St. James Cathedral Cantorei
St. James Cathedral Chamber Orchestra
Works of Joseph Haydn
Joseph Adam, conductor
Alexander White, trumpet
Clarice Alfonso, soprano
Melissa Plagemann, mezzo-soprano
Chad DeMaris, tenor
Benjamin Harris, bass-baritone

Start 2025 off with great classical music in the legendary acoustics of Seattle's beautiful and iconic St. James Cathedral! Works by Joseph Haydn will keep your toes tapping and brighten your heart in the midst of the drear of winter. The concert features his Lord Nelson Mass, Te Deum, and Trumpet Concerto, with Alexander White, Associate Principal Trumpet of the Seattle Symphony.

Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, originally named Missa in angustiis (Mass in a time of anxiety) by the composer, was written in 1798 for the Esterházy family during the time Napoleon was posing a huge threat to Austria. As news traveled slowly, around the time of the premiere performance of the Mass in September of 1798, it became known that on the first of August, Admiral Horatio Nelson had delivered a dramatic defeat to Napoleon in the Battle of the Nile. In 1800, Lord Nelson himself heard the Mass and met Haydn, cementing the association. Though written in a dark time, and for an orchestra absent of woodwinds (it's scored for strings, trumpets, timpani, and organ, along with choir and vocal soloists), it has a jubilant spirit that shines through.

Haydn's setting of the Te Deum hymn for choir and orchestra brings the woodwinds back into the mix, with flute, oboe, bassoon, and clarinet added to the strings and trumpets. This rollicking work was written for the Empress Marie Therese in 1799. His Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major was commissioned in 1796 by Anton Weidinger, who developed the keyed trumpet, a transitional instrument between the natural trumpet and the modern valved trumpet. It works well with modern trumpets, as Haydn explores the middle and lower ranges and chromaticism of the instrument in a way that was not possible on the older trumpets playing only natural harmonics. Soloist Alexander White, Associate Principal Trumpet of the Seattle Symphony, brings his artistry to this classical, yet still modern, work.

The St. James Cathedral Cantorei is the professional ensemble comprised of section leaders from the Cathedral Choir and the Women of St. James Schola. Cantorei members, who have active and accomplished careers as soloists, choral artists, and music educators, provide music for the 10:00am and 12:00pm Masses during the summer months when the Cathedral Choir is in recess. The individual members of the Cantorei minister as cantors, soloists, and psalmists at all sung liturgies at St. James and at the monthly ecumenical service with music from Taizé—nearly 600 services a year. As a choral ensemble they have performed such works as Desenclos' Requiem, Parry's Songs of Farewell, Bach's Magnificat, Handel's Dixit Dominus, Tallis' Lamentations of Jeremiah, Mozart's Solemn Vespers, and Charpentier's Messe de minuit pour Noël.

The St. James Cathedral Chamber Orchestra is made up of leading instrumentalists from the Pacific Northwest. Individual members perform regularly with ensembles that include the Seattle Symphony, Pacific Northwest Ballet Ensemble, Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra, and North Corner Chamber Orchestra.