Directorâs note
Venue information and reminders
- In the moments before the concert begins, please silence your cell phones and anything else that might beep or buzz. We encourage you to use your phone to view this program during the concertâbut please ensure that it is silenced, and consider turning your screen brightness down as low as is comfortable for you.
- Restrooms are accessible through the door on the left side of the church near the entrance (right side if facing the entrance). The womenâs restroom is located down the stairs and across the room towards the center; the menâs restroom is down the stairs, across the room diagonally at the far right, and then just behind a second, much smaller set of stairs. An accessible restroom, which also serves as an all-gender restroom, is available in the St. Francis Chapel. To access this restroom using a wheelchair, exit the church through the ramp at the entrance, and then proceed back into the church via the door at the lower level of the ramp. (It will be slightly to your right if you are exiting the church via the ramp.) All restrooms are clearly indicated with signage.
Timeline
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Will Todd (b. 1970)
My Lord Has Come
About the work
Text
Called by love and angels;
No place for them but a stable.
My Lord has come.
Sages, searching for stars,
Searching for love in heaven;
No place for them but a stable.
My Lord has come.
His love will hold me,
his love will cherish me,
love will cradle me.
Lead me, lead me to see him,
Sages and shepherds and angels;
No place for me but a stable.
My Lord has come.
Yshani Perinpanayagam (b. 1983)
In Bethlehem Above
About the work
Text
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
In a stall below, a babe fed by a mother loving and brave. The oxen whisper:
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Shepherd, take knee with king. Rejoice!
Heaven and earth resound with his glory, the angels singing:
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Paul Mealor (b. 1975)
Matin Responsory
Performance details
About the work
Text
Go ye out to meet him and say:
Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel?
High and low, rich and poor, one with another.
Go ye out to meet him and say:
Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.
Tell us, art thou he that should come?
Stir up thy strength, O Lord, and come to reign over thy people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
Joanna Marsh (b. 1970)
In Winterâs House
Performance details
About the work
Joanna Marshâs choral setting of Jane Draycottâs poem âIn Winterâs Houseâ was commissioned by Tenebrae as a companion piece to A Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten. The vocal range of the piece sits quite low, calling for an ensemble of altos, tenors, baritones, and basses, which adds to the imagery of a dark, winter scene so beautifully depicted in Draycottâs poem. There is no set, consistent meter, which adds a freedom to the textual expression of the piece. Text painting is used frequently âthe sparse, low harmonies on the text âcold as steel,â a stunning high F major triad on the word âgleams,â and the descending, lilting melody on the word ârainâ are just a few examples.Â
Text
thatâs pale and still as mist in a field
while outside in every street every gateâs shut firm,
every face as cold as steel.
In winterâs house thereâs a bed
that is spread with frost and feathers, that gleams
in the half-light like rain in a disused yard
or a pearl in a choked-up stream.
In winterâs house thereâs a child
asleep in a dream of light that grows out
of the dark, a flame you can hold in your hand
like a flower or a torch on the street.
In winterâs house thereâs a tale
thatâs told of a great chandelier in a garden,
of fire that catches and travels for miles,
of all gates and windows wide open.
In winterâs house thereâs a flame
being dreamt by a child in the night
in the small quiet house at the turn in the lane
where the darkness gives way to light.
Hyo-Won Woo (b. 1974)
O magnum mysterium
About the work
Text
et admirabile sacramentum
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum
jacentem in praesepio!
Beata virgo cujus viscera
meruerunt portare Dominum Christum.
Alleluia.
Translation
and wondrous sacrament
that animals shoudl see the newborn Lord,
lying in a manger.
Blessed [is] the virgin whose womb
merited to carry Christ the Lord.
Alleluia.
Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
Second Eve
About the work
In some of my pieces, the text is somewhat more the servant of the music than the other way around, and Second Eve is one of those works. The music is mainly inspired by a breathtaking photograph taken by one of my favorite photographers, Jake Rajs, featured in the book These United States (Rizzoli). It is a picture of Alaskaâs Mount McKinley, the highest mountain peak in the US, and I was looking at this photo throughout the writing process, making sure that the energy and atmosphere of the music corresponded with the feeling I got from looking at the picture.
The Sancta Maria text seemed to kind of fit into what I was looking for in this piece, expressing something mystical, and kind of regal, which Mount McKinley is in every way.
Text
dulcis et pia, o mater Dei:
ora pro nobis peccatoribus,
ut cum electis [te] videamus.
Ave Maria, gratia plena,
Dominus tecum:
benedicta tu in mulieribus,
et benedictus fructus ventris tui,
Iesus Christus.
Amen.
Translation
gentle and holy, mother of God:
pray for us sinners,
that with the chosen we may see you.
Hail Mary, full of grace;
the Lord is with you:
blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb,
Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Cole Reyes (b. 1998)
Alleluia (The Rose)
Performance details
About the work
Text
There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose which bare Jesu. Alleluia.
For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space. Res miranda. [= Marvelous thing.]
By that rose we may well see
That he is God in persons three. Pares forma. [= Equal in form.]
The angels sungen the shepherds to:
âGloria in excelsis Deo!â Gaudeamus. [= Let us rejoice.]
Now leave we all this worldly mirth
And follow we this joyous birth. Transeamus. [= Let us cross over.]
Intermission 15m
Traditional, arr. Jan Sandström (b. 1954)
Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
Performance details
About the work
Text
aus einer Wurzel zart,
als uns die Alten sungen:
von Jesse kam die Art
und hat ein BlĂŒmlein bracht
mitten im kalten Winter
wohl zu der halben Nacht.
Translation
from a delicate root,
As the old ones sang to us,
From Jesse was the lineage
That brought forth a little flower,
in the midst of cold winter
in the middle of the night.
Elizabeth Poston (1905-1987)
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
Performance details
About the work
Text
Laden with fruit and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.
His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but neâer can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.
For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
âTis found in Christ the apple tree.
Iâm weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest a while;
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.Â
Anthony Esland (b. 1972)
Winter
Performance details
About the work
Text
The cold winds blow,
And shrill on leafless bough
The robin with its burning breast
Alone sings now.
Day's journey done,
Sheds its last ebbing light
On fields in leagues of beauty spread
Unearthly white.
And spark by spark,
The frost-fires kindle, and soon
Over that sea of frozen foam
Floats the white moon.
Libby Croad (b. 1981)
Silent Night
About the work
Text
All is calm, all is bright,
Round yon virgin mother and child;
Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night.
Shepherds quake at the sight,
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ the Savior is born.
Silent night, holy night.
Son of God, loveâs pure light,
Radiant beams from thy holy face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
Dave Dexter (b. 1985)
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Performance details
About the work
Text
Whose woods these are I think I know. Â
Adrian Sims (b. 2000)
Awaken
About the work
Text
dazed spring approachesâ
cold, uncertain of all
save that they enter. All about them
the cold, familiar windâ
the stiff curl of wildcarrot leaf [naked, cold, naked, cold]
One by one objects are definedâ
It quickens: clarity, outline of leaf
entranceâStill, the profound change
has come upon them: rooted, they
grip down and begin to awaken.
Alejandro Consolacion II (b. 1980)
Alleluia
About the work
I first heard Randall Thompsonâs âAlleluiaâ when I was 12 years old. I was greatly affected by the wonderful final measures of the piece, vowing to write my own setting someday. Ten years later, I started crafting a musical response to Thompsonâs composition; it would eventually develop into the piece found within these pages.
In 2002 the Asian Youth Choir premiered my âAlleluiaâ at Pablo Casals Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Later, on the advice of Dr. Joe Miller, the work was revised (to the current edition); the new version was first performed by the Westminster Choir College in late 2013.
Text
Traditional, arr. Desmond Earley (b. 1974)
Auld Lang Syne
Performance details
About the work
Text
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
Weâll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.
And surely youâll buy your pint cup, and surely Iâll buy mine!
And weâll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
Weâll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun âtill dine;
But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
Weâll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.
And thereâs a hand my trusty friend! And giâes a hand oâ thine!
Weâll take a right goodwill draught, for auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne,
Weâll take a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne.