Cantata Singers 2021-22 Season, Emergent! by cantatasingersboston

cantata singers

Emergent! 2021-22 Season

" ...astonishingly moving, full of grace and beauty... ⁠—The Boston Music Intelligencer

Access Cantata Singers

From live concerts to online programming, we've got something for everyone. We're especially proud to announce Access Cantata Singers, our new online platform for concerts, behind-the-scenes content, and more. Our goal? It's simple: your access to our music-making is a priority, and in an ever-shifting landscape, we're investing in numerous ways to offer these experiences to you. We can't wait for you to take your seats - from your living room or First Church in Cambridge - and join us for our 2021-22 season, Emergent! Scan the QR code below to learn more.

Index Access Cantata Singers

Letter from the Executive Director and the Chair of the Board

Mission

Staff, Board, and Leadership

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion + Access

Community Engagement

History

Venues

Cantata Singers Contributors

Chorus and Orchestra

Immortal Bach: Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, conductor

Of All the Kings: Anthony Trecek-King, conductor

Into Your Hands: Noah Horn, conductor

Where Love and Hope: Katherine Chan, conductor

Composer Bios

Chamber Series

Season Sponsors

To learn about the sources used to create this program book, please visit the credits page of our website using this QR code.

Letter from the Executive Director and the Chair of the Board Dear Friends, Welcome back! We are thrilled you’ve joined us for an exciting season. The world has changed since we saw you last, but the enduring power of choral music to inspire and lift the spirit remains undiminished. Reflecting on the events of the past year has raised some important questions in our minds: what does a 21st-century, socially relevant, compelling choral arts organization look like? How might our music better unite people? How can we incorporate new frames of reference that energize our musical and community programming and better celebrate the myriad voices in Boston and beyond? Our 2021-22 season, Emergent!, begins to answer these questions. Our four conductors, all finalists for the position of Cantata Singers Music Director, exemplify the very best of the next generation of choral leaders. Each brings a profound commitment to musical excellence and innovative programming, showcasing diverse voices and strengthening community ties. The glorious music of J. S. Bach can be heard on every program this season, coupled with 14(!) ensemble premieres. Works by BIPOC and women composers also feature heavily, including Margaret Bonds, R. Nathaniel Dett, Caroline Shaw, Christopher Harris, Jocelyn Hagen, and more. Urbanity Dance also makes its company debut. Our education and outreach commitment continues to grow. Our signature Classroom Cantatas songwriting residency in the Boston Public Schools enters its 29th season, and we are exploring the possibility of adapting the program for singers of all ages. We also continue our partnership with Carnegie Hall to present the Lullaby Project, a community initiative that pairs pregnant women and new mothers and fathers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies. And finally, we are pleased to introduce “Access Cantata Singers,” our new online stage. Digital presentations open up a world of access, turning local audiences into global audiences. We are proud to provide everyone the chance to step behind the scenes, learn about the music and musicians, and engage with us on an ongoing basis, not just at concert time. Can’t attend a live concert? Access Cantata Singers lets you watch an expertly mastered video recording of the concert at your convenience, enhanced with commentary and program notes that illuminate the performance. We can’t wait to share with you a Cantata Singers season both adventurous and original. Warmly,

Nick Adams Cantata Singers Executive Director

Christine Swistro Cantata Singers Board Chair

Mission Voices, Shared Founded in 1964, Cantata Singers is a Boston-based chorus and orchestra whose roots lie in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The ensemble’s main season and chamber concerts now explore a wide range of music that reaches from the 17th century to the present, often exploring connections to Bach’s continuing and profound influence on our music, our culture, and ourselves. Our unique education program, Classroom Cantatas, teaches song-writing and choral singing to under-represented Boston School children, guided by the belief that all children deserve the means to express their creative voices.

Follow us on social media: https://www.facebook.com/CantataSingers @cantatasinger @CantataSinger Boston CantataSingers https://soundcloud.com/user-509125270 smile.amazon.com Visit our social media pages to read the interesting Q&As from our Music Director finalists. 4

Staff, Board, and Leadership ARTISTIC STAFF Allison Voth, Chamber Series Director Eliko Akahori, Rehearsal Pianist Lisa Lynch, Chorus Personnel Manager Heidi Braun-Hill, Orchestra Contractor

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF Nick Adams, Executive Director Michelle Rush, Director of Programs Lily Dearing, Marketing & Special Events Manager Jean Bae, Administrator Laura Grant, Grant Communications, Publicity

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Christine Swistro, Chair James Liu, Vice Chair John Ball, Treasurer Juan Carmona, Secretary Farah Darliette Linda Fung Robert Henry Sheryl Krevsky Elkin, Chorus President

Robert P. Powers Jason Sabol Epp K.J. Sonin Emily Stone Dana Whiteside Marcia Yates Majie Zeller

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE* Paul & Katherine Buttenwieser Dr. Loring & Rev. Louise Conant Carey Erdman & Carl Kraenzel David & Harriet Griesinger

Peter Libby & Beryl Benacerraf Ann Marie Lindquist & Robert Weisskoff Harold I. Pratt

John & Rose Mary Harbison Margaret Hornady-David Charles & Nancy Husbands Elizabeth & Melville Hodder

David Rockefeller Jr. & Susan Rockefeller John Scullin Geoffrey Steadman &

Kathryn & Edward Kravitz Bernard E. Kreger, MD

Danielle Maddon

617.868.5885 cantatasingers.org 361 Newbury Street, SPACES 5th Floor, Boston, MA 02115

*Cantata Singers' Leadership Circle is a group of committed friends who have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our mission and vision. Routinely serving as advisors, these supporters represent the depth and breadth of our community. For more information on joining this group, please contact Executive Director Nick Adams at nadams@cantatasingers.org.

Your gift brings people together to share music.

Investing in Cantata Singers means becoming a partner in engaging, exciting, and inspiring our community. It’s a commitment we will honor in our concerts, education programs, and community engagement activities. We’ll do all we can to make you proud to be a friend of our organization. To learn more and make a contribution, please visit cantatasingers.org/donate or use your phone’s camera to open the QR code below.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion + Access Cantata Singers is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access across all aspects of the organization. We recognize that barriers and biases prevent diverse populations from participating freely in all aspects of Cantata Singers. Through our DEIA Committee, Cantata Singers works to identify, influence, and act on strategic opportunities to make the organization even more welcoming and accessible to musicians, audience members, educational partners, donors, staff members, and communities of diverse experiences. Cantata Singers DEIA Committee: Creates a set of information resources and learning opportunities to help members of the Cantata Singers community become more knowledgeable about the issues Develops a set of guiding DEIA principles that can be applied to all organizational endeavors: community engagement, hiring, programming, communications, singer auditions, concert venues, and other activities as identified Serves as advisors to the Executive Director, Music Director, Board, and staff to help insure that DEIA guiding principles are considered in the functioning of Cantata Singers Advise the board on accountability for upholding DEIA principles Interested in our DEIA Committee? Please contact Executive Director Nick Adams (nadams@cantatasingers.org) for more information

Community Engagement CLASSROOM CANTATAS Cantata Singers has valued underrepresented music since its inception—be it performing works by lesser-known composers, commissioning new music, or bringing vitally-needed music education to Boston’s school children through the Classroom Cantatas program. Classroom Cantatas is unique in its commitment to creation over imitation. Instead of teaching children to reproduce the music and styles of another time and tradition, Classroom Cantatas gives students the tools to create and express themselves using their own musical voices. For information or inquiries, contact Michelle Rush at mrush@cantatasingers.org.

CANTATA CONFIDENTIAL Help shape the Cantata Singers experience! Cantata Confidential is an audience initiative for people who don't currently attend classical music events but who understand that the arts can, and should, be a part of a vibrant society. We know there are barriers that keep people from seeking out classical music — we just can’t see them all from the inside. We want to hear the whole truth — the brutally honest truth — about what we can do to make our entire concert experience better for everyone. For information or inquiries, contact Nick Adams at nadams@cantatasingers.org.

LULLABY PROJECT The Lullaby Project, a free program, pairs pregnant women and new parents with teaching artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies, supporting maternal health, aiding childhood development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child. This is a partnership between Cantata Singers, Mothers’ Milk Bank Northeast, and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. For information or inquiries, contact Michelle Rush at mrush@cantatasingers.org.

History A vibrant, cultural mainstay in Boston and the surrounding areas, Cantata Singers is a musical destination, a place where art, community, and history intersect. A uniquely modern ensemble with deep roots in the past, built on a foundation of innovation and versatility, Cantata Singers promotes the rich heritage of choral music inspired by the musical genius of Johann Sebastian Bach alongside more modern works. Co-founded in 1964, Boston, Massachusetts-based Cantata Singers was created with the goal of exploring and performing music not heard anywhere else by the Boston community and surrounding area, specifically, the cantatas/choral canon of Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach. Today, Cantata Singers offers fresh, inspiring interpretations of iconic music interspersed with intriguing, unfamiliar yet accessible works, including those by female composers and composers of color, whether rarely performed pieces or new compositions by contemporary composers. A cultural jewel 56 years strong, Cantata Singers’ pioneering spirit can be seen in its juxtapositioning of well-known, rarely performed and new works. Committed to adding to the choral canon, to date Cantata Singers has commissioned 16 works by some of the 20th and 21st centuries’ distinguished composers. It has presented more than fifty Boston premieres of both old and new music. Bach’s music, from the cantatas to the passions, remains an essential part of Cantata Singers’ repertoire, even as the ensemble’s repertoire has expanded. Cantata Singers, in its early years, presented numerous first performances of many Bach Cantatas. The organization’s commitment and dedication to challenging programming, including the commissioning of new works, has been acknowledged with an ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music. In the early 1970’s, Cantata Singers cemented its position as an innovative outlier in the field when it expanded its repertoire to include earlier music by other composers as well as works by modern composers. The organization also began to record commercial albums, preserving and sharing music of all times, from Bach’s cantatas to new works. In 1982, Cantata Singers entered a second era of growth and exploration, redefining the choral-orchestral canon and presenting treasured icons alongside both new music and historic gems that might otherwise be lost. The organization has recorded works

of Bach, Schütz, Schein, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky, as well as music of the American composers Irving Fine, Seymour Shifrin, Peter Child, Charles Fussell, and John Harbison. Cantata Singers has had only six music directors since its founding: Leo Collins (19641967), Richard P. Kapp (1968-1969), John Harbison (1969-1973 and 1980-1982), Philip Kelsey (1973-1975), John Ferris (1976-1980), and David Hoose (1982 – 2021). It will introduce its seventh music director in 2022, following an 18-month search. As a leader in community engagement in the choral world, Cantata Singers incorporates digital and virtual work into its programming, enabling greater access for those who are unable to travel to the concert hall and expanding its audiences. Music performances account for only half of Cantata Singers’s work within the community, with the other half focusing on community engagement. Comprising many of Boston’s most talented musicians and singers, Cantata Singers’s chorus features singers who have careers as musicians, educators, doctors, and architects. Twenty-nine years ago, Cantata Singers launched Classroom Cantatas, an education initiative in Boston’s underserved schools that marries music-making and the academic core curriculum to help children find their creative voices. Teaching Artists —performers from Cantata Singers’ acclaimed ensemble—work directly with elementary-school students, guiding them to compose and perform original songs about subjects they are studying in class. Since its inception, Classroom Cantatas has helped develop the creative potential of thousands of young people in Boston.

Venues First Church in Cambridge 11 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 The Sixth meeting house of the First Church in Cambridge, built in 1871, is a stone building at the corner of Garden and Mason Streets. The exterior of the building is an example of the early Gothic revival period. The sanctuary interior is eclectic, incorporating Victorian, Byzantine, and contemporary elements. Most recently renovated in 2000, the sanctuary seats 450-500, including the balcony and north transept. The sanctuary features excellent acoustics, a 1972 Frobenius tracker organ, and a Kawai grand piano. Architectural features include a polygonal vaulted ceiling, hardwood maple floors, a gilded dome in the apse, and beautiful stained glass by Louis Comfort Tiffany and others.

New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115 New England Conservatory's acoustically superb Jordan Hall provides an intimate and versatile setting. Orchestras, chamber ensembles, recitalists, and jazz artists alike have found the hall ideal for performances and recording sessions. In addition to being the heart and soul of New England Conservatory, Jordan Hall is central to the musical life of New England, having hosted performances by the world's leading soloists and ensembles. With a maximum capacity of 1,051, Jordan Hall is recognized by the U.S. government as a National Historic Landmark.

Longy School of Music of Bard College, Pickman Concert Hall* 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 Longy is a degree-granting conservatory in Cambridge, MA with an additional campus in Los Angeles, CA. The Edward M. Pickman Concert Hall at the Longy School of Music of Bard College is located in Cambridge, just outside of Harvard Square. The hall was built in 1970.

Follen Community Church* 755 Massachusetts Avenue, Lexington, MA 02420 Honoring its heritage as a community church, each year Follen hosts a variety of concerts, recitals, events, and meetings in the arts, education, health, and community service. The Sanctuary, which seats up to 225, has superb acoustics and is equipped with a Steinway concert grand piano and an 1868 vintage E. and G.G. Hook tracker pipe organ, which is considered one of New England’s best by the American Guild of Organists. The Sanctuary has been home to many of the region’s most distinguished musicians in concert.

*Chamber Series Venue

Cantata Singers Contributors Cantata Singers is delighted to recognize the following donors for their generosity between July 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021.

FOUNDATION, CORPORATE, GOVERNMENT SUPPORT American Endowment Foundation Boston Cultural Council Cambridge Trust Company IBM International Foundation Massachusetts Cultural Council Melick & Porter, LLP Ramsey McCluskey Family Foundation Schrafft Charitable Trust Strong-Cuevas Foundation

MAESTRO'S CIRCLE • $10,000+ Elizabeth Strong-Cuevas David & Susan Rockefeller

COMPOSER CIRCLE • $5,000+ Dr. Robert Henry Charles & Nancy Husbands Kathryn & Edward Kravitz Robert & Janie Powers Majie Zeller & David Kravitz

CONDUCTOR CIRCLE • $2,500+ Anonymous (2) Nick & Michele Adams Dr. Loring & Rev. Louise Conant Robert Dick & Karen Summers Dr. James Liu & Alexandra Bowers Paul Matisse Robert & Janie Powers Harold I. Pratt Epp Sonin Christine Swistro

VIRTUOSO • $1,000+ Anonymous Lori & Peter Coté Terry Decima Linda Fung David & Harriet Griesinger Arnold & Carol Klukas Dr. Bernard E. Kreger Nancy Kurtz Gail Linzee Reitter Quentin & Lois Regestein Mary Beth & Robert Stevens Dana Whiteside Marcia & Jack Yates

ASSOCIATE • $500+ Anonymous Brian & Jane Bennett Elaine Bresnick & Alan Cushing Paul & Katie Buttenwieser Juan & Ying Carmona Mark Andrew & Lisa Ann Cleveland Fay Dabney Carey Erdman & Carl Kraenzel Jennifer Gover Elizabeth & Melville Hodder Lee & Diana Humphrey Fred Johnson Barry D. Kernfeld & Sally A. McMurry Alice & James Loehlin Suzanne McAllister & Ralph Engstrom Jason Sabol & Lisa Lynch Emily Stone Scott & Mary Street

PATRON • $250+ Tracy & Christopher Berns Luellen & Thomas Best Ferdinando Buonanno Peter Child & Lina Viste Grønli Barbara Chvany & Kenneth Silbert Joan Collins Margaret Davis Charles & Shelia Donahue Karen Keane & Daniel Elias Philip & Mary Hamilton Stella Hammond Susan Jarvis Ron Lacro Michele Millon Patricia and Ray O'Byrne Dwight E. Porter Margaret Rush Richard & Jodi Hill Simpson

SPONSOR • $100+ Andrea K. Agresta Alan R. Benenfeld Carol Brown Elizabeth Canick Robert L. Cochran Sheryl & Carl Elkin Rona & Harold Goodman Eugene H. Gover John Graef Winifred Gray Andrés Holder Henry & Martha Jacoby Roger & Judith Kamm Ellen & Philip Krevsky Sue Lonoff de Cuevas Cathy MacPherson Alan McLellan & Janelle Mills Mr. & Mrs. David Merrill Stephen & Mary Lou Miller Betsy Moyer David Nadworny William & Lia Poorvu

Larry Pratt & Rosalind Forber Janet Ross Yaacov & Alva Shapira Susan Sheetz Donna M. Sirutis Joan S. Soble & Scott Ketcham James Winston

FRIEND • UP TO $100 Jean Bae Marylynn Boris Ann Cahill Bruce Creditor Linda Gerstle Edward S. Ginsberg & Alice Adler Allyson Gray Allen Kesten Catherine Lastavica Mary Anne Paradise Jeffrey P. Rawitsch Norman Rehn David Ross & Myra Ross Dennis Sabol Mary Ann Seymour Kincade & Elizabeth Webb Nancy Weeks-Cantone Judith Wise

Chorus SOPRANO

ALTO

Ellen Allen Luellen Best Kathryn Carlson Kumi Donaghue Angie Grau Elizabeth Hewitt Angelynne Hinson Kathy Howard Patricia Kopko Nancy Kurtz Leslie Leedberg Lisa Lynch Susan Navien Kay Patterson Janet Ross Karyl Ryczek Felicity Salmon Epp Sonin Christine Swistro Rachel Webb

Virginia Bailey Elaine Bresnick Sheryl Elkin Elizabeth Eschen Bonnie Gleason Mahima Kumara Jeannette Lee Amy Lieberman Deborah (Debbie) Owen Diane Sokal Lynn Torgove Olivia Waring Jennifer Webb Andrea Wivchar Sara Wyse-Wenger Majie Zeller

TENOR Tim Bakland Brian Bennett Joseph Burke Carey Erdman Joshua Glassman Edward Hinson Charles Husbands Peter Owens Dwight Porter Jason Sabol Xiao Shi Jeffrey Wang Stephen Williams

BASS Chris Berns Adrian Cho Brian Church Mark Andrew Cleveland Ben Cole Anand Dharan Nathan Halbur Robert Henry James Liu Allyn McCourt Alan McLellan Jonah Pearl Max Rydqvist Matthew Stansfield Scott Street Charles Turner

Orchestra

VIOLIN

DOUBLE BASS

Sarah Atwood Heather Braun-Bakken Heidi Braun-Hill Lisa Crockett Colin Davis Danielle Maddon* Dianne Pettipaw Roksana Sudol Klaudia Szlachta Lena Wong

Andrew Arceci Nancy Kidd

OBOE Peggy Pearson Jennifer Slowik Catherine Weinfield-Zell

BASSOON

Adrian Morejon

VIOLA

Anne Black Joan Ellersick Noriko Futagami Jenny Stirling

CELLO Nicole Cariglia Lynn Nowels Rafael Popper-Keizer David Russell

TRUMPET Terry Everson Fred Holmgren Rich Kelley

TIMPANI

Robert Schulz

ORGAN

Michael Beattie *Concert Master

Ph oto By

6 01 e, 2 n i Richard Term

" We are presenting a tightly knit program consisting of four cantatas by J.S. Bach - 19, 50, 149, and 130, accompanied by two Bach-inspired compositions by contemporary composer Alec Roth from Shared Ground and finally an immersive work by Norwegian composer Knut Nystedt called Immortal Bach. In addition to being a celebration of Bach, this program with the cantata at its center provides an allegory of our current situation, the pandemic; the steadfast protection of the angels representing scientists, doctors and nurses ultimately triumphant over the travail of our time, the COVID-19 virus.

— Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, Music Director Finalist 17

Immortal Bach Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor

Friday, October 22, 2021 8 p.m. | First Church Cambridge Cambridge, MA

Season Sponsor: Melick & Porter

Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez' appearance is made possible by a gift from Epp Sonin.

PROGRAM J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Alec Roth (b. 1948) Alec Roth

“Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir,” BWV 130 “Lost” from Shared Ground* Ponticelli: Bridge of Sighs

J.S. Bach

“Es erhub sich ein Streit,” BWV 19

J.S. Bach

“Komm, süsser Tod”

Knut Nystedt (1915-2014) J.S. Bach

Immortal Bach* “Komm, süsser Tod”

Alec Roth

“Oak” from Shared Ground*

Alec Roth

Ponticelli: Bridge of Sighs

J. S. Bach

“Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg,” BWV 149

J. S. Bach

“Nun is das Heil und die Kraft,” BWV 50

*ENSEMBLE PREMIERE 18

Program Notes Immortal Bach

THREE ENSEMBLE PREMIERES Lost and Oak are the first two movements from Alec Roth’s a cappella double chorus suite Shared Ground (2006), with poetry by Vikram Seth (b. 1952). Commissioned jointly by the Salisbury, Chelsea, and Lichfield Festivals, it is dedicated to Ex Cathedra, a leading UK choir directed by its founder, Jeffrey Skidmore OBE.

Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, conductor

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In 2003, Vikram Seth bought the final home of English poet George Herbert (15801633); he was inspired by Herbert’s poetry (“Lost” is based on “Paradise”; “Oak” on “Easter-Wings”), evoking the trials of life through nature’s ever-present wonders. Alec Roth composed the music while he was a guest in the same house. Lost sets five triplet stanzas, building momentum as the voices seek a “soul in which to blend.” Triads float through a variety of tonalities; they are disturbed by an insistent rhythm developed from fragments of the word “lost.” Oak is divided into two symmetrical parts, arranged in symbolic shapes on the page (the opening voices mirror the poem’s typography exactly). The first evokes a storm and calm around an ancient tree, the second a journey to rest under its “still hour-glass, its free cage.” Immortal Bach (1988) presents Norwegian composer Knut Nystedt’s gentle reworking of J. S. Bach’s funereal melody “Komm, süßer Ruh” (Come, sweet death). He quotes three phrases, beginning with a gentle four-part harmonization that embraces the audience, then allows each singer to move through the music at their own pace. This “timeless” effect is reframed by the sopranos in a higher vocal tessitura, directing our thoughts to the individual progress of a peaceful soul after death. This is the last work Nystedt conducted with Det Norske Solistkor, a vocal ensemble he founded in 1950. MUSIC FOR MICHAELMAS (SEPTEMBER 29) Bach lived in the bustling urban center of Leipzig for the last two decades of his life, composing dozens of choral cantatas for his choirs of men and boys. He layered these 19

works with hidden meanings, featuring instruments on recognizable tunes to inspire deeper listening. Bach’s four warlike, colorful cantatas for the annual feast of St. Michael, one of the few venerated by Lutherans, used the largest orchestra available to him (multiple trumpets and timpani). The highlight of a typical Michaelmas service featured a reading of Revelation 12 (the battle between St. Michael and the Devil). For 1724 (“Herr Gott, dich loben,” BWV 130), Bach featured Louis Bourgeois’ famous “Old Hundredth” tune. Echoing over a grand triple meter, trumpets and angelic army reenact Michael’s battle. Bach highlights soloists from his own choir: the Bass dances a devilish gigue with a trio of trumpets (No. 3, “The Old Dragon”), followed by a joyful gavotte for Tenor and flute (No. 5). For 1726 (“Es erhub sich,” BWV 19), Bach set a Michaelmas poem by his friend Picander, exploring Jacob’s camp surrounded by angels through pastoral solos full of subtle word painting. He concludes with a solemn depiction of Elijah being taken up to heaven by angels. The monumental opening chorus 14 builds upon his uncle Johann Christoph Bach’s 22-part setting: devilish fugal passages and serpentine instrumental interludes alternate in a mini battle concerto. The aria for Tenor and trumpet (No. 5) is one of Bach’s most exquisite works based on the gentle gigue louré dance; it features “Herzlich lieb hab ich dich,” a favorite chorale tune he used in four other cantatas, including at the conclusion of BWV 149, which is featured on this program.

For 1728 (“Man singet,” BWV 149), Bach parodied one of his earlier hunting cantatas (BWV 208), framing the work with trumpet fanfares. He contrasts an elegant victory aria for Bass with a gentle minuet for Soprano and a beautiful duet for Tenor and Alto with a bassoon as guardian. Bach’s unusual “Nun ist das Heil,” BWV 50, is mysterious. His only eight-part cantata chorus, this recent discovery probably dates from the later 1730s due to its highly complex fugal texture, wrought of motifs representing both joy and strength in a single choral tour de force.

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Program Notes by Laura Prichard

Immortal Bach Friday, October 22, 2021 8 p.m. | First Church Cambridge, Cambridge, MA

Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor

Esteemed conductor and pianist Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez is Artistic Director of Musica Viva NY, Director of Music at the historic Unitarian Church of All Souls in Manhattan, Artistic Director and co-founder of the chamber ensemble New Orchestra of Washington, and Artistic Director of the Victoria Bach Festival in Texas. Guest conducting engagements include appearances at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Lincoln Center in New York City, and the historic Degollado Theatre in Guadalajara, Mexico.

engaging and inspiring audiences with remarkable interpretations of familiar and new works. With New Orchestra of Washington (NOW), he has led two performances for Trinity Wall Street’s concert series: the New York premiere of Julian Wachner’s Chamber Symphony (a NOW commission), and Gustav Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, which the ensemble also recorded. In October 2017, NOW released Bespoke, a CD featuring works tailor-made for the ensemble by composers Joel Friedman, Elena Ruehr and Julian Wachner.

With Musica Viva NY, a choir ensemble renowned for its innovative programming and commitment to commissioning new music, HernandezValdez has presented broad and innovative repertoire,

As a composer and conductor, Maestro Hernandez-Valdez led the premiere of his composition, The Imaginary City, a cantata inspired by the life of Ramzi Aburedwan, a violist who has opened schools throughout Palestine to teach

music to children in refugee camps. He also arranged and premiered the chamber orchestra version of A Song of Nature by Seymour Bernstein, the subject of Ethan Hawke’s 2014 documentary film, Seymour: An Introduction. Bernstein is one of Hernandez-Valdez’s most influential teachers and mentors. Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez is featured in El mundo en las manos/Creadores mexicanos en el extranjero (The World in Their Hands/Creative Mexicans Abroad), a book by the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs honoring Mexican nationals who are leading figures in diverse artistic fields. He is the recipient of a 2016 Shenandoah Conservatory Alumni of Excellence Award. Mr. Hernandez-Valdez serves on the Board of the Dvořák American Heritage Association (DAHA). He resides in New York City with his family. https://alejandrohernandezvaldez.com/

Texts and Translations: Immortal Bach J.S. Bach (1685-1750) “Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir,” BWV 130 1. Choral

1. Chorale

Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir und sollen billig danken dir für dein Geschöpf der Engel schon, die um dich schwebn um deinen Thron.

Lord God, we praise you, and should thank you for creating the beautiful angels who hover around Your throne.

Text by Paul Eber (1511-1569), written in 1554 (while he was a professor at the University of Wittenberg), from verse 1, 2, and 3 of his hymn “Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir.”

2. Rezitativ

2. Recitative (Alto)

Ihr heller Glanz und hohe Weisheit zeigt, Wie Gott sich zu uns Menschen neigt, Der solche Helden, solche Waffen Vor uns geschaffen. Sie ruhen ihm zu Ehren nicht; Ihr ganzer Fleiß ist nur dahin gericht’, *Daß sie, Herr Christe, um dich sein *Und um dein armes Häufelein: Wie nötig ist doch diese Wacht Bei Satans Grimm und Macht?

Their radiance and wisdom shows how God inclines Himself to man through heroes and weapons He created for us. They never rest from praising Him; they strive for only one thing: that they, Lord Christ, surround You and Your poor little flock; how necessary is their watch, in the face of Satan’s rage and might?

Anonymous author, freely adapting the Epistle reading for Michaelmas concerning fighting a dragon (representing the Devil) in heaven (Revelation 12:7-12).

3. Arie

3. Aria (Bass)

Der alte Drache brennt vor Neid Und dichtet stets auf neues Leid, Dass er das kleine Häuflein trennet. Er tilgte gern, was Gottes ist, Bald braucht er List, Weil er nicht Rast noch Ruhe kennet.

The ancient dragon burns with envy and constantly devises new afflictions to scatter that little flock. He’d gladly destroy what is God’s, soon resorting to tricks, for he knows neither rest nor repose.

Anonymous author, freely adapting the Biblical story of Daniel (esp. Daniel 3 and 6) and text by Paul Eber (1511-1569), written in 1554 (while he was a professor at the University of Wittenberg), from verses 7-10 of his hymn “Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir.”

4. Rezitativ

4. Recitative (Soprano, Tenor)

Wohl aber uns, daß Tag und Nacht die Schar der Engel wacht, Des Satans Anschlag zu zerstören! Ein Daniel, so unter Löwen sitzt, Erfährt, wie ihn die Hand des Engels schützt. Wenn dort die Glut in Babels Ofen keinen Schaden tut, So lassen Gläubige ein Danklied hören, So stellt sich in Gefahr noch itzt der Engel Hülfe dar.

It’s good that, day and night, the angelic host keeps watch to foil Satan’s onslaught! A Daniel, sitting amongst lions, sees how the angels can protect him. When the fire of Babel’s furnace can’t harm them, believers hear a hymn of praise; so even in danger, angelic help is at hand.

Anonymous author, freely adapting Michaelmas hymns such as “Laß dein’ Engel mit mir fahren” (set by J.S. Bach in the final chorale of his Cantata BWV 19).

5. Arie

5. Aria (Tenor)

Lass, o Fürst der Cherubinen, Dieser Helden hohe Schar Immerdar deine Gläubigen bedienen; Dass sie auf Elias Wagen Sie zu dir gen Himmel tragen.

Grant, O Prince of the Cherubim, that this high host of heroes will always serve Your believers; and that Elijah’s chariot will carry them to You in heaven.

Text by Paul Eber (1511-1569), written in 1554 (while he was a professor at the University of Wittenberg), from verses 11-12 of his hymn “Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir.”

6. Choral

6. Chorale

Darum wir billig loben dich Und danken dir, Gott, ewiglich, Wie auch der lieben Engel Schar Dich preisen heut und immerdar. Und bitten dich, wollst allezeit Dieselben heissen sein bereit, Zu schützen deine kleine Herd, So hält dein göttlichs Wort in Wert.

Therefore we justly praise You and thank You, eternal God, just as the dear angelic host praises You now and evermore. And we beseech You, at all times, to call them to be ready to protect Your small herd, in fulfilment of Your holy word.

Alec Roth (b. 1958) "Lost" from Shared Ground Lost in a world of dust and spray, We turn, we learn, we twist, we pray For word or tune or touch or ray: Some tune of hope, some word of grace, Some ray of joy to guide our race, Some touch of love to deuce our ace. In vain the ace seeks out its twin. The race is long, too short to win. The tune is out, the word not in. Our limbs, our hearts turn all to stone. Our spring, our step lose aim and tone. We are no more - and less than one. There is no soul in which to blend, No life to leave, no light to lend, No shape, no chance, no drift, no end.

Text (2007) by Vikram Seth (b. 1952)

J.S. Bach “Es erhub sich ein Streit,” BWV 19 1. Choral

1. Chorale

Es erhub sich ein Streit. Die rasende Schlange, der höllische Drache stürmt wider den Himmel mit wütender Rache. Aber Michael bezwingt, und die Schar, die ihn umringt stürzt des Satans Grausamkeit.

A battle was joined. The raging serpent, the hellish dragon storms against heaven with a vengeance. But St. Michael defeats him, and the surrounding heavenly host overthrow the cruelty of Satan.

Text: Reworking of Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) from verse 1 of his Michaelmas poem in Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken (Leipzig, 1724/25), based on Revelation 12:7-9

2. Rezitativ

2. Recitative (Bass)

Gottlob! der Drache liegt. Der unerschaffne* Michael und seiner Engel Heer hat ihn besiegt. Dort liegt er in der Finsternis mit Ketten angebunden, und seine Stätte wird nicht mehr im Himmelreich gefunden. Wir stehen sicher und gewiß, und wenn uns gleich sein Brüllen schrecket, so wird doch unser Leib und Seel mit Engeln zugedecket.

Thank God! The dragon’s down. The archangel Michael and his angelic army defeated him. He lies there in the dark, bound in chains, and has lost his place in the kingdom of heaven. We stand safe and sure, and even when his roars frighten us, angels will protect us, body and soul.

* literally, uncreated or unbegotten, referring to his heavenly origins Text: Reworking of Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) from verse 3 of his Michaelmas poem in Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken (Leipzig, 1724/25). The final line of text echoes Psalm 34:8 and II Corinthians 2:11.

3. Arie

3. Aria (Soprano)

Gott schickt uns Mahanaim* zu; wir stehen oder gehen, so können wir in sichrer Ruh vor unsern Feinden stehen. Es lagert sich, so nah als fern, um uns der Engel unsers Herrn mit Feuer, Roß und Wagen.

God sends us Mahanaim; whether we make a stand or go, we can, in confidence, stand up to our enemies. We are camped, near and far, surrounded by the angel of our Lord with firewood, horses, and wagons.

*In Genesis 32:2, Jacob names a place in southern Canaan “Mahanaim” (Hebrew for “two camps” or “two hosts” in Hebrew), to show it is “God’s camp,” including people and angels. The aria text uses “Manahaim” to represent the heavenly host. Text: Reworking of Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) from verse 4 of his Michaelmas poem in Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken (Leipzig, 1724/25)

4. Rezitativ

4. Recitative (Soprano, Tenor)

Was ist der schnöde Mensch, das Erdenkind? Ein Wurm, ein armer Sünder. Schaut, wie ihn selbst der Herr so lieb gewinnt, daß er ihn nicht zu niedrig schätzet und ihm die Himmelskinder, der Seraphinen Heer, zu seiner Wacht und Gegenwehr, zu seinem Schutze setzet.

What is vile Man, the child of Earth? A worm, a poor sinner. Behold, how the Lord loves he who is not too humble in his sight; And for him, heaven’s children, the army of Seraphim, are his watch, defense, and protection.

Text: Reworking of Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) from the end of verse 6 of his Michaelmas poem in Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken (Leipzig, 1724/25), based on Psalm 34:8; Psalm 91:11-12; and Psalm 116:8

5. Arie und Choral

5. Aria and Chorale (Tenor)

Bleibt, ihr Engel, bleibt bei mir! Führet mich auf beiden Seiten, daß mein Fuß nicht möge gleiten! Aber lernt mich auch allhier euer großes Heilig* singen und dem Höchsten Dank zu singen!

Stay, you angels, abide with me! Steady me on both sides, so that my foot may not slip! And right now, teach me to sing your great “Sanctus” and to sing thanks to the Most High!

*In German, the fourth part of the Mass Ordinary starts with the text “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Sabaoth.” In the Latin Mass, this text is called the “Sanctus.” Text: Reworking of Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) from verses 6-7 of his Michaelmas poem in Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken (Leipzig, 1724/25)

6. Rezitativ

6. Recitative (Soprano)

Laßt uns das Angesicht der frommen Engel lieben und sie mit unsern Sünden nicht vertreiben oder auch betrüben. So sein sie, wenn der Herr gebeut, der Welt Valet# zu sagen, zu unsrer Seligkeit auch unser Himmelswagen.

Let us admire the countenance of the pious Angels and not repel or sadden them with our sins. So, when the Lord calls us, we’ll bid farewell to the world, riding to salvation on holy chariots.

#Valēte is a Latin interjection meaning “farewell,” based on the verb Valēo (“I am well.”) Text: from verse 9 of “Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele” by Christoph Demantius (Freiburg, 1620).

7. Choral

7. Chorale

Laß dein’ Engel mit mir fahren auf Elias Wagen rot und mein Seele wohl bewahren, wie Lazrum nach seinem Tod. Laß sie ruhn in deinem Schoß, erfüll sie mit Freud und Trost, bis der Leib kommt aus der Erde und mit ihr vereinigt werde.

Let your angel accompany me on Elijah’s red chariot and protect my soul, like Lazarus after his death. May it lie with your flock, full of joy and consolation, Until my body arrives from earth and is reunited with it.

Knut Nystedt (1915-2014) Immortal Bach Komm, süßer Tod, Komm, selige Ruh, Komm, führ mich in Friede.

Come, sweet death, Come, blessed rest, Come, lead me into peace.

Alec Roth “Oak,” from Shared Ground text (2007) by Vikram Seth (b. 1952) Last night a storm raged round the bare oak tree. A cold, sharp rain fell; wild in pace The ice-fed air swirled free. Now in this place I see No trace Of wind or lee, No grass, no earth - the space Is a clear lake, deep as my knee. I reach its edge and view, far down, my face.

I wade out to the bench, set down my wine, My bread and cheese, and like some sage Of old, sit down to dine. I do not rage Or pine At age, For youth once mine. This pool, this plate, this page, This tree whose roots are branch and tine Holds me in its still hour-glass, its free cage.

J.S. Bach “Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg,” BWV 149

1. Chor

1. Chorus

Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg in den Hütten der Gerechten: Die Rechte des Herrn behält den Sieg, die Rechte des Herrn ist erhöhet, die Rechte des Herrn behält den Sieg!

They sing with joy of victory in the tents of the just: the right hand of the Lord affirms victory, the right hand of the Lord is raised high, the right hand of the Lord affirms victory!

2. Aria

2. Aria (Bass)

Gott, dem Lamme, das bezwungen Und den Satanas verjagt, Der uns Tag und Nacht verklagt. Ehr und Sieg ist auf die Frommen Durch des Lammes Blut gekommen.

Power and strength be sung to God, the Lamb, who defeated and hunted down Satan, who disturbs us day and night. Honor and victory come to the pious through the blood of the Lamb.

3. Rezitativ

3. Recitative (Alto)

Ich fürchte mich Vor tausend Feinden nicht, Denn Gottes Engel lagern sich um meine Seiten her; Wenn alles fällt, wenn alles bricht, So bin ich doch in Ruhe. Wie wär es möglich zu verzagen? Gott schickt mir ferner Roß und Wagen Und ganze Herden Engel zu.

I do not fear thousands of foes, as God's angels camp at my side; All else may fail, may break apart, but even then I am at rest. How could I possibly lose heart? God sends reinforcements of horses and wagons and hosts of angels.

4. Aria

4. Aria (Soprano)

Gottes Engel weichen nie: Sie sind bei mir allerenden. Wenn ich schlafe, wachen sie, Wenn ich gehe, Wenn ich stehe, Tragen sie mich auf den Händen.

God’s angels never yield: they are always with me. When I sleep, they are on guard, whether I go, whether I stand still, they cradle me in their hands.

5. Rezitativ

5. Recitative (Tenor)

Ich danke dir, mein lieber Gott, dafür; Dabei verleihe mir, Dass ich mein sündlich Tun bereue, Dass sich mein Engel drüber freue, Damit er mich an meinem Sterbetage In deinen Schoß zum Himmel trage.

I thank You, my dear God, for this; invest me with the power to repent my sinful deeds, for my angel delights in this, as he, upon my dying day, might carry me to heaven in his embrace.

6. Arie Duett

6. Duet (Alto and Tenor)

Seid wachsam, ihr heiligen Wächter, Die Nacht ist schier dahin. Ich sehne mich und ruhe nicht, Bis ich vor dem Angesicht Meines lieben Vaters bin.

Be alert, you holy guardians, the night is nearly over. I pine and won’t rest until I stand before the countenance of my dear Father.

7. Choral

7. Chorale

Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein Am letzten End die Seele mein In Abrahams Schoß tragen. Den Leib in seim Schlafkämmerlein Gar sanft ohn einge Qual und Pein Ruhn bis am jüngsten Tage!

O Lord, may Your dear little angel at my death, carry my soul to Abraham’s breast. Let my body, in its chamber of sleep, gently, without anguish or pain, rest until judgment day!

Alsdenn vom Tod erwecke mich, Dass meine Augen sehen dich In aller Freud, o Gottes Sohn, Mein Heiland und Genadenthron! Herr Jesu Christ, erhöre mich Ich will dich preisen ewiglich!

Thereupon wake me from death, so my eyes may behold you in complete joy, O Son of God, my Savior and throne of grace! Lord Jesus Christ, hear my prayer, I will praise you eternally!

Text: Psalm 118:15-16 (opening chorus); Martin Schalling (final chorale)

J.S. Bach “Nun is das Heil und die Kraft,” BWV 50 Doppelchor

Double Chorus

Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft und das Reich und die Macht unsers Gottes seines Christus worden, weil der verworfen ist, der sie verklagete Tag und Nacht vor Gott.

Now has arrived salvation and power and the kingdom and the might of our God, and of his Christ, for he has cast down his adversaries day and night before God.

Text from Revelation 12:10

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" This is a holiday program, but with a focus on the stories and the lives of the three kings told from different perspectives. We’ll be performing selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. We also have a wonderful piece by British composer Jonathan Dove, titled The Three Kings. One that I’m really excited about is Margaret Bonds’ The Ballad of the Brown King, which was written in honor of the African king, Balthazaar, with text by Langston Hughes. A full and exciting program, with some things that will be new.

— Anthony Trecek-King,

Music Director Finalist

Of All the Kings Anthony Trecek-King Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor

Sunday, December 12, 2021 3 p.m. | First Church Cambridge Cambridge, MA

Season Sponsor: Melick & Porter

PROGRAM Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)

“Hodie Christus natus est,” SWV 456 O Magnum Mysterium from “Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël”

R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

Ave Maria*

“Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen,” BWV 248

Jonathan Dove (b. 1959) Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) Saunder Choi, arranger (b. 1988)

The Three Kings*

The Ballad of the Brown King* Angels We Have Heard on High*

*ENSEMBLE PREMIERE 32

Program Notes Of All the Kings Anthony Trecek-King, conductor Longtime Dresden court composer Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) composed this brilliant six-voice Hodie Christus natus est as a young man with Venice on his mind. The Latin text celebrates the birth of Jesus with rhythmically active counterpoint, echoing choirs, and jaunty Alleluias in triple meter (honoring the Holy Trinity). We can hear the formative influence of his three years of Venetian study under Gabrieli through inventive text painting, modal cadences, and energetic shifts of pulse, register, and rhythm.

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Francis Poulenc’s transcendent O Magnum Mysterium (1952) opens his unique collection of four Latin Christmas motets; it recalls the tiny dark chapel of Rocamadour, where Poulenc experienced a reconversion to Catholicism following the accidental death of his closest friend, Pierre-Octave Ferroud. Poulenc’s unique Parisian modernism both confirmed and questioned his faith: this motet captures the hushed awe of a stable on Christmas morning (notice the careful, expansive treatment of “admirabile”), and praises the Virgin Mary with a limpid soprano line supported by a hushed, ecstatic trio. Published in 1930, Nathaniel Dett’s humble, reverent setting of Ave Maria for baritone and mixed chorus is one of the earliest-known settings of the Latin “Hail Mary” text by a composer of the African diaspora. After winning music and literary prizes at Oberlin and Harvard, Dett studied at the American conservatory at Fontainebleau (in 1929) where he composed this Ave Maria under the supervision of Nadia Boulanger. He went to earn an MM in Composition at Eastman in 1932, and led this elegant, graceful work during Stromberg-Carlson’s weekly NBC broadcasts (conducting a sixteen-voice radio choir). Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen is the fifth of six choral cantatas that make up J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. It was composed in 1734 (when the composer was fifty) and premiered on the second Sunday after Christmas in 1735. Bach’s focused, intimate music expands upon Matthew’s description of three visitors arriving in Bethlehem from

the East, allowing the Evangelist (Tenor) to evolve from simple storytelling to beautiful arioso. Like an operatic scena, this work is monumental in scope due to its colorful and dramatic contrasts, an unusual vocal trio, fine writing for oboes (esp. in the Bass aria), and the central turba (crowd) chorus that may be based on Bach’s now-lost St. Mark Passion. Here Bach replaces individual reflection with dramatic collective commentary. The Three Kings (Ensemble Premiere) was commissioned by the Choir of Kings College, Cambridge for its 2000 Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. Dorothy Sayers’ poetry frames a journey through the three ages of man with a melancholy refrain echoing medieval English carols. Two sopranos introduce us to the “doleful” young king; the central king brings “incense sad and sweet”; and composer Jonathan Dove interrupts the third king’s mystical music with a riot of sound, depicting the Christ child’s excitement at receiving gaud and baubles. The Ballad of the Brown King (Ensemble Premiere) is an expansive cantata by African American composer Margaret Bonds, written to honor King Balthazar, described in the eighth century by St. Bede as having a dark complexion and bringing myrrh to the Child Jesus. The 1954 work sets a moving poem written by her close friend and frequent collaborator Langston Hughes; they expanded it to nine more complex movements for a CBS television broadcast by the Westminster Choir in 1960. A graduate of Northwestern who specialized in the incorporation of spirituals into classical forms, Bonds wove several American musics into this Ballad, including blues, gospel, Calypso, operatic recitative, four-part hymnody, and jazz.

Saunder Choi’s peripatetic arrangement of Angels We Have Heard on High (Ensemble Premiere) re-interprets the French Baroque carol “Les Anges dans nos campagnes” by following a Latin chant over gentle tone clusters (“Angeli canunt”) with a rollicking, tongue-in-cheek a cappella version of the familiar English words by James Chadwick (1813-1882). Choi’s harmonies are notable for their inclusion of unresolved suspensions and instrumental effects in the supporting choral accompaniment. The composer Ph ot om remarks, “This arrangement playfully intersperses o a.c of v n th e Ca Thre different styles of music (medieval chant, gospel, choral, e K i n g s fr o m etc.) against a rhythmic 5/4 backdrop, ending in an Program Notes by Laura Prichard exciting, glorious finale.”

Of All the Kings Sunday, December 12, 2021 3 p.m. | First Church Cambridge, Cambridge, MA

Anthony Trecek-King Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor Anthony Trecek-King enjoys an international reputation as a choral conductor, scholar, pedagogue, and media personality. Passionate about cultivating artistically excellent ensembles that explore socially relevant issues through emotionally immersive programs, he has recently been appointed Resident Conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society, and Associate Professor of Choral Music and Director of Choral Activities at The Hartt School, University of Hartford. Trecek-King has led performances in world-renowned venues including Boston Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, and the Sydney Opera House.

Ensembles under his direction were integral to projects that have won a Pulitzer Prize (Madam White Snake, Zhou Long), received a Grammy (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Boston Modern Orchestra Project), and earned the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from Presidential Committee on the Arts (Boston Children’s Chorus). Trecek-King has also worked with international choirs and orchestras including the University of Cologne Chamber Choir, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, members of the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, the Juvenil Schola Cantorum, the University Simón Bolívar, and Polifonija, a state chorus of Lithuania.

In addition to Trecek-King’s conducting work he hosted the choral music radio program “Together in Song,” which aired on WCRB Classical New England and WQXR radio in New York City, and he has presented two talks and performance (2012 & 2014) for TEDx Boston. He is best known as host and coach for the Emmy nominated WGBH television series “Sing That Thing.” Trecek-King holds a B.M. in Cello Performance from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from the Florida State University, and a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the Boston University. In 2005 and 2006, Mr. Trecek-King was the only American selected to participated in both the Eric Ericson Masterclass (Netherlands), and the Eric Ericson Award, an international conducting competition (Sweden). He currently lives in the Boston area with his partner Melanie and two cats. https://www.trecekking.com/

Texts and Translations: Of All the Kings Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) “Hodie Christus natus est,” SWV 456 Hodie Christus natus est. Hodie salvator apparuit. Hodie in terra canunt angeli. Laetantur arcangeli. Hodie exultant iusti dicentes; Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Alleluia.

Today Christ is born. Today the Savior appears. Today angels sing to the earth. Archangels rejoice. Today the just rejoice, saying: Gloria in the highest to God, And on earth, peace to people of goodwill. Alleluia.

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) O Magnum Mysterium from “Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël” O magnum mysterium et admirabile sacramentum ut animalia viderent Dominum natum jacentem in praesepio. Beata Virgo cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum.

O great mystery and wonderful sacrament that animals would see the newborn Lord lying in a manger. Blessed Virgin, whose body served to bear the Lord Christ.

R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) Ave Maria Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, Et benedictus fructus ventris tui Jesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora pro nobis peccatoribus, Nunc et in hora mortis nostrae.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) “Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen,” BWV 248

1. Coro

Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen, Dir sei Lob und Dank bereit. Dich erhebet alle Welt, Weil dir unser Wohl gefällt, Weil anheut unser aller Wunsch gelungen, Weil uns dein Segen so herrlich erfreut.

All honor to You, God, be sung, To you be praise and thanks prepared. You are exalted by the whole world, Because our well-being pleases you, Because today all our wishes come true, Because we delight in Your blessings.

2. Evangelist

2. Evangelist (Tenor, Matthew 2:1)

Da Jesus geboren war zu Bethlehem im jüdischen Lande zur Zeit des Königes Herodis, siehe, da kamen die Weisen vom Morgenlande gen Jerusalem und sprachen.

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the Jewish lands, in the time of King Herod, behold, sages came from the East to Jerusalem and said:

3. Coro e Recitativo: Die Weisen

3. The Wise Men (Chorus and Recitative, Matthew 2:2)

Wo ist der neugeborne König der Jüden? Sucht ihn in meiner Brust, Hier wohnt er, mir und ihm zur Lust! Wir haben seinen Stern gesehen im Morgenlande und sind kommen, ihn anzubeten. Wohl euch, die ihr dies Licht gesehen, es ist zu eurem Heil geschehen! Mein Heiland, du, du bist das Licht, das auch den Heiden scheinen sollen, Und sie, sie kennen dich noch nicht, als sie dich schon verehren wollen. Wie hell, wie klar muss nicht dein Schein, geliebter Jesu, sein!

Where is the newborn King of the Jews? Seek him in my breast, here he dwells, to my and His delight! We have seen His star in the East

4. Choral

4. Chorale

Dein Glanz all Finsternis verzehrt, Die trübe Nacht in Licht verkehrt. Leit uns auf deinen Wegen, Dass dein Gesicht Und herrlichs Licht Wir ewig schauen mögen!

Your splendor consumes all darkness, the dim night transforms through light. Lead us along Your paths So that Your face and glorious light, We may eternally behold.

5. Aria

5. Aria (Bass)

Erleucht auch meine finstre Sinnen, Erleuchte mein Herze Durch der Strahlen klaren Schein! Dein Wort soll mir die hellste Kerze In allen meinen Werken sein; Dies lässet die Seele nichts Böses beginnen.

Enlighten my dim mind, Enlighten my heart, Through the clear rays of your light. Your word will be my brightest candle In all my works; This restrains my soul from initiating evil.

and have come, to worship him. Rejoice, you who have seen this light, it has appeared for your salvation! My Savior, You are that light that shall also shine on the heathen, and these, who don’t even know you, already wish to honor you. How bright, how clear is your glow, beloved Jesus!

6. Evangelist

6. Evangelist (Tenor, Matthew 2:3)

Da das der König Herodes hörte, erschrak er und mit ihm das ganze Jerusalem.

When this was heard by King Herod, he was frightened and with him, all Jerusalem.

7. Recitativo

7. Recitative (Alto)

Warum wollt ihr erschrecken? Kann meines Jesu Gegenwart euch solche Furcht erwecken? O! solltet ihr euch nicht vielmehr darüber freuen, weil er dadurch verspricht, der Menschen Wohlfahrt zu verneuen.

Why are you frightened? Can the presence of my Jesus awaken such fear in you? Oh! Shouldn’t you rejoice over this,

8. Evangelist

8. Evangelist (Tenor, Matthew 2:4-6)

Und ließ versammlen alle Hohepriester und Schriftgelehrten unter dem Volk und erforschete von ihnen, wo Christus sollte geboren werden. Und sie sagten ihm: Zu Bethlehem im jüdischen Lande; denn also stehet geschrieben durch den Propheten: Und du Bethlehem im jüdischen Lande bist mitnichten die kleinest unter den Fürsten Juda; denn aus dir soll mir kommen der Herzog, der über mein Volk Israel ein Herr sei.

And he gathered all the high priests and scribes of the people and asked them where Christ had been born.

9. Trio

9. Trio (Soprano, Alto, Tenor)

UAch, wenn wird die Zeit erscheinen? Ach, wenn kömmt der Trost der Seinen? Schweigt, er ist schon würklich hier! Jesu, ach so komm zu mir!

Ah, will the time come to pass? Ah, will comfort of the faithful arrive? Be silent, he’s truly already here! Jesus, come to me!

10. Recitativo

10. Recitative (Alto)

Mein Liebster herrschet schon. Ein Herz, das seine Herrschaft liebet Und sich ihm ganz zu eigen gibet, Ist meines Jesu Thron.

My beloved already reigns. A heart, that loves his reign And is completely devoted, as his own, Is my Jesus’ throne.

because he promises to renew our well-being.

And they said to him: in Bethlehem, in the Jewish lands, for so is stated written by the prophets: And you Bethlehem, in the Jewish lands, are in no way least among the princes of Judea; for from you shall come a ruler, who over my people Israel will be Lord.

11. Choral

11. Chorale

Zwar ist solche Herzensstube Wohl kein schöner Fürstensaal, Sondern eine finstre Grube; Doch, sobald dein Gnadenstrahl In denselben nur wird blinken, Wird es voller Sonnen dünken.

A chamber such as the heart Can’t really be the hall of a prince, But more like a dark pit; Yet, as soon as your ray of grace blinks once inside it, It will glow as if filled with suns.

Jonathan Dove (b. 1959) The Three Kings Text by Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) O balow, balow la lay. The first king was very young. With doleful ballads on his tongue. He came bearing a branch of myrrh Than which no gall is bitterer, O balow, balow la lay, Gifts for a baby King, O. The second king was a man in prime, The solemn priest of a solemn time, With eyes downcast and rev'rent feet He brought his incense sad and sweet, The third king was very old, Both his hands were full of gold. Many a gaud and a glittering toy Baubles brave for a baby boy.

Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) The Ballad of the Brown King Text by Langston Hughes (1901-1967) Of the three wise men Who came to the King, One was a brown man, So they sing. Of the three wise men Who followed the star, One was a brown king From afar. They brought fine gifts Of spices and gold In jeweled boxes Of beauty untold. Unto His humble Manger they came And bowed their heads In Jesus’ name. Three wise men, One dark like me – Part of His Nativity.

Saunder Choi, arranger (b. 1988) Angels We Have Heard on High Text by James Chadwick (1813-1882), based on the Baroque carol “Les Anges dans nos campagnes” Angeli canunt praecones Nuper natum Dominum, Pacem vobis, veniamque Erga genus humanum, Gentes surgite gaudentes

Cum caelicolis canentes Dei filium, regem Natum iam in Bethlehem; Ecce canunt angeli Gloriam novo Regi! Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o’er the plains And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strains Gloria in excelsis Deo! Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing; Come, adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Gloria in excelsis Deo! See Him in a manger laid, Jesus, Lord of heaven and earth; Mary, Joseph, lend your aid, With us sing our Savior’s birth. Gloria in excelsis Deo! Latin translation of “Hark! The Herald Angels sing” by Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

" Bach’s “Komm, Jesu, komm” is striking immediately. Most of Bach’s music gets going right away with a regular beat that you can perceive, but this piece begins with a grand silence after calling on Jesus to help. It’s really amazing to start off a piece that way, by having no apparent answer to an urgent plea. Caroline Shaw’s ‘To the Hands’ is next. The coolest thing about this piece is how it interacts with the past. Right now in human society, we’re very interested in how our history is affecting our current situation. Caroline takes musical material from a Baroque cantata by Buxtehude and responds to it. The third piece, by Nathaniel Dett, is a favorite of mine. This piece asks us to listen to the crying “lambs”, which can be interpreted as the voices of displaced people. It’s really very timely. Brandon Waddles is writing a new commission which really excites me. The narrative of the program turns to hopefulness at this moment. The final piece is Handel’s Dixit Dominus – this piece has never been done with Cantata Singers, and it’s one of the great choral masterworks.

— Noah Horn, Music Director Finalist 43

Into Your Hands Noah Horn Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor

Friday, February 11, 2022 8 p.m. | First Church Cambridge Cambridge, MA

Season Sponsor: Melick & Porter

PROGRAM J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

“Komm, Jesu, komm,” BWV 229

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)

To the Hands*

R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) Brandon Waddles (b. 1988) G.F. Handel (1685-1759)

Listen to the lambs*

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand** Dixit Dominus, HWV 232*

*ENSEMBLE PREMIERE **COMMISSION / WORLD PREMIERE

Program Notes Into Your Hands

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Our February program is united by an overarching narrative: according to our conductor, “It takes place from the perspective of weary travelers who seek safe haven, shelter, and rest. Hands appear throughout the program: those reaching out in hope and desperation, and those answering others’ needs.” He continues, “In the Bach, the travelers wish for relief, as their bodies are weary (‘mein Leib ist müde’), their strength fails (‘die Kraft verschwindt’), and the bitter path becomes too hard (‘der saure Weg’).”

Noah Horn, conductor

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J.S. Bach composed only six a cappella motets, and Komm, Jesu komm is one of his most personal compositions. The text was originally written in 1684 for the funeral of Jacob Thomasius, rector of the St. Thomas School in Leipzig. Bach knew an earlier setting by his predecessor there, Johann Schelle; his updated version for double chorus (acting as a single, although sometimes fragmented collective) follows Schelle’s musical approach, but only retains the first and last verse of the original poem. Bach highlights expressive images with unusual harmonic gestures: his “saure Weg” sounds sour due to a sudden descending diminished seventh. Most of the music we hear develops a single line from John 14:6 (“I am the way, the truth, and the life”) through sinuous, lilting suspensions, and the motet concludes with a monumental chorale (“I give myself into Your hands”) which inspired the title of this concert. Caroline Shaw’s To the Hands (Ensemble Premiere) was commissioned in 2016 by The Crossing and premiered in Philadelphia alongside new works by six other composers; it was her response to Buxtehude’s 1680 masterpiece, Membra Jesu Nostri. The composer describes the work as beginning “inside the 17th century sound of Buxtehude [wordless melodies]. It expands and colors and breaks this language” through patterns in the strings that slice through the earlier tunes, building to a climax. “The piece’s core considerations, of the suffering of those around the world seeking refuge, and of our role and responsibility in these global and local crises, gradually come into focus.” The second movement “fragments Buxtehude’s choral setting of the central question, 45

“quid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum,” or “what are these wounds in the midst of your hands.” Then follows “a riff on Emma Lazarus’ sonnet The New Colossus, famous for its engraving at the base of the Statue of Liberty. The poem’s lines ‘Give me your tired…’ present a very different image of a hand — one that is open, beckoning, and strong.” After an intimate portrait of a woman sitting alone [in caverna], the fifth movement intones global figures of internally displaced persons, by country, from May 2015. “Sometimes data is the cruelest and most honest poetry. The final movement unfolds the words in caverna into the tumbling and comforting promise of ‘ever ever’. They could be the words of Christ, or of a parent or friend or lover, or even of a nation.” An ensemble premiere by R. Nathaniel Dett implores the audience to listen to those in need, and to heed the pleas evoked by Caroline Shaw. Dett’s most frequently performed piece, Listen to the Lambs, a 1914 prize anthem for the New York Music Settlement, is scored for eight-part mixed choir and soprano solo. It was the first piece he wrote for the Hampton Choir, a shared richness of the cultural centrality of African American sacred music. In 1930, the composer wrote that it “was the first anthem on a Negro theme to gain popularity in the United States. It was regarded as a novelty at first, but has since become part of the repertory of every worthwhile church choir in America.” The emotion of the program turns from sorrow to hope with the world premiere of He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand by Brandon Waddles, a highly in-demand composer and spiritual arranger based in Detroit. The text of this commission provides an answer to the questions raised earlier, with hands now serving as solace. Handel's Dixit Dominus, HWV 232, a virtuosic setting of Psalm 109/110 for five soloists and five-part chorus, contrasts hard-won triumph over one’s enemies (Nos. 1-2 and 6-7) with guidance for weary travelers. This is Handel’s earliest surviving score, and the manuscript is held by the British Library. The nine-movement cantata was completed just after his arrival in Rome in April 1707 and premiered in the massive Church of St. Maria di Montesano, likely fulfilling a commission from the powerful Cardinal Carlo Colonna. The choice of text was designed to flatter a political family such as the Colonnas, with its assurance of victory and mention of Melchizedek, the priest chosen by God, rather than by birth, to bless Abraham. At only twenty-two, Handel was already a master of German-style polyphony, Roman instrumental virtuosity (think Corelli), and dramatic word painting (contrast the percussive repetitions of “conquassabit” / “smashing” with his soothing arias for Sopranos and the final comforting chorale). Handel scholar H. C. Robbins Landon praised Dixit Dominus for its “staggering technical difficulty, displaying immediately the excellence of Roman choirs at the beginning of the century.” Program Notes by Laura Prichard and Noah Horn

Into Your Hands Friday, February 11, 2022 8 p.m. | First Church Cambridge, Cambridge, MA

Noah Horn Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor Noah Horn is Director of Choral Activities at Williams College, Chorus Master for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and Artistic Director and Founder of the professional vocal ensemble Audivi. He has worked with ensembles in Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Turkey, Greece, Canada, and the Philippines. With Audivi, Maestro Horn has conducted historically-informed landmark performances of Bach's Mass in B minor and Monteverdi's Vespers, as well as premiering dozens of new compositions and touring several times around the US.

For several years, Maestro Horn served as director of choral activities at Wayne State University, where he directed the choirs and led the graduate program in choral conducting. A passionate orchestral conductor, he has served as Director of Orchestral Activities at Wesleyan University and worked with orchestras around the country. Other teaching assignments have included posts at Oberlin Conservatory, Amherst College, Hampshire College, Western Michigan University, and University of Michigan. As a tenor specializing in oratorio, Noah Horn has sung solo roles in much of the standard repertoire from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras. He

regularly sings with professional ensembles across the country, such as Conspirare and Kaleidoscope Vocal Ensemble. As an organist, he has given recitals in several countries, and has served as music director at a number of churches. Recently, he won several competitive national prizes from the American Guild of Organists. Mr. Horn also works freelance as a pianist, harpsichordist, trumpet player, composer, and audio and video engineer. He appears in numerous commercial recordings, including five albums released on Naxos Records. Noah Horn holds D.M.A., M.M.A., and M.M. degrees from Yale University in choral conducting, and M.M. and B.Mus. degrees from Yale and Oberlin College in organ performance. He lives in western Massachusetts with his family. https://www.noahhornmusic.com/

Texts and Translations: Into Your Hands J.S. Bach (1685-1750) “Komm, Jesu, komm,” BWV 229 Komm, Jesu, komm. Mein Leib ist müde; die Kraft verschwindet je mehr und mehr. Ich sehne mich nach deinem Friede; der saure Weg wird mir zu schwer! Komm, ich will mich dir ergeben; du bist der rechte Weg, die Wahrheit und das Leben.

Come, Jesus, come. My body is weary; my strength is vanishing more and more. I yearn for your peace; life’s bitter journey is becoming too difficult! Come, I want to give myself to you; you are the right way, the truth and the life.

Darauf schließ ich mich in deine Hände und sage, Welt, zu guter Nacht! Eilt gleich mein Lebenslauf zu Ende, ist doch der Geist wohl angebracht. Er soll bei seinem Schöpfer schweben, weil Jesus ist und bleibt der wahre Weg zum Leben.

Thus I entrust myself into your hands and bid the world good night. My life’s journey rushes to its end, yet the spirit is well prepared. It shall hover with its creator, for Jesus is and remains the true path to life.

Text: Paul Thymich (1656–1694), 1684

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) To the Hands I. Prelude [no text — choir on vowels only]

II. in medio / in the midst [text from Buxtehude’s Ad manus — Zechariah 13:6 — adapted by Caroline Shaw, with the addition of in medio manuum nostrarum (“in the midst of our hands”)] quid sunt plagae istae quid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum in medio quid sunt plagae istae quid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum nostrarum

what are those wounds what are those wounds in the midst of your hands in the midst what are those wounds what are those wounds in the midst of our hands

III. Her beacon-hand beckons [text by Caroline Shaw, responding to the 1883 sonnet “Te New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, which was mounted on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903] Her beacon-hand beckons: give give to me those yearning to breathe free tempest-tossed they cannot see what lies beyond the olive tree whose branch was lost amid the pleas for mercy, mercy give give to me your tired fighters fleeing flying from the from the from let them i will be your refuge i will be your refuge i will be i will be we will be we will

IV. ever ever ever [text by Caroline Shaw — the final line, in caverna, is from Buxtehude’s Ad latus — the line from the Song of Songs, in foraminibus petrae, in caverna maceriae, or “in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow of the cliff”] ever ever ever in the window sills or the beveled edges of the aging wooden frames that hold old photographs hands folded folded gently in her lap

ever ever in the crevices the never-ending efforts of the grandmother's tendons tending to her bread and empty chairs left for Elijahs where are they now in caverna in caverna

V. Litany of the Displaced The choir speaks global figures of internal displacement, sourced from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (http://www.internal-displacement.org/global-fgures — accessed 01/03/2016). The numbers spoken are the numbers of internally displaced persons by country, in ascending order. These are people, some of whom may have legal refugee status, who have been displaced within their own country due to armed confict, situations of generalized violence or violations of human rights.

VI. i will hold you [text by Caroline Shaw — The final line is a reprise from the Zechariah text.] in medio in medio in medio in medio in medio manuum tuarum

R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) Listen to the lambs Listen to the lambs! All a-crying! He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, and carry the young lambs in his bosom. Ah! Listen! Listen to the lambs! All a-crying! Amen. Text: Traditional

would hold you would hold you ever ever will i hold you ever ever will i enfold you

Brandon Waddles (b. 1988) He’s Got the Whole World in His Hand G.F. Handel (1685-1759) Dixit Dominus, HWV 232 Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum.

The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Virgam virtutis tuae emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum.

The scepter of your power will be sent by the LORD out of Zion, saying, “Rule over your enemies round about you.

Tecum principium in die virtutis tuae; in splendoribus sanctorum, ex utero ante luciferum genui te.

Princely state has been yours from the day of your birth; in the beauty of holiness, like dew from the womb of the morning, I have begotten you.”

Juravit Dominus et non poenitebit eum: Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.

The LORD has sworn and he will not recant: “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”

Dominus a dextris tuis confregit in die irae suae reges.

The Lord who is at your right hand will smite kings in the day of his wrath.

Judicabit in nationibus. Implebit ruinas; conquasabit capita in terra multorum.

He will rule over the nations. He will heap high the corpses; He will smash heads over the wide earth.

De torrente in via bibet; propterea exaltabit caput.

He will drink from the brook beside the road; therefore he will lift high his head.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto: sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Text: Psalm 110

" The concert will feature much loved works by Schütz, Schein, and Duruflé, and of course Bach, but also including works by living composers like James MacMillan, Jonathan Dove, Jocelyn Hagen, and Christopher Harris. What excites me about this program is the collaboration with Urbanity Dance, and adding movement as a way to connect deeper to texts and harmony, enhancing the overall musical journey this program seeks to bring our audience.

— Katherine Chan, Music Director Finalist

Where Love and Hope Katherine Chan Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor

Sunday, March 27, 2022 3 p.m. | First Church Cambridge Cambridge, MA

Season Sponsor: Melick & Porter PROGRAM James MacMillin (b. 1959)

Child’s Prayer*

Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)

“Dennoch bleib ich stets an dir”

“Selig sind die Toten,” SWV 391 Ubi caritas et Amor

Jonathan Dove (b. 1949)

In Beauty May I Walk*

Jocelyn Hagen (b. 1980)

Hands*

Christopher Harris (b. 1980) Yehuda Yannay (b. 1937) J.S. Bach (1685-1750)

My Way Home* “Le Campane di Leopardi”*

“Alles nur nach Gottes Willen,” BWV 72

*ENSEMBLE PREMIERE 54

Program Notes Where Love and Hope Katherine Chan, conductor Our March concert develops themes of hope, beginning with Child’s Prayer (Ensemble Premiere). Dedicated to the student victims of a 1996 school shooting at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, this poignant anthem is scored for two treble parts soaring over slow-moving harmonies. A particularly fine example of James MacMillan's choral writing; it was premiered in Westminster Abbey, building to such an intense, cathartic climax at the word “joy” that we are left with a feeling of optimism and peace.

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Dennoch bleibe ich stets an dir is a sacred motet for five-voice choir and continuo, published as the fifth part of Johann Hermann Schein’s 1623 Founts of Israel (Fontana d’Israel) collection, while he was serving as Cantor of St. Thomas School in Leipzig (the same post held by Bach a century later). It displays his mastery of complex polyphony, artfully handles suspensions, and concludes in a powerful triple meter hymn of praise. As director of Leipzig’s Thomanerchor, Schein built on his own training as a boy soprano in the Dresden Electoral Chapel to challenge Europe’s third-oldest professional choir of boys and men (founded in 1212). Listen to see whether he achieved his goal to imbue German Baroque music with word painting “in the style of the Italian madrigal” (extended counterpoint at “remain,” sustained bass at “hold,” and cascading sequences à la Monteverdi at “lead”). Heinrich Schütz was the master of the early Baroque motet in Germany. Selig sind die Toten, from his 1648 collection of sacred choral music (celebrating the end of the Thirty Years War), presents us with a miniature world in each new phrase of this funerary text from Revelation 14. Generations of believers are represented through imitative voices traveling in all directions; these merge (“Ja! der Geist spricht”) to affirm communal hope in the face of death. Schütz, whose very first publication was a set of Italian madrigals, treats us to both word painting (notice the difference between his music for resting and working) and contrapuntal flourishes typical of the music of Dresden’s Electoral Chapel.

Ubi caritas et amor (1960) is the first, and most beloved, of Maurice Duruflé’s Op. 10 collection of Latin plainchant harmonizations (following the same style as his influential Requiem). The composer wrote, “I have done my best to reconcile, as far as possible, Gregorian rhythm as it has been established by the Benedictines of Solesmes with the demands of modern meter.” This simple Maundy Thursday antiphon for ceremonial foot washing employs gently asymmetrical rhythms, suspending notes and time itself. FOUR MORE ENSEMBLE PREMIERES Jonathan Dove’s In Beauty May I Walk (1998) was composed for Anthony WhitworthJones to honor his tenure as General Director of the Glyndebourne Festival from 19891998. The text is a well-known excerpt from polyglot Jerome Rothenberg’s Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe and Oceania (1969), attributed to an anonymous, indigenous Navajo source. Dove’s approach frames the prayer with a fervent, suspended mantra in the basses. The voices emerge into a polyphonic “bird-like” section with the upper voices pecking at the words “beautifully joyful.” The choral voices unite naturally through a series of quiet gathering chords on seven contemplative syllables. Hands is a rhythmic, generative vocalise. It fulfilled a commission and premiere for the Vocal Art Ensemble of Sweden at the 2017 World Choral Symposium in Barcelona. Composer Jocelyn Hagen’s sound world is “about a simple gesture, the act of uniting, coming together.” She developed the piece by singing to herself, beginning with a single line and gradually added counterpoint to reach an eight-voice choral climax of hope and solidarity. “Twenty-five measures into the piece, the movement [of the choir] becomes static, and all choir members are singing a new melody, facing confidently outward… They have found their common ground… standing strong together.” Christopher Harris developed the moving spiritual My Way Home (2015) after hearing the student singing group Ithacappella in graduate school. His text is a personal response the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT and honors both young victims of violence and his mother. Marked “pensive, reluctant, and somber,” this richly harmonic anthem creates halos of sound from unresolved suspensions and complex jazz harmonies. The gentle, homophonic texture builds slowly, and is meant to encourage mourning “with grace, because pain is over.” Harris discussed the message of the work as part of Cantus professional men’s ensemble’s recent Championing Black Voices series, available on YouTube: “If God, from heaven, looked down and said, ‘Six-year-old kid, you have one opportunity to go and speak directly to your mother, or to your father, to their heart… If you could ensure that they would hear and feel everything that you said, what would you say?’”

Yehuda Yannay’s Le Campane di Leopardi (1979) depicts a long, dark night. It recalls the sound of bells the composer heard as a child growing up in Soviet-occupied Romania and those of bell towers in Tel Aviv, Israel where he lived before and after studying with Ernst Krenek at Brandeis in the mid-1960s. Yannay’s modal approach to harmony was inspired by Sephardi, Yemenite, and Arabic music that he heard and admired in Israel. This gentle, unsettling chorale sets words by an early Romantic poet who similarly grew up in a provincial town (in Italy) during a time of revolution and occupation (by the French). The text is repeatedly interrupted by four-part “bell chords” tolling the hours, beginning at eight in the evening. The score requires a fixed drone of tuned wine glasses to surround the child in the poem with empty, dark space. Emmanuel Music’s Founding Director Craig Smith called Bach’s Cantata No. 72 “one of the great bravura works from Bach’s time in Weimar.” Bach probably composed the earliest version of this cantata in 1715 in Weimar and revised it for the larger choir at Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church in 1724. The first movement throws us into the middle of a raging tempest filled with fugal flashes of lighting trying to overwhelm a tolling bell represented by the lower instruments. The storm abates, revealing a lyrical, contrapuntal depiction of floating clouds. The one-of-a-kind, multi-dimensional arioso for Alto that follows is unique among Bach’s solo writing: recitatives evolve, harmonies shift, and the repetitious chiming of the anaphoric litany text emphasizes the resoluteness of the faithful. Based on an original German libretto by Bach’s friend Salomo Franck, who also served as the head of the Mint in Weimar, this work is unusual because of its use of the ‘litany’ structure – a short, repeated phrase that gains conviction and intensity through repetition. Bach’s expressive writing for the litany couples contrasting ideas in the style of an Italian madrigal (joy and sorrow, clouds and sun, good and bad); it stresses the sense that the faithful believer should never stray from trust in God. After a gorgeous contrapuntal duet for soprano and oboe, Bach concludes with one of his favorite chorales (used in three other cantatas) in both A minor and C major, uniting the two central keys of the cantata in a final affirmation of consolation.

Program Notes by Laura Prichard

Where Love and Hope Sunday, March 27, 2022 3 p.m. | First Church Cambridge, Cambridge, MA

Katherine Chan Music Director Finalist & Guest Conductor Australian conductor  Katherine Chan is known for her energy and enthusiasm on podium, and for her highly innovative collaborations. She is Director of Choral Arts and Assistant Teaching Professor of Music at Northeastern University, where she conducts the Northeastern University Choral Society Choir, Chamber Singers, Mosaic Advance and Treble Ensemble. A sought-after choral clinician for both civic and school ensembles, Chan also serves as the Associate Conductor and Director of Community Engagement for the Back Bay Chorale, Boston. Prior to relocating to the United States, Chan was extensively involved in Australia’s choral community, serving as a National Council Member

of the Australian National Choral Association (ANCA), and holding numerous positions throughout Australia, including Musical Director of Choral Connection and the Choir Director at St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Brisbane. Amongst her numerous honors and awards are conducting China’s Xi’an Symphony Chorus in 2019 and being selected as one of the top-12 finalists in the 2019 World Choral Conducting Competition held in Hong Kong. She has been a conducting scholar at the Taipei Bach Festival (2012), Hong Kong SingFest (2012) and Oregon Bach Festival (2011).

In addition to conducting, Chan actively performs as a soprano and pianist/accompanist. As a soprano, she toured Italy with the Brisbane Concert Choir, performing Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Vivaldi’s Gloria (soprano soloist). She has been a core member of Fusion Vocal Ensemble and performed in 2014 at the 10th World Choral Symposium in South Korea. As a pianist/accompanist, Chan has been a collaborator for Queensland Opera and The Queensland Pops orchestra. Maestra Chan holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Minnesota (UMN), a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the University of Washington, and a Bachelor of Music Performance and Pedagogy in classical piano from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University. Prior to joining the faculty at Northeastern University, she served as visiting Director of Choral Activities at the University of Wisconsin–Superior. http://www.katherinechanmusic.com/

Texts and Translations: Where Love and Hope James MacMillan (b. 1959) Child's Prayer Welcome Jesu, Deep in my soul forever stay: Joy and love my heart are filling On this glad and sacred day.

Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) Dennoch Bleib ich stets an dir Dennoch bleibe ich stets an dir, denn du hältest mich bei meiner rechten Hand, Du leitest mich nach deinem Rat und nimmest mich endlich mit Ehren an.

Yet I am always with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me in honor

Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) “Selig sind die Toten,” SWV 391 Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben, von nun an. Ja der Geist spricht: Sie ruhen von ihrer Arbeit und ihre Werke folgen ihnen nach

Blessed are the dead, that die in the Lord from now on. Yea, the Spirit speaks: they rest from their labors and their works follow them.

Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) Ubi caritas et Amor Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur. Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero. Amen.

Where charity and love are, God is there. Christ's love has gathered us into one. Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him. Let us fear, and let us love the living God. And may we love each other with a sincere heart. Amen.

Jonathan Dove (b. 1949) In Beauty May I Walk In beauty may I walk, All day long may I walk, Through the returning seasons may I walk. Beautifully will I possess again Beautifully joyful birds. On the trail marked with pollen may I walk With grasshoppers about my feet may I walk. With dew about my feet may I walk. With beauty before me With beauty behind me With beauty above me With beauty all around me It is finished in beauty

Jocelyn Hagen (b. 1980) Hands (wordless chorus of neutral syllables)

Christopher Harris (b. 1980) My Way Home I know that sorrow’s been here and peace may long be gone, I know my touch is fading though my memory lingers on. Still your heart and calm your mind, if tears must flow and pain Must grow, mourn me with grace, I’ve finished my race. I know disdain has spoken and heartache’s had its say, In spite of what seems hopeless this is what I must pray: Still your heart and calm your mind, if tears must flow and pain Must grow, mourn me with grace, I’ve finished my race. Weep not for me, weep not for me. I have seen my struggles cease, I have seen my fight’s end, I have found my way home.

Yehuda Yannay (b. 1937) “Le Campane di Leopardi” …Viene il vento recando il suon dell’ora Dalla torre del borgo. Era conforto Questo suon, mi remembra, alle mi notti, Quando fanciullo, rella buia stanza, Per assidui terrori io vigilava, Sospirando il mattin…

… The tolling of the hour is carried by the wind From the town-belfry. It was the sound that comforted me, As I remember, during those terribe nights Of boyhood, when I lay awake in my dark room, Filled with fright, longing for the dawn…

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) “Alles nur nach Gottes Willen,” BWV 72

1. Chor

1. Chorus

2. Rezitativ und Arioso

2. Recitative and Arioso (Alto)

O selger Christ, der allzeit seinen Willen In Gottes Willen senkt, es gehe wie es gehe, Bei Wohl und Wehe. Herr, so du willt, so muß sich alles fügen! Herr, so du willt, so kannst du mich vergnügen! Herr, so du willt, verschwindet meine Pein! Herr, so du willt, werd ich gesund und rein!

O blessed Christian, who always sinks his will in God's will, be it as it may,

Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, So bei Lust als Traurigkeit, So bei gut als böser Zeit. Gottes Wille soll mich stillen Bei Gewölk und Sonnenschein. Alles nur nach Gottes Willen! Dies soll meine Losung sein.

Herr, so du willt, wird Traurigkeit zur Freude! Herr, so du willt, find ich auf Dornen Weide! Herr, so du willt, werd ich einst selig sein! Herr, so du willt, - laß mich dies Wort im Glauben fassen

Everything according to God's will alone, in joy as in sorrow, in good times as in bad. God's will shall calm me among clouds or sunshine. Everything according to God's will alone! This shall be my salvation.

in prosperity or woe. Lord, as you will, so must everything occur! Lord, as you will, you can content me! Lord, as you will, my pain will diminish! Lord, as you will, I will become whole and pure! Lord, as you will, sorrow will become joy! Lord, as you will, I will find pasture among thorns! Lord, as you will, I will one day be blessed! Lord, as you will - let me seize upon this word in faith

Und meine Seele stillen! Herr, so du willt, so sterb ich nicht, Ob Leib und Leben mich verlassen, Wenn mir dein Geist dies Wort ins Herze spricht!

and quiet my soul! Lord, as you will, I will not die, though body and life abandon me, if Your spirit speaks this word in my heart!

3. Arie

3. Aria (Alto)

Mit allem, was ich hab und bin, Will ich mich Jesu lassen, Kann gleich mein schwacher Geist und Sinn Des Höchsten Rat nicht fassen; Er führe mich nur immer hin Auf Dorn- und Rosenstraßen!

With everything that I have and am, I entrust myself to Jesus, although my weak spirit and mind

4. Rezitativ

4. Recitative (Bass)

So glaube nun! Dein Heiland saget: Ich wills tun! Er pflegt die Gnadenhand Noch willigst auszustrecken, Wenn Kreuz und Leiden dich erschrecken, Er kennet deine Not und löst dein Kreuzesband. Er stärkt, was schwach, Und will das niedre Dach Der armen Herzen nicht verschmähen, Darunter gnädig einzugehen.

Then believe now! Your Savior says: I will do it! He is accustomed to stretch out his gracious hand still willingly, if suffering and sorrow frighten you, he knows your need and releases your bonds of torment. He strengthens what is weak, and will not scorn the lowly roofs of poor hearts, entering into them graciously.

5. Arie

5. Arie (Soprano)

Mein Jesus will es tun, er will dein Kreuz versüßen. Obgleich dein Herze liegt in viel Bekümmernissen, Soll es doch sanft und still in seinen Armen ruhn, Wenn ihn der Glaube faßt; mein Jesus will es tun!

My Jesus will do it, he will sweeten your cross.

cannot grasp the plan of the Highest; He may lead me always through paths of thorns and roses!

Although your heart lies in many troubles, yet it will rest gently and softly in his arms, when faith grasps this: my Jesus will do it!

6. Choral

6. Chorale

Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit, Sein Will, der ist der beste, Zu helfen den'n er ist bereit, Die an ihn glauben feste. Er hilft aus Not, der fromme Gott, Und züchtiget mit Maßen. Wer Gott vertraut, fest auf ihn baut, Den will er nicht verlassen.

What my God wills always occurs, his will is the best, he is ready to help those who believe firmly in him. He gives aid in need, this righteous God, and punishes with measure. Who trusts in God, relies upon him firmly, God will never abandon.

Composer Bios Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is now considered to be the most significant composer of the German High Baroque. Although he was a lifelong Lutheran (he would have said “Evangelical”) church musician, he easily adapted to apply for work at Catholic royal chapels (like Dresden), cosmopolitan courts (Brandenburg), and to complete “Lutheran” masses in Latin for services that were otherwise dominated by German-language readings and four-part congregational hymns. Due to his interest in Italianate concerted music, his cantatas reach a virtuosic highpoint for professional eighteenthcentury choirs of men and boys and church orchestras. Margaret Bonds (1913-1972) grew up in Chicago to parents who were prolific writers and Civil Rights activists. Since her childhood home was a center for Black singers and composers, she pursued music professionally, playing in Chicago supper clubs, earning three degrees in music from Northwestern, and studying with Ned Rorem. She moved to New York City in the 1930s, studying at Juilliard and forming a lifelong artistic partnership with Langston Hughes. She was an active composer of musicals, orchestral music, and spirituals. Saunder Choi (b. 1988) is an active Los Angeles-based Filipino composer and choral artist. As an arranger and orchestrator, Choi has written for Tony-Award winner Lea Salonga and orchestras on three continents. He was a finalist for the 2012 and 2015 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award and was one of the five composition fellows at the 2016 Big Sky Choral Initiative, where he worked with the Grammy-award winning choir, The Crossing. An alumnus of Berklee and USC, he has sung on Disney soundtracks with the LA Choral Lab, and is a teaching artist for the Los Angeles Master Chorale. R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) was born near Niagara Falls, Canada (an exit point for many on the Underground Railroad). His grandparents came from Maryland and Virginia. As a teenager, Dett played piano at church, the Niagara Falls Country Club, and the Cataract Hotel, where he was discovered and given a full ride to Oberlin. He became the first African American to graduate from there with majors in piano and composition (1908) and was a founder of the Hampton Institute (now University) School of Music in Virginia. As founding conductor of the Hampton Choir, he enjoyed success on tours to the Library of Congress, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Hall (Boston), the White House (both for Hoover and Roosevelt), and in a 1930 Pathé film in Paris. He studied at Harvard from 19191920, where he won prizes for his composition Don't Be Weary, Traveler and for his thesis Negro Music. Dett’s major works include The Ordering of Moses, an oratorio submitted as his master’s thesis at the Eastman School of Music, Chariot Jubilee, and dozens of arrangements of spirituals, most written for Hampton. Jonathan Dove CBE (b. 1959) is one of contemporary Britain’s leading operatic composers and a recipient of frequent choral commissions from British colleges and cathedrals. After studying music at Cambridge under Robin Holloway, he began his career as a professional arranger for the English Touring Opera and the City of Birmingham Touring Opera. He directed the Spitalfields Festival

(2001-2006) and has created close to twenty new English operas. His airport-comedy Flight (1998) was featured at Glyndebourne and has achieved international success. Dove’s larger choral works are modal and rhythmic, evoking Stravinsky’s neoclassicism. The Passing of the Year (2000), his seven-part song cycle for double chorus, and his Köthener Messe (2002, presented by Boston’s Chorus pro Musica in 2009), based on motivic fragments and biographical details of Johann Sebastian Bach’s middle years, are significant masterworks of the twentieth-first century. Marcel Duruflé (1902-1986) belongs to that improbably large group of major French composers who were also organists. Like Fauré, his early training was in church music, having studied at the Rouen Cathedral choir school until he was sixteen. He entered the Conservatoire in 1920, winning firsts in five subjects and assisting Paris’ most prominent organists (Tournemire at St. Clothilde and Vierne at Notre Dame Cathedral), eventually serving as organist at St. Étienne-du-Mont until the end of his life. He joined the faculty of the Conservatoire in 1942, first substituting for Dupré in his organ class and the next year as Professor of Harmony. Between his demanding concert and teaching schedules and his extremely self-critical nature, he composed only about a dozen pieces, most adapting Gregorian chant. Jocelyn Hagen (b. 1980) is an alumna of St. Olaf and the University of Minnesota. A professional songwriter and accompanist, she specializes in contemporary art song and has received composition grants from ASCAP, American Composers Forum, the Yale Glee Club, and the ACDA. She is Artist-inResidence at the North Dakota State University School of Music, where she teaches, writes curriculum, and brings in collaborators to perform her work. George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) gained an international following after relocating to England in the early 1700s, becoming a citizen, and anglicizing his name to match that of the new King George I (his former employer). Building on years of travel and study in Italy, Handel developed a unique approach to the British choral music: many of his famous anthems and oratorio movements find their roots in earlier Italian compositions, full of virtuosity and fiery coloratura designed to inspire listeners to heights of emotion. All of his works were commissioned, with notable patrons including Roman cardinals, Lord Chandos, and four generations of British monarchs. Christopher H. Harris (b. 1980) is a baritone soloist, choral composer, and Director of Choral Studies at Arkansas Tech University. His choirs have performed for ACDA conventions, and he is the founder of the Houston Master Singers. Recently Harris was honored through the selection of his music for performance by the 2018 Texas All-State Mixed Choir, the 2018 Southwest ACDA Men’s Honor Choir, the 2018 Arkansas Intercollegiate Choir, and the 2019 Arkansas All-State Mixed Choir, and New York All-State Mixed Choir. James MacMillan (b. 1959) is internationally active as a conductor and is the BBC Philharmonic’s Composer/Conductor. He directs the Philharmonia Orchestra’s Music of Today series and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Discovery series. After reading music at Edinburgh University and taking Doctoral studies in composition at Durham University, he settled in Glasgow, where he teaches part time at the Royal Scottish National Academy of Music and Drama. His strongly held religious beliefs and community concerns inform both the spirit and subject matter of his music.

Knut Nystedt (1915-2014) was Norway’s leading choral composer, founding the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir in 1950 and creating a huge body of sacred works. He serves as organist for the Torshov Church in Oslo (1946-1982) and taught choral conducting at the University of Oslo from 1964-1985. Key works include the De Profundis (1965), symphony Apocalypsis Joannis for soloists, choir and orchestra (1998), The Word Became Flesh, (2001), and Reach Out for Peace for soprano, choir and orchestra (2001). He was the first Norwegian composer to be nominated for a Grammy (Immortal Nystedt, 2005). Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) was a true cosmopolitan. His early fascination with the impressionism of Ravel and Debussy was tempered by his friendship with Erik Satie, from whom he learned much about the use of economy and surprise in music. Known as a leading wit of the Parisian artistic and social scene, he was ambivalent about his early spiritual life, but the death of a close friend in an automobile accident in 1936 prompted him to return to the Roman Catholic faith of his childhood. Thereafter, he composed many deeply religious choral works; his interest in the motet form highlights his pursuit of tradition, but his music is by no means traditionalist. Alec Roth (b. 1948) is an alumnus of the University of Durham and the Academy of Indonesian Performing Arts in Java, where he focused on the gamelan. He is best known for his collaborations with the Indian writer Vikram Seth, which include the opera Arion and the Dolphin, the BBC Proms commission Earth and Sky for children’s choir, and numerous songs and song-cycles. Between 2006 -2009 he completed a sequence of four major works in collaboration with Seth and violinist Philippe Honoré, co-commissioned by the Salisbury, Chelsea and Lichfield Festivals: the second, a pair of works—Shared Ground for unaccompanied choir and Ponticelli for solo violin—was premiered in 2007 and marked the beginning of his ongoing fruitful relationship with Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore. Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) helped to introduce Italian Baroque style into German music. He sang soprano in the Dresden Court Chapel choir and served as Kapellmeister in Weimar and Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church (directing choral music, composing and teaching Latin). His Cantional oder Gesangbuch Augburgischer Konfession (1627) includes about 200 harmonized chorales, and his Cymbalum Sionium (1615) contains thirty instrumental motets in the rich Venetian style. Schein’s Banchetto musicale (1617) is an outstanding collection of early Baroque dance suites. Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) was the outstanding German composer of the seventeenth century, a crucial precursor to Bach, and a master of the large concerted (accompanied) church motet. He spent time in Venice (1609-1613 as Gabrieli’s student and 1628-1629 as Monteverdi’s) and was the Elector of Saxony’s court composer on and off for almost fifty years. Preferring a modal approach to harmony, his progressive, monumental Venetian-style Symphoniae sacrae, the Psalms of David, and the moving Seven Last Words on the Cross gave way to a simpler style due to the devastation wrought by the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648).

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) is a New York-based musician—vocalist, violinist, composer, and producer— who performs in solo and collaborative projects. She was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for Partita for 8 Voices, written for the Grammy-winning Roomful of Teeth, of which she is a member. Shaw studied at Rice, Yale, and Princeton, currently teaches at NYU, and is a Creative Associate at the Juilliard School. She has held residencies at Dumbarton Oaks, the Banff Centre, Music on Main, and the Vail Dance Festival. Brandon Waddles (b. 1988), a Detroit native, holds degrees from Morehouse, Westminster Choir College, and Florida State University. In 2019, he was the inaugural recipient of the ACDA Diverse Voices Collaborative Grant, and his choral music is widely performed. In addition, he has worked as a church musician and transcriber of Black gospel music for numerous choral octavos, hymnals and hymnal supplements published by GIA, including his recent work as a contributing editor for the One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism hymnal. Brandon recently released Just In Case You’ve Forgotten, the first selected compendium of works by the late Thomas Whitfield, the subject of his dissertation. Yehuda Yannay (b. 1937) is a Romanian-born Israeli composer who studied at Brandeis, Tanglewood, and the University of Illinois (with a dissertation on Varèse and Ligeti). He is an Emeritus Professor of Music for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and he has remained attentive to avant-garde innovations such as graphic notation, “open-ended forms”, serialism, and the use of technology to explore and create new sounds. His choral music is imbued with historical references to his childhood (surviving the Holocaust), his family’s immigration to Israel in 1951, and his Fulbright studies in America in the 1960s. He was the youngest composer to be published by the Israel Music Institute, and the first Israeli to win a Fulbright Fellowship in Music Composition.

Composer Bios by Laura Prichard

Chamber Series Allison Voth Chamber Series Director

Cantata Singers’ popular Chamber Series offers a pair of thought-provoking, engaging, and memorable concerts that complement our season’s theme, Emergent! Led by distinguished pianist, coach, programmer, and collaborator Allison Voth and performed by members of Cantata Singers, the two programs celebrate nature and our collective return to it as a source of comfort and restoration during the pandemic. As we emerge from the challenges and celebrate a return to live music, the life-affirming qualities of water and the beauty of the seasons remind us that life continues. We’re sure you’ll marvel at the vast array of composers Ms. Voth has selected, highlighting the depth and breadth of the human experience. The concerts take place at the Longy School of Music’s Pickman Hall and the historic Follen Congregational Church (Lexington, MA).

WATER: Life, Death, Joy and Sorrow Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 8 p.m. / Longy School of Music Sunday, January 30, 2022 at 3 p.m. / Follen Community Church Water: Life, Death, Joy and Sorrow is a program which reminds us that water is essential to life, and that like water, fluidly adapting to life’s challenges allows us to emerge victorious, even when facing the most trying of circumstances. This concert features works by Undine Smith Moore, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Cécile Chaminade, Claude Debussy, Francis Poulenc, Kurt Weill, Edgar Elgar, John Musto, Kamala Sankaram, Frances Pollock, Lee Hoiby, Jenni Pinnock, Margaret Bonds, Shawn Okpebholo, and more.

THE SEASONS: Life Through the Lens of Nature Friday, April 8, 2022 at 8 p.m. / Follen Community Church Saturday, April 9, 2022 at 3 p.m. / Longy School of Music Centered around Valerie Capers's cycle Song of the Seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and including a vast representation of composers, THE SEASONS: Life Through the Lens of Nature is a program of comfort, featuring works by Dominick Argento, George Walker, Libby Larsen, Samuel Barber, Valerie Capers, Charles Butterworth, Ned Rorem, Ivor Gurney, Ronald Stevenson, William Hundley, John Musto, William Bolcom, Julian Hall, and William Grant Still.

Cantata Singers gratefully appreciates the support of our 2021-22 season sponsors.

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