GREAT MUSIC FOR GREAT CATHEDRALS is a celebration of the role Cathedrals have played through the centuries in history, culture, and the arts.  It is the vision of Dr. James Savage, Director of Music, working with lighting designer Linet Henry, and hundreds of musicians, stage crew, altar servers, and many more.

   
This year's program begins with the newest musical addition to the Cathedral: the Robl Organ in the Cathedral Chapel. Cathedral Associate Organist Clint Kraus improvises on the ancient chant, "Veni Sancte Spiritus," "Come, Holy Spirit."

   




Jubilate! Young Women's Ensemble


Light and color highlight the extraordinary architecture of St. James Cathedral

   
The children of the Youth Music Program evoke medieval pilgrims on the road to the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostela.














The children perform a haunting "Kyrie" by Israeli composer Boaz Avni, written for trebles and multiple keyboards.

   

   
Cathedral tenor Howard Fankhauser becomes Peter Abelard, monk, philosopher, poet, and musician.


The Women of St. James Schola become nuns in the community of Abelard's true love, Heloise, for whom he wrote some of his most beautiful music.



   


Strauss' great processional Feierlicher Einzug, first performed in Vienna in 1909, has been part of every production of Great Music since 1986.


The Cathedral Choir of St. James sings Colin Mawby's Ave Verum Corpus.
   



Cathedral servers lead a procession with the Book of the Gospels.


The Play of Daniel is a 12th-century sung drama from the Cathedral of Beauvais.  A youth reader introduces the story in poetry by W.H. Auden.


King Belshazzar's great feast is interrupted by the appearance of mysterious writing on the walls of his palace.  His own wizards are unable to interpret the writing.


The Queen enters with her maidens.




   The Queen tells the king to consult Daniel, the young Hebrew who has a gift for interpreting dreams.




Daniel explains the writing:  The King's reign is weighed in the balance, and found wanting.
Soon, he will fall.


The jealous wizards tell the king that Daniel is praying to the God of Israel, and not to their gods.  He should be thrown to the lions.


Daniel prays for God's help from the midst of the lions.

   
Daniel's friends grieve for him.
   

An angel rescues Daniel from the lions.


The evil wizards are thrown to the lions instead.





INTERMISSION

Part two begins with Naji Hakim's extraordinary Hymn to the Sacred Heart for Organ and Trumpets.


The Women of St. James Schola sing an 8th-century chant,
"Taste and see how good the Lord is."
   

We travel to Notre Dame, Paris, for Couperin's sublime settings of the psalm and antiphons for the Holy Week Office of Tenebrae.




Giovanni Gabrieli, organist of San Marco, Venice, composed magnificent music for brass, performed here by the 16-member Cathedral Brass.

   

   
Guillaume DuFay composed splendid music for the dedication of the Florence Cathedral in 1436. On that occasion, Pope Eugenius IV presented the Cathedral with a golden rose, an altar decoration for the newly dedicated building.  That golden rose is evoked through the extraordinary craftsmanship of Daniel C. Baker of the Cathedral Choir, who also created the headdresses worn by many of the performers in Great Music.








Pianist Angelo Rondello performs Debussy's "The Submerged Cathedral," about a legendary Cathedral of Breton.  The lighting helps us imagine the cathedral underwater, where, legend tells us, the bells continued to ring to summon worshipers to Mass.

   
Verdi's "Laude Alle Vergine Maria"

   
Manuel De Zumaya was Director of Music for the Cathedral of Mexico City. He composed one of the earliest notated pieces honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe, dating from 1711.




The Young Women of Jubilate! sing Mary's praises and offer flowers before the miraculous image of the Virgin.




Great Music for Great Cathedrals 2014 ends with the final scene from Edward Elgar's Oratorio, The Apostles.  Thomas Thompson sings Jesus' parting words: "Lo, I am with you always."





   
G R E A T   M U S I C   F O R   G R E A T   C A T H E D R A L S
AN EVENING OF SOUND AND LIGHT

WITH DIRECTOR JAMES SAVAGE
AND LIGHTING DESIGNER LINET HENRY
NARRATORS ROBERT DAHLSTROM AND CAROLYN GRAVES
CATHEDRAL ORGANIST JOSEPH ADAM
CATHEDRAL ASSOCIATE ORGANIST CLINT KRAUS
THE CATHEDRAL SOLOISTS
LISA CARDWELL PONTÉN SOPRANO
LINDA STRANDBERG SOPRANO
YA-LI LEE CHENG SOPRANO
KATHRYN WELD MEZZO-SOPRANO
HOWARD FANKHAUSER TENOR
THOMAS THOMPSON BARITONE
NORMAN SMITH BASS
THE CATHEDRAL BRASS
THE CATHEDRAL CHOIR OF ST JAMES
THE WOMEN OF ST JAMES SCHOLA
MEN’S CHANT CHOIR
THE SCHOLA CANTORUM
JUBILATE!
ST CECILIA SINGERS
ST GREGORY CHOIR
ALSO FEATURING THE CATHEDRAL SERVERS

Click here to download the full program, with complete list of performers and crew

All photos by M. Laughlin (c) St. James Cathedral, Seattle