St. Martin’s Chamber Choir 2016-2017 Concert Season
Tickets to individual performances can be purchased by clicking on the desired concert date below. For a pdf listing of all concerts from September to December with single ticket prices, click HERE.
GIVE US PEACE
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem
D E B U T O F T H E S T . M A R T I N ’ S F E S T I V A L S I N G E R S / O R C H E S T R A
In 1936, following his grim experiences in the First World War and amidst the gathering clouds of a second global conflagration, Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote one of the most profound anti-war statements ever composed, Dona nobis pacem, using texts by Walt Whitman and the Bible to plead his case. In conjunction with the Stratus Chamber Orchestra (David Rutherford, conductor), the St. Martin’s Festival Singers makes its debut, made up of the Chamber Choir plus 30-some additional, auditioned voices. Also on the program are Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, together with the choral theme that inspired it, and his Three Shakespeare Songs performed by the Chamber Choir alone.
Friday, September 16, 7:30 pm: St. Andrew’s United Methodist Church, Highlands Ranch
Saturday, September 17, 7:30 pm: Augustana Lutheran Church, Denver
THERE IS SWEET MUSIC: SHAKESPEARE AT 400
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music and other Shakespeare-inspired music
C A M E O E N S E M B L E / P I A N O
William Shakespeare inspired some of the most beautiful music ever written, and this concert will present a cross-section of it, from settings that were contemporary to Shakespeare (and may have been used in early stagings of his plays – by Thomas Morley, among others) to very modern settings by living composers and everything in between. Most of the program will be a cappella, but the featured work is Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, with words from The Merchant of Venice, originally written for 16 separate voices, and performed here by exactly that, with piano accompaniment.
Friday, November 11, 7:30 pm: Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Wheat Ridge
Saturday, November 12, 7:30 pm: St. Gabriel the Archangel Episcopal Church, Cherry Hills Village
Sunday, November 13, 3:00 pm: St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Denver
CHRISTMAS IN ENGLAND: A WILLCOCKS TRIBUTE
Christmas carols of David Willcocks
F U L L E N S E M B L E / O R G A N
To say “Christmas Carol” these days is inevitably to think of the thrilling and beautiful arrangements that Sir David Willcocks, who died in September 2015, wrote when he was the organist-choirmaster at King’s College, Cambridge and later director of the Royal College of Music. Paying tribute to this giant of the 20th century choral world, and the Lessons & Carols services that he helped make famous, St. Martin’s Chamber Choir invites back acclaimed organist Ralph Valentine, who has thrilled St. Martin’s holiday audiences for the last two years with his thundering accompaniments. Christmas with St. Martin’s — A Denver tradition!
Saturday, December 10, 7:30 pm: Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, Denver
Sunday, December 11*, 3:00 pm: Bethany Lutheran Church, Cherry Hills Village
Friday, December 16, 7:30 pm: Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Denver
Sunday, December 18*, 2:30 pm: Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Wheat Ridge
*Please note: Dec. 11 and 18 concerts are reversed from what was published previously
WINTER WINDS
Winter-inspired works from Scandinavia and the Baltic
F U L L E N S E M B L E
From icy portrayals of snow, frost and icicles, to the jolly cavorting of winter delights like skating, sledding and hot chocolate – we present works by those who know winter best: the Scandinavian and Baltic nations (and their Minnesota kin). There will be a variety of winter-inspired works in this jolly concert—classic a cappella with St. Martin’s Chamber Choir, sure to send a shiver down your spine and ignite warmth in your heart.
Friday, February 17, 7:30 pm: Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, Denver
Sunday, February 19, 3:00 pm: Saint Paul Community of Faith, Denver
FORSAKEN
Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories
Spanish Renaissance composer Tomás Luis de Victoria’s eighteen Tenebrae Responsories, sung traditionally on the three nights preceding Easter, are among the most powerful and profound of all Renaissance sacred works. Written for the dowager Empress of Spain, they were performed annually in her private chapel, with Victoria himself singing tenor. Experience the haunting power of these dark and mystical works, sung by an authentically-sized period ensemble of twelve voices.
Friday, March 31, 7:30 pm: Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Wheat Ridge
Saturday, April 1, 7:30 pm: St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Denver
Sunday, April 2, 3:00 pm: Saint Paul Community of Faith, Denver
SOUND THE TRUMPET!
Works for choir and organ by Jongen and Bruckner
F U L L E N S E M B L E / B R A S S O C T E T A N D O R G A N
Belgian composer Joseph Jongen (1873-1953) is remembered for several organ works, the most festive of which is his Mass for Choir, Brass, and Organ. Coupled with this exuberant work are the complete works for brass and chorus by Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) – six pieces of power and majesty that couple brass (and sometimes organ) with chorus. A sonic tour de force to crown our season with splendor!
Friday, May 19, 7:30 pm: Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Denver
Sunday, May 21, 3:00 pm: Saint Paul Community of Faith, Denver