a profoundly moving work played at Princess Diana's funeral. There will also be a song cycle based on Emily Dickinson's poetry, with music by Wachner; Cricket, Spider, Bee, by Boston's Elena Ruehr; as well as music by Henryk Gorecki and Morten Lauridsen.

Wachner plans to provide a running commentary about the music during the concert.

Ma'at Musings is the second Weston piece the Singers have tackled. A couple of years ago, they programmed Ashes, Weston's response to the 9/ll attacks. Wachner heard that piece in Spoleto and became a fan.

The Providence Singers' recording of Ashes was one of two submissions that won Weston the $15,000 Goddard Lieberson Award in 2003.

Weston's Musings is in four parts, based on an Egyptian history book Weston once read in college. The outer sections concern Unas, a fifth-century Egyptian ruler who died, and as myth has it, traveled to the stars to join his forebears. The men sing the earthly funeral music. The women represent the sky goddesses. Since scholars don't know what ancient Egyptian music sounded like, Weston had free rein. He included a lot of chanting.

In the second movement, a man wrestles with his soul about committing suicide. Things are not so good in the world, which Weston feels shows things have not changed all that much in a few thousand years.

Next, a man lists all his good deeds. And in the finale, Unas returns in a wrathful mode, eating other gods and the like. This is when Weston really lets the percussion loose.

Weston will present a free open workshop on Musings in collaboration with Community MusicWorks at the Met School, 362 Dexter St., in the West End of Providence. The workshop, which takes place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, will explore the creative possibilities of choral singing and take a look at Weston's new work.

The concerts will be held tomorrow at 8 p.m. at St. Joseph Church, 92 Hope St., Providence, and Sunday at 3 p.m. at St. Mary's Church, 330 Wood St., Bristol.

Tickets are $24 and $20 for adults; $22 and $18 for the elderly and WGBH members; $12 and $10 for students. Call (401) 621-6123 or go to www.arttixri.com.