Music You Can See:
2016-2017 Season
Missa De Sancto Donatiano
Friday, October 14, 2016
Saturday, October 15, 2016
First Church, Cambridge
First Lutheran Church, Boston
Our season opens with a recreation of the premiere of the Missa De Sancto Donatiano by Jacob Obrecht (1457-1505), first performed on 14 October, 1487. The concert will include information on the context and composition of the Mass by renowned Obrecht scholar M. Jennifer Bloxam (Williams College), as well as images of artwork, people, and places associated with this historic masterwork. We are pairing the music of Obrecht with three pieces by renowned Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, who died on July 27, 2016 at the age of 87.
Missa De Sancto Donatiano — Jacob Obrecht (1457-1505)
Gloria (Missa brevis) — Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928 – 2016)
Credo (1972) — Rautavaara
Troparion and Hymn (Vigilia) — Rautavaara
Secret Angels: A Holiday Concert
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Old South Church, Boston
Our holiday concert takes the theme of Secret Angels who are seen and not seen. With music by John Tavener, Adrian Peacock, Francis Poulenc and others, the concert is loosely based on the traditional service of Nine Lessons and Carols. It includes carols for choir and congregation using the fine organ in Old South Church, and an international selection of sacred and secular carols to get you into the holiday spirit!
O come all ye faithful — Trad. (arr. David Hill)
Venite, gaudente! — Adrian Peacock
Denn Er hat seinen Engeln befohlen — Felix Mendelssohn
The angel Gabriel from heaven came — Traditional Basque Carol (arr. Edgar Pettman)
Illuminare Jerusalem — Judith Weir
The first nowell — Trad. (arr. James O'Donnell)
Angelus ad pastores ait —Claudio Monteverdi
Angels we have heard on high — Traditional French Carol (arr. Howard Helvey)
Quem vidistis pastores? —Francis Poulenc
Angels from the realms of glory — Henry Smart (arr. Dan Forrest)
In the bleak midwinter —Gustav Holst (arr. Ola Gjeilo)
Lux arumque — Eric Whitacre
Rocking (from Ex Maria Virgine) — John Tavener
Coventry Carol — Traditional English carol (arr. Richard Allain)
The holly and the ivy — Traditional English Carol (arr. Ola Gjeilo)
Hark! The herald angels sing — Trad. (arr. Christopher Robinson)
Carol of the bells — Mykola Leontovich
Jingle bells — J. Pierpont (arr. Ralph Allwood)
Kaleidoscope: Changes in Pattern and Color
Saturday, March 25, 2017
First Church, Cambridge
We’re adding another sense to this experience with the world’s first 'scratch and sniff' choral concert, and ‘son et lumiere’ performance of color-themed works brought to life with computer-aided projections. The music will include pieces by Whitacre, Cage, Messiaen, and MacMillan.
Dover Beach Revisited — Dominick Argento
My Bonnie Lass — P.D.Q. Bach
Ballad of Green Broom (from Five Flower Songs) — Benjamin Britten
4:33 — John Cage
O my love is like a red, red rose — Traditional Scottish (arr. Simon Carrington)
Stars — Ēriks Ešenvalds
Rechant 1 (from Cinq Rechants) — Olivier Messaien
Clear Evening — Donald M. Skirvin
Quick! We have but a second — Charles Villiers Stanford
The Bluebird — Charles Villiers Stanford
Eonia — John Tavener
Tuul konnumaa kohal (Wind over the barrens) — Veljo Tormis
Kanarbik (Heather) — Veljo Tormis
A boy and a girl — Eric Whitacre
With a lily in your hand — Eric Whitacre
Jasmine (from The Jasmine Arrow Sutra) — Forrest Pierce
Cosmos
Thursday, May 11 & 18, 2018
Sunday May 14, 2018
Hayden Planetarium, Museum of Science, Boston
We're pleased that our fourth concert this season returns to the Charles Hayden Planetarium at Boston’s Museum of Science for a visual and aural feast entitled Cosmos. Our music by Ēriks Ešenvalds, Randall Stroope, Robert Schumann, and others will be made visible with animated projections on the planetarium’s dome. The concert will include the world premiere of a new work by Stacy Garrop, winner of our 2016 commission competition.
Twinkle, twinkle little star — Trad. (arr. Dan Elder)
Stars — Ēriks Ešenvalds
Celestial Canticles — Stacy Garrop:
World Premiere, BCE Commission
Northern lights — Ola Gjeilo
Sure on this shining night— Morten Lauridsen
O Oriens — Paweł Łukaszewski
Epitaph for moonlight — R. Murray Schafer
An die Sterne — Robert Schumann
Clear evening (from Stars forever, while we sleep) — Donald Skirvin
How sweet the moonlight — Randall Stroope
Winter stars — Steven Stucky