Saint Mark's Music Series
Thank you for joining us for the 2021-22 season! Concerts this year will have both in-person and livestreamed ticket options.
As part of our cathedral’s music program, the Music Series is called to offer its musical riches to the wider community so that all can experience the unique acoustical environment, superb pipe organs, and talented musicians dedicated to making music in a sacred space.
TO ATTEND OR WATCH A CONCERT:
Links to purchase either an in-person or livestreamed concert ticket are available through Eventbrite below. Tickets may be purchased at the door as well. After you purchase your ticket, the link to watch the livestream will be emailed to you as the time of the concert approaches, or sometimes included in your confirmation email.
COVID-19 vaccination or proof of recent negative PCR test (within 72 hours) is required to attend concerts in person, and will be checked at the door.
On-demand video of the concerts may be made available after the event, if possible, on YouTube and the video archive page.
SIGN UP FOR EMAILS:
To receive email updates about the Music Series, please fill out this mailing list form.
DONATE:
Make a one-time donation by donating here, via Venmo (@SaintMarksCathedralSeattle), or by mailing a check (memo: Music Series). Become a Friend of the Music Series and give annually to sustain the series, making it possible for Saint Mark’s to share its musical riches with the wider community at very modest ticket prices. If you wish to sponsor upcoming events please contact Madeleine Stephens, Music Administrator. Thank you for your support!
Organ Plus in Thomsen Chapel
UNA HWANG, ORGAN; SVEND RØNNING, VIOLIN
February’s “Organ Plus” invites strings to accompany the Fritts Organ in Thomsen Chapel for an intimate performance. Local Pacific Northwestern musicians Una Hwang, organ, and Svend Rønning, violin, play a continental mix of Italian, French, and German music – a Vitali chaconne for violin, “Mélodie” from Gluck’s Orfeo, Bruhns’ Preludium in e minor, and chorale preludes for organ by J.S. Bach and French organist Jeanne Demessieux. The program will begin with “Winter” from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
Northwest Art Song, "Sacred and Profane"
Portland-based Northwest Art Song present a chamber music concert of three pieces about love, religion, and spirituality for voice, piano, and strings. The Gleaners, composed by the Alaskan composer Emerson Eads and now a semifinalist for the American Prize in Vocal Chamber Music, movingly sets poet Patrick Milian’s queer interpretation of the Biblical story of Ruth and Naomi. William White’s Stabat Mater, commissioned by Northwest Art Song for their 2019 program “Fem Love”, continues the theme of feminine love, in this case maternal love, through a modern version of the 13th-century hymn. The program will also feature Samuel Barber’s beloved 20th-century cycle, Hermit Songs, short settings of the ancient musing of monks.
Learn more about Northwest Art Song here.
National Lutheran Choir and Orchestra,
“The Earth Sings Beauty”
The National Lutheran Choir's performances in Seattle and Tacoma of "The Earth Sings Beauty," scheduled for April of 2022, have been canceled. Instead, the program featuring the world premiere of Lament of the Earth by composer Steven Heitzeg and poet Susan Palo Cherwien will be live-streamed on Sunday May 1, at 4:00 p.m. central time at www.nlca.com.
Organizers in Washington and Minnesota expressed regret that ongoing waves of Covid activity have prevented the development of a strong foundation for a successful tour. Although the public health environment may be greatly improved by spring, the decision was made to put the safety of audiences and performers first given the severity of today's conditions and uncertainty about the future.
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The National Lutheran Choir celebrates spring in the Pacific Northwest with “The Earth Sings Beauty,” their season’s culminating concert. Anchoring the program is the world premiere of Lament of the Earth, their commissioned work by Emmy Award-winning composer Steve Heitzeg and celebrated poet Susan Palo Cherwien.
The multi-movement Lament is rooted in the premise that people of many different faiths share a common reverence for creation. Cherwien drew inspiration for the work’s texts from Christian, Jewish, and Native American sources, and Heitzeg designed the music with multi-generational impact in mind, including not just adult vocalists and instrumentalists, but children’s choirs as well.
“The Earth Sings Beauty” will also include other renowned choral works such as Ērik Ešenvalds’ “Stars” and Eric Whitacre’s “i thank you God for most this amazing day,” transforming this world premiere event into a remarkable celebration of the earth.
For more information, visit the National Lutheran Choir's website.
All-Bach on the Flentrop Organ
ALEXANDER WEIMANN, ORGANIST
co-sponsored by Early Music Seattle and the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists
Alexander Weimann, Music Director of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, will finally journey from his home in Canada to play the mighty Flentrop organ in a much-awaited performance delayed twice by the pandemic. The German-born musician will perform much-beloved works from the vast repertoire of Bach’s compositions for organ, and will also offer brief improvisations much like Bach himself.
Tapestry presents "Starry Night"
Tapestry, a Boston-based ensemble of women’s voices, programs a unique blend of medieval traditions and contemporary idioms. Starry Night – a program that resonates deeply in the season of advent - weaves together meditations on the star-lit sky and human longing into a rich tapestry of poetry and music. Originally commissioned by the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles and performed at the Wilson Observatory, the program will ring beautifully in Saint Mark’s ‘holy box’ high atop Capitol Hill. Local clarinetist and frequent collaborator James Falzone joins Tapestry as a guest artist for this performance.
Learn more about Tapestry here.
Flentrop Organ Concert
MICHAEL KLEINSCHMIDT AND JOHN STUNTEBECK, ORGANISTS
Cathedral organists, John Stuntebeck and Michael Kleinschmidt, will share the playing in this program of organ compositions inspired by two great songs of praise: the Magnificat (the Song of Mary) and the Te Deum laudamus (“We praise you, O God.”) The program will include works by Dieterich Buxtehude, Nicolas de Grigny, Rachel Laurin, David Hurd, and the world premiere of a newly commissioned work by Oklahoma-based composer, Rebecca Groom Te Velde.
O Antiphons
This beloved annual liturgy of music and pageantry celebrates the beginning of Advent —the season of longing, vigilance, and expectation in preparation for Christmas. An exciting element of this year's service will be the world premiere of a newly commissioned anthem, conceived and written expressly for the Saint Mark's Cathedral Choir, for the O Antiphons liturgy, and for our space. The work has been composed by Dr. Zanaida Robles of Los Angeles, a renowned vocalist, conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, and a fierce advocate for diversity and inclusion in music. The anthem, titled Ecstatic Expectancy, responds in both content and feeling to the O Antiphons liturgy, while offering a meditation on the evocative verse from Psalm 85: Mercy and Truth have met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.
This project was supported by the Saint Mark's Vestry, and was not funded by a particular donor—the commission came from the cathedral music program's own resources. More information and other works by Dr. Robles can be found here.
The Pageant of the Nativity
Choir School choristers, Evensong Choir and young children of Saint Mark’s join forces in this dramatic telling of the Nativity story.
Since its inception in 2015, Saint Mark’s Pageant of the Nativity has brought together the choirs and children of the community with costumes of cathedral finery, visual art displayed within cathedral architecture, and special instrumental accompaniment to reflect upon the Nativity of Christ as told in Holy Scripture. Hymns, carols, and choir anthems range from medieval chant to 21st-century world premieres. The 2021 version of the Pageant will be informed by current pandemic-era protocols.