We end our season with a celebration of spring and the beginning of summer. Cantata choruses for Easter and the Feasts of Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity are supplemented by other works and poetry rejoicing in the brightness of the season.
Throughout history, people have heralded the rising of the sun with music. So, we begin our anniversary season with music for the morning, including music from the matins liturgy. Works by Benjamin Britten, Charles Villiers Stanford, Heinrich Schütz, and the Shakers complement the centerpiece of this program—Te Deum by American-Swedish composer Steve Dobrogosz.
When Martin Luther wrote about liturgy, he identified or composed German chorales that could be used to substitute for parts of the Latin Mass. Settings of some these surround a work we’ve commissioned to celebrate our 40th anniversary—“We All Believe in One True God” by Minnesota composer Linda Kachelmeier. Our namesake’s Mass in G will also be featured.
We close our anniversary season with music for the close of day, music evoking the evening, and works from the vespers or evensong liturgies. One of Samuel Scheidt’s Magnificat settings, this one with interpolations for the Feast of Pentecost, comprises half of this concert. Works by Herbert Howells, B. E. Boykin, Elaine Hagenberg, Elizabeth Alexander and others complete the program.