Resonance - Venetian Masters
Seattle Pro Musica
Saturday & Sunday May 19 & 20, 2012, 8:00 pm
This concert features Spem in Alium, Thomas Tallis’ famous motet for 40 individual voices, with eight choirs positioned around the audience. Also included are polychoral motets for choirs and brass by the Venetian masters Monteverdi and Gabrieli, as well as new works for antiphonal choirs. Karen P. Thomas, Artistic Director. Information 206-781-2766 or www.seattlepromusica.org
Tallis Scholars Summer School
Sunday, July 22, 2012 8:00 pm
Tudor Choir & Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips & Doug Fullington, Conductors
Wednesday, July 25, 2012 5:30 pm
Mass with Renaissance Polyphony
Tallis Scholars Summer School Chorus, Peter Phillips, Conductor
Friday, July 27, 2012 8:00 pm
Sacred Music of the Renaissance
Tallis Scholars Summer School Chorus, Peter Phillips, Conductor. Information 206-323-9415 or www.tsss.uk.com
August 1-7, 2012
Medieval Institute
Chant and Early Polyphony of the Camino de Santiago
(Margriet Tindemans and Fr. Anthony Ruff)
The Medieval Institute will explore the repertoire of the now lost Codex Calixtinus, and the repertoire developed along the Camino de Santiago. Director Margriet Tindemans will lead an outstanding faculty offering classes on vocal and instrumental technique, Gregorian chant, polyphony of the Codex Calixtinus and of the Aquitanian and Notre Dame schools, Alfonso X and the Cantigas de Santa Maria, and Instruments in the Cantigas de Santa Maria. Students will have several chances to experience the use of chant and polyphony in services at St. James Cathedral. Faculty: Margriet Tindemans, Director, with Fr. Anthony Ruff, Laurie Monahan & Eric Mentzel.
Institute Events: Faculty concerts: Friday, August 3, and Sunday, August 5, 8pm ($15 suggested donation) Student concert: Tuesday, August 7 Open sings (for all levels): August 1, 2, and 6, 6:30-7:30pm Selected pieces from the repertoire will be explored with Margriet Tindemans. These will be followed by a Compline service with chant, open to all. ($10 suggested donation per open sing.) Afternoon workshop (for all levels): Saturday, August 4, 2-6pm Includes lecture, choir singing, and performance of chants in the 5:30pm Mass at St. James Cathedral Click here for registration materials on the Early Music Guild website .
Past Concerts
Tuesday, October 18, 2011 8:00 pm
Szabolcs Szamosi, organist
St. James Cathedral presents Szabolcs Szamosi, organist of the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul, Pécs, Hungary.
Mr. Szamosi will perform a program featuring works mostly by Hungarian composers including Dezső d’Antalffy,
Liszt, Kodály, Bartók, and Gárdonyi. This event is being co-sponsored by the Seattle-Pécs Sister-City Association
and the Hungarian-American Association of Washington. Suggested donation $15, students and seniors pay as able.
View PDF of program.
Wednesday, November 2, 7:30 pm
All Souls Requiem
James Savage conducts Fauré’s sublime masterpiece in its intended setting,
the solemn chanted Mass for the Dead, on the Feast of All Souls, with the Cathedral Choir, men’s chant choir, Chamber Orchestra,
and Soloists Lisa Cardwell Pontén, soprano; and Norman Smith, bass; with Kathryn Weld, mezzo soprano; Howard Fankhauser, tenor;
and Joseph Adam, organ. The Very Reverend Michael G. Ryan, Pastor of St. James Cathedral, will preside at the mass.
A free-will offering will be taken. There are no reserved seats or advance passes available.
Friday, November 11, 2011 8:00 pm
Dr. Ezequiel Menéndez, organ
St. James Cathedral presents Argentinian organist Ezequiel Menendez on the Cathedral's two grand pipe organs. Dr. Menendez is the Director of Music and Organist of St. Joseph Cathedral, Hartford, CT. Suggested donation $15, students and seniors pay as able. View PDF of Dr. Menendez's program.
Monday, November 14, 2011, 7:30
Organ masterclass with Fréderic Blanc
Madre de las Americas
Saturday, December 3, 2011 12:10 pm
Archdiocese of Seattle Coro Hispanico, Rodolfo López, conductor, with nearly 200 dancers and percussionists from Latin America.
Stile Antico
Puer natus est: Tudor Music for Christmas and Advent
Saturday, December 3, 2011 8:00 pm
Stile Antico, the Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble from England rings in the holiday season with a program centered on Thomas Tallis’s magnificent seven-part 'Christmas' Mass, based on the festive plainchant Puer natus est ('A boy is born'), first performed in December 1554 by the combined choirs of the Spanish and English Chapels Royal. Stile Antico is known for their passionate performances of impeccable intonation and clarity. Co-sponsored by St. James Cathedral and the Early Music Guild. For passes call the Early Music Guild at 206-325-7066 or visit www.earlymusicguild.org.
Simbang Gabi
Traditional Filipino lantern festival
Saturday, December 10, 2011 11:00 am
Fil-Am Choir, Carmen Pelayre, Director
St. Nicolas Celebration
Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble
Saturday, December 10, 2011 8:00 pm
Opus 7, A Cathedral Resident Ensemble, performs Britten's St. Nicolas, with Cathedral Tenor Soloist, Howard Fankhauser; the St. James Cathedral Schola Cantorum and Jubilate! Young Women's Ensemble, and Cathedral Chamber Orchestra. Loren Pontén, Founder and Artistic Director. 206-782-2899 or www.opus7.org.
Northern Lights
Medieval Women's Choir
Saturday, December 17, 2011 8:00 pm
Long before "Silent Night" became popular, the countries with the darkest winter months produced wonderful carols about light and peace: music to celebrate the season from Finland, Denmark, the British Isles, Germany and the Netherlands. With soloist Marian Seibert. Margriet Tindemans, Artistic Director. 206-264-4822 or www.medievalwomenschoir.org.
Readings and Carols
Sunday, December 18, 2011 7:30 pm
The sublime voices of the Cathedral’s children’s choirs, Dr. Clint Kraus, director present the traditional candle-lit service of Readings and Carols, the perfect way to begin the celebration of Christmas. Free-will offering. Information 206-382-4874.
Noël! Noël! Noël!
Saturday, December 24, 2011 10:15 pm
Cathedral Associate Organist Clint Kraus plays French Baroque organ carols as a prelude to the Carol Service and Midnight Mass of Christmas. Free and open to all.
New Year’s Eve Gala
Bach and Mendelssohn
Saturday, December 31, 2011 11:00 pm
St. James Cathedral presents the First Hill church’s 29th annual New Year’s Eve gala. For the first time at these concerts, the New Year’s music of Bach will be paired with tribute compositions of Bach’s fellow Leipziger, Mendelssohn.
Cathedral Music Director, Dr. Savage says “Many concert goers know how important the music of Bach was to his 19th-century successor at Leipzig, Mendelssohn. Our concert will provide an opportunity to hear just how profound Bach’s influence was on Mendelssohn. Choral music for the New Year by both composers focuses on the Arrival of the Three Kings with recitatives for a story teller, chorales for the people and, of course, wonderful trios for the kings.“
Program:
Ave Maria for tenor, eight soloists, choir and orchestra Felix Mendelssohn (1830) Opus 23, No. 2
Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen (For the Sunday after New Year’s) Johann Sebastian Bach (1735) BWV 248 (Christmas Oratorio, Part V)
"The Three Kings" from Christus Mendelssohn (1848) Opus 97
Fuga in Eb for Strings, Mendelssohn (1827) Opus 81, No. 4
Grosse Choral-Vorspiele für die Orgel (Bach) transcribed by Mendelssohn, 1846
Three choruses from Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele Cantata for New Years Bach(?) BWV 143
And as always a Mid-night Surprise.
Performers:
Soloists
Lisa Cardwell Pontén, soprano
Linda Strandberg, soprano
Rebekah Gilmore, soprano
Kathryn Weld, mezzo soprano
Stacey Sunde, mezzo soprano
Christine Knachstedt, mezzo soprano
Howard Fankhauser, tenor
David Hoffman, tenor
Thomas Thompson, baritone
Norman Smith, bass
Steven Tachel, bass
Joseph Adam, Cathedral Organist
Clint Kraus, Cathedral Associate Organist
Cathedral Chamber Orchestra
James Savage, conductor
Call 206-382-4874 for more information.
Cappella Romana
Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil, Opus 37.
Saturday, January 7, 2012 8:00 pm
For the first time in its twenty-year history, Cappella Romana sings in its entirety the monumental All-Night Vigil (the so-called “Vespers”) by Sergei Rachmaninoff. Scored for large chorus and soloists, his Vigil is today widely regarded as the outstanding masterpiece of the Russian choral tradition.Alexander Lingas, Founding Artistic Director. 503-927-9027 or www.cappellaromana.org.
Prophets
Friday & Saturday, January 13 & 14, 2012 8:00 pm
St. James Cathedral is proud to present a staged, costumed, evocatively lit evening of sung retellings of the Hebrew hero stories—Abraham and Isaac, Job, Jeptha, and The Denial of St. Peter, with the music of Baroque masters, Carissimi and Charpentier. The acclaimed singers and instrumentalists of Pacific MusicWorks, directed by lutanist Stephen Stubbs, will perform the four compelling stories in the glorious architecture of St. James with staging by internationally known director, Guillaume Bernadi. www.pacificmusicworks.org.
The Spirit of Prophecy
January 13 - February 19, 2012, art exhibit in St. James Cathedral Chapel
In conjunction with the Prophets concert, the art of five contemporary artists will be shown in the Cathedral Chapel: Alfonse Borysewicz, Laura Lasworth, Christen Mattix, Barry Moser, and Natalie Niblack. Each of the artists is known for addressing spiritual themes in works which range from large-scale oils to intimate woodcuts and mixed media sculpture. Several of the artists will be present in the Cathedral Chapel during intermission and following the concert on January 13.
Youth Music Festival
Saturday, February 4, 2012, 1:00 pm
Nearly 200 young singers from Seattle area churches gather at St. James for this day-long festival of music-making, culminating in a free public concert at 1:00 pm in the Cathedral.
Joseph Adam, Cathedral Organist
Friday, February 17, 2012, 8:00 pm
The ancient music of the church - Gregorian chant - has been a rich source of inspiration for centuries to the greatest composers for the organ. St. James Cathedral Organist JOSEPH ADAM presents chant-based works for the King of Instruments, including Sigfrid Karg-Elert's colorful Cathedral Windows, Charles-Marie Widor's majestic Symphonie gothique, and other works by Scheidemann, Bach, and deGrigny. He will be joined by members of PEREGRINE Medieval Vocal Ensemble under the direction of Bill McJohn. Experience this majestic music played on the magnificent Rosales & Hutchings-Votey organs in the stunning acoustics of St. James Cathedral. $15 suggested donation, students & seniors pay as able, keyboard students get in free. View PDF of program.
Seattle Pro Musica
Bach St. John Passion
Saturday & Sunday March 10 & 11 2011, 8:00 pm
St. James presents one of the greatest treasures of the “Treasury of Sacred Music”-- Bach’s monumental setting of the Passion of Christ according to St. John. Karen P. Thomas conducts soloists, orchestra and the 70 voices of Cathedral Resident Ensemble, Seattle Pro Musica, in Bach’s masterpiece for Lent. This is the first time Bach’s dramatic and moving St. John’s Passion will have been experienced in the world-famous acoustics of St. James. For more information 206-781-2766 or www.seattlepromusica.org
Young Organists Recital
Monday, March 12, 2012, 7:30 pm
St. James Cathedral and the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists present Seattle's rising-star young organists in concert on the Cathedral's two grand pipe organs. Free and open to the public.
From Captivity to the Holy City
Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble
Saturday, March 24 8:00 pm
Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble’s 20th-Anniversary Season continues with a concert of powerful selections of psalms and motets for Lent.
- New Zealand’s Jack Body illustrates the saint’s martyrdom in his dramatic setting of Carol to Saint Stephen.
- Norway’s Egil Hovland tells Saul’s conversion story with narration, organ, and choir
- Poland’s Paweł Łukaszewski celebrates St. Paul with Beatus vir, Sanctus Paulus
- German Romanticism ends the first half with Johannes Brahms’s spectacular motet Warum ist das Licht gegeben. The Italian Ildebrando Pizzetti's De Profundis begins with the lower voices singing "Out of the depths"; the higher voices then enter with the words of hope: “For there is mercy with thee.”
- Soprano Alexandra Johnson, a young singer in St. James’ Schola Cantorum, joins Opus 7 in Crux fidelis by the Director Emeritus of the Sistine Chapel Choir, Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci.
- Music by Britain’s Edgar Bainton, Germany’s Gottfried Homilius, and the Northwest’s Morten Lauridsen rounds out the concert.
Reserved seating is available online at www.opus7.org or by calling 206.782.2899. Suggested donation is $18 in advance, $20 at the door. Students, seniors, and families pay as able. Postcard art design by Michael Kim from an original watercolor by Patrick White.
Palm Sunday Vespers
Sunday, April 1, 2012, 4:00 pm
Jubilate!, St. James Cathedral's young women's ensemble, Stacey Sunde, conductor. Free and open to all.
Office of Tenebrae
Wednesday, April 4, 2012, 7:30 pm
Internationally-respected artist Margriet Tindemans, viola da gamba, joins St. James musicians in the Office of Tenebrae. Experience the purity of one, two, and three soprano voices and the solemnity of men chanting in the darkening cathedral. Among the sublime musical highlights of this year’s Office of Tenebrae are the first and third Leçons de Ténèbres of François Couperin; In monte Oliveti by Marc-Antoine Charpentier, the sublime Miserere mei, Deus by Gregorio Allegri; and instrumental responsories by J. S. Bach and Marin Marais. Tindemans will be joined by Cathedral sopranos Rebekah Gilmore, Lisa Cardwell Pontén, Linda Strandberg, Stacey Sunde & Christine Knackstedt, and the Cathedral Chant Choir, James Savage, director. Joseph Adam, portative organ continuo. The Very Reverend Michael G. Ryan, presider; Dan Jinguji, lector. You do not need a reserved pass for this remarkable evening of beauty and reflection. Free-will offering.
Tre Ore
Friday, April 6, 2012, 12:00 Noon
Jubilate! Young Women's Ensemble sings Pergolesi’s sublime Stabat Mater. A free-will offering will be taken.