Friday, July 18, 8:00 pm
The Organ Historical Society
The Organ Historical Society returns to St. James for a Gala Concert concluding the society’s national convention in Seattle.
Cathedral Organist, Joseph Adam will featuring the 1907 Hutchings-Votey organ in the West Gallery in the premiere of a new work
by organist and composer Timothy Tikker. The Organ Historical Society awarded its prestigious Historic Organ Citation to the
Hutchings-Votey when the group met in Seattle in 1982.
The Organ Historical Society website
Timothy Tikker's Biography
Sunday, July 27, 8:00 pm
Tudor Choir & Tallis Scholars
The world-renowned Tallis Scholars return to St. James for the fourth consecutive year joined by members of Seattle's Tudor Choir. This opening concert begins the week-long Tallis Scholars Summer School. Information www.tudorchoir.org
Friday, August 1, 8:15 pm
The Tallis Scholars
The Tallis Scholars are joined by participants of their week-long Tallis Scholars Summer School in a closing gala concert in the splendid acoustics of St. James Cathedral. Information www.tudorchoir.org
Past Concerts
Sunday, September 23, 7:30 pm
Cantate Deo
On Sunday, September 23rd, at 7:30pm, the Polish Catholic Community will present an evening of music by Cantate Deo Men's Chorus, of St. Mary's Cathedral in Koszalin, Poland. The choir is on their first ever U.S. tour to Seattle, New York, and Chicago. Cantate Deo was established in 1989 as one of the choirs of the 14th century Gothic St Mary's Cathedral in Koszalin. The choir is conducted by Professor Przemyslaw Palka, who has been conducting the choir since November 2003. Call 206-755-9813 for more information. Free-will offering. No advance passes or reserved seats.
Sunday, October 14, 11:30 am
City Cantábile Choir
Fred West will conduct the dramatic mass setting from Argentine composer, Maestro Ariel Ramirez, Misa Criolla. Movements of the work will be sung as part of the prelude to and during the the 12:00 Noon Mass. Written by contemporary Argentinian composer, Ariel Ramírez, the Misa Criolla is unique in that it combines the rhythms and traditions of Hispanic America with the traditional religious mass. Composed in 1963, this popular choral work incorporates a variety of Argentinian folk styles ranging from the lively dance, “carnavalito”, for the “Gloria” to the obsessing and almost exasperating rhythm of the “chacerera trunca” for the “Credo” portion. The “Agnus Dei” and “Kyrie” take on the “pampas” style; intimate, tender and solemn, while the “Sanctus” features the “carnaval cochabambino,” a beautiful Bolivian folk rhythm. Free and open to the public.
Saturday, October 27, 8:00 pm
The Tudor Choir
The Tudor Choir performs Western Wind: Music of Renaissance England, featuring the Western Wind mass by Tudor composer John Taverner, in this hour-long performance. Suggested donation $20, students and seniors pay as able. Advance passes available from The Tudor Choir website.
Friday, November 2, 7:30 pm
All Souls Requiem
St. James Cathedral continues a decades long tradition of presenting Mozart’s sublime masterpiece in its intended setting,
the solemn chanted Mass for the Dead. The ancients chants of the mass will be sung by
The Very Reverend Michael G. Ryan, and Cathedral Lectors. The Cathedral Choir of St. James directed by James Savage with the
Cathedral Soloists--Lisa Cardwell Ponten, soprano; Kathryn Weld, mezzo soprano; Howard Fankhauser, tenor; Norman Smith, bass;
the Cathedral Chamber Orchestra—Ilkka Talvi, concert master; The Cathedral Men’s Chant Choir; and Joseph Adam, organ.
Free-will offering.
Information www.stjames-cathedral.org/music
Sunday, November 11, 3:00 pm
St. Cecilia Festival at St. Cecilia Parish on Bainbridge Island
Cathedral Soloists Ya-Li Lee Cheng, Lisa Cardwell Pontén, and Kathryn Weld with our young women’s choir Jubilate! premiere the St. Cecilia Cantata by the Northwest composer, Patrick Stoyanovich at St. Cecilia Parish on Bainbridge Island. Information call St. Cecilia Parish at 206-842-3594.
Saturday, November 17, 8:00 pm
Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera & Oratorio
Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo (Rome, 1600) Stephen Stubbs, Musical Director; Anna Mansbridge, Stage Director;
with Maxine Eilander, Baroque Harp; Margriet Tindemans, Nancy Zylstra. The story Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo is allegorical.
The Anima (Soul) holds a dialogue with the Corpo (Body) about the meaning of life. While the Soul longs for lasting peace and
contentment, the Body inclines to the immediate pleasures of this life. The choir functions as a sort of heavenly Greek chorus,
urging the soul to follow its higher destiny, while several embodiments of the world and its pleasures, known as World, Earthly Life,
and Pleasure continue to entice and confuse both Body and Soul. The decisive moment comes when Body and Soul are allowed to witness
the tortures of the Damned Souls in Hell and the eternal contentment of the Blessed Souls in heaven.
The original print of Cavalieri’s Anima et Corpo contains a wealth of information about the way it was performed. First and most
important is the composer’s statement that this sort of music “inspires the various emotions: pity, joy, grief and laughter”, and that
to attain this goal the singers must “sing with feeling, sometimes loud sometimes soft, and express the words so well that they can be
understood, accompanying them with gestures and movements that can help move the emotions.”
No better description could be made of the intentions of the “Seattle Academy of Baroque Opera and Oratorio” which presents this
performance. SABO & O is a development of the Accademia d’Amore opera workshop which has been presented for the last two summers
in Seattle. To do justice to Cavalieri’s injunction, this performance will bring together a group of specialist singers, instrumentalists
and dancers under the musical directorship of Stephen Stubbs and the stage direction of Anna Mansbridge.
Soloists:
Anima: Amanda Jane Kelly
Angelo Custode: Sarah Mattox
Vita Mondana: Susan Salas
Intelletto: Ross Hauck
Corpo: Douglas Williams
Mondo /Tempo: Charles Robert Stephens
Consiglio: David Stutz
For more information go to
brownpapertickets.com or you can call 1-800-838-3006 to reserve your passes.
Sunday, December 2, 7:30 pm
Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble - Mother and Child
Sacred Choral Music for Advent with St. James Resident Ensemble Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble; Loren Pontén, Founder and Musical Director. For more information, please visit www.opus7.org or call 206-782-2899.
Sunday, December 9, 7:30 pm
Joseph Adam, Cathedral Organist
Cathedral Organist Joseph Adam commemorates the centennial of the dedicatory concert of the Cathedral’s West Gallery Hutchings-Votey Organ played by Dr. Franklin Sawyer Palmer, the Cathedral’s first Music Director. Dr. Palmer played his dedicatory concert on December 15, 1907, the first public event to take place in the newly completed Cathedral. The concert will include works by Bach, Handel, Dethier, Franck, Widor and Hakim. Suggested donation $15, students and seniors pay as able. There will be passes available at the door. For information please call 206-382-4874
Saturday, December 15, 8:00 pm
Medieval Women's Choir
This St. James Resident Ensemble will presents Nowell Sing We, with guest conductor Nancy Zylstra, and Cathedral cantor Ann Glusker, soprano soloist. Information www.medievalwomenschoir.org or 206-264-4822.
Sunday, December 16, 7:30 pm
Candlelight, Carols and Cathedral Children
For most of the Cathedral’s history, music by young people has been at the center of our musical offering. The tradition continues with the four extraordinary choirs of the St. James Youth Music Program, Clint Kraus, Director. With Stacey Sunde, conductor, the nearly 100 wonderful youth musicians offer the perfect way to begin the celebration of Christmas with the traditional service of Readings and Carols. Strings, organ, harp, guitar, and percussion will accompany the young musicians in a program of traditional carols from around the world. A carol sing-a-long will conclude with a candlelit congregational singing of Silent Night.
Suggested donation $12, students and seniors pay as able.
Monday, December 24, 10:15 pm
Noel! Noel! Noel!
Organ Carols for the Midnight Mass, Clint Kraus, Cathedral Associate Organist. Free.
Monday, December 31, 11:00 pm
New Year's Eve Gala
St. James New year’s eve gala to feature
festive music of J. S. Bach New Year’s Eve, 11:00 pm, St.
James Cathedral celebrates with trumpets and drums, oboes
and strings, choir and soloists and the glorious music of J.
S. Bach. James Savage, Cathedral Director of Music, conducts
masterpieces and gems from the New Year’s cantatas of Bach.
Featured soloists include Lisa Pontén, Linda Strandberg,
sopranos; Kathryn Weld, mezzo-soprano; Howard Fankhauser,
tenor, Gregory Carroll, baritone, and Norman Smith, bass.
The Cantorei, St. James’ professional choral ensemble,
performs highlights from five of Bach’s works for the end of
the old year and the beginning of the new. The Cathedral
gala, Seattle’s original classical new year’s celebration
will welcome in the New Year with bells and, as always, a
New Year’s Eve surprise. Suggested donation $25, students
and seniors pay as able.
Click here for a list of the specific
cantatas.
(PDF)
Saturday, January 19, 8:00 pm
Messiaen's Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine
"Messiaen (1908-1992) has created a musical language that is highly idiosyncratic. Influenced by mystics like St. John
of the Cross and St. Thérèse de Lisieux, his spirituality permeates all his works...His music can be subsumed under these
themes: God's love as it is extended to the world, and, the glorification of God in bird song (both as a manifestation of
God's love as expressed in nature and of the praise that God's creation offers its creator)." -Dr. Siglind Bruhn in Messiaen's
Language of Mystical Love
Suggested donation $22, students and seniors pay as able.
Pass orders received after 5:00pm on January 16th will be held in will-call.
Also on the program:
- Mozart Fantasia in F Minor for mechanical organ (K. 608)
- Boulez improvisation sur mallarmé
- Messiaen Le Banquet céleste
- Milhaud Suite for the ondes Martenot and Piano
- I. Choral
- II. Sérénade
- III. Impromptu
- IV. Elegie
The video below is of Jean Laurendeau demonstrating the ondes Martenot. Monsieur Laurendeau will be joining 36 of the area's finest sopranos in the Messiaen performance.
Monday, February 4, 7:30 pm
Olivier Latry Masterclass
Tuesday, February 5, 7:30 pm
Olivier Latry Organ Recital
Olivier Latry, titular organist of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, makes his St. James debut. Latry is widely considered one of the most distinguished international organists; his concert tours have taken him to the world’s most notable cathedrals and concert halls. Suggested donation $15, students and seniors pay as able. Information 206-382-4874.
Program information available here.The online store is now closed. There will be hundreds of seats available at the door!
Friday, February 22, 8:00 pm
DVORAK STABAT MATER
Solemn Stations of the Cross
James Savage conducts the Cathedral Choir of St. James, Cathedral Soloists Ya-Li Lee Cheng, soprano; Kathryn Weld, mezzo-soprano; Howard Fankhauser, tenor; Gregory Carroll, baritone; and Norman Smith, bass; with Cathedral Organist Joseph Adam, in this monumental setting of the lenten sequence Stabat Mater. The Very Reverend Michael G. Ryan, presider. Free-will offering.
Friday, March 7, 8:15 pm & Saturday, March 8, 8:00 pm
Seattle Pro Musica; Karen P. Thomas, Musical Director.
Cathedral Resident Ensemble, Seattle Pro Musica will perform J.S. Bach's powerful settings of great Lenten prayers and Psalms, including Psalms 88, 137, 122, 51. With Cathedral Organist, Joseph Adam. For more information and reserve passes, visit www.seattlepromusica.org or call 206-781-2766
Wednesday, March 19, 7:30 pm
Tenebrae
The ancient service of darkness, the exquisite gamba playing of Margriet Tindemans, the purity of one, two, and three soprano voices, men chanting in the darkening Cathedral, culminate in Allegri’s famous Miserere. Cathedral sopranos Ann Glusker, Lisa Cardwell Pontén, Linda Strandberg, and Stacey Sunde and the Cathedral Chant Choir, James Savage, director. The Very Reverend Michael G. Ryan, presider. Free-will offering.
Friday, March 21, 12 Noon
Tre Ore
The Cathedral’s Young Women’s Ensemble Jubilate! and members of the Cathedral Chamber Orchestra perform Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater during the traditional Good Friday service of music and preaching. James Savage, conductor, Clint Kraus, organ. Reverend Patrick Howell, SJ, preacher. Free-will offering.
Saturday, April 12, 8:00 pm
Opus 7
St. James Resident Ensemble Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble presents two of the most moving musical pleas for peace written in recent times: Britten's Cantata Misericordium and Dona Nobis Pacem for choir and strings by Latvian composer Peteris Vasks. With the St. James Cathedral chamber Orchestra, Cathedral Soloists Howard Fankhauser and Gregory Carroll, and Cathedral Organist Joseph Adam. Also music by Jeffrey Van, Johannes Brahms, Josef Rheinberger, Charles Ives, Pierre Villette and Sir Edward Elgar. Loren Pontén, Director. For more information, visit www.opus7.org or call 206-782-2899.
Sunday, April 13, 8:00pm
Madeleine Cathedral School Choir
The Choir of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Salt Lake City, Utah Directed by former St.
James Parishioner Greg Glenn, the choir, of professional singers and students from The Madeleine
Choir School (K-8), will sing a varied sacred program for Eastertide including works by
Palestrina, Bach, Tallis, Bruckner, Holst, Britten and Pärt.
For more information call 206-382-4874 or musicoffice@stjames-cathedral.org.
Read more about The Madeleine Choir
school at www.madeleinechoirschool.org.
Friday, May 16, 8:15 pm & Saturday, May 17, 8:00 pm
Seattle Pro Musica
St. James Resident Ensemble Seattle Pro Musica; Karen P. Thomas, Musical Director, presents two
performances of Rachmaninov's Vespers. This moving, timeless choral masterpiece is based on ancient
Russian chant, and considered the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox church. With
its enormous range of color and virtuoso choral writing, the Vespers exemplifies Rachmaninov's
authoritative use of choral orchestration and truly expresses the voice of the human heart.
For more information, visit www.seattlepromusica.org or call 206-781-2766.
All Parish Choir Sunday
Sunday, June 1 10:00am
St. James parish is known far and wide as a great singing assembly. Sunday, June 1 at 10:00 am you will have your opportunity to really celebrate in our annual All-Parish Choir Sunday. Old voices-young voices; trained-untrained; in-tune singers and in-their-own-tune singers—all are welcome. Sunday June 1, 10:00 am. Rehearsal Thursday, May 29, 7:30 pm in the Cathedral. Information musicoffice@stjames-cathedral.org; 206-382-4874.