Spring, 2013

Songs from the North: Music from Scandinavia

In the last several years, Sacred & Profane has championed the rich choral tradition of Sweden and its neighboring countries. In May, we will continue to sing some of Scandinavia’s most beautiful and inspiring music, including a number of works based on the rich folk music of the region. Our program will feature music from all five Scandinavian countries, including Grieg’s lovely Four Psalms for choir and baritone, Leifs’ moving Requiem, Mäntijärvi’s delightful Four Shakespeare Songs, Sixten’s Peace for the Victims of the massacre in Norway in 2011, and two pieces by one of our favorite composers, Karin Rehnqvist.

Saturday, May 11, 8 PM St. Mark’s Episcopal Church 2300 Bancroft Way (at Ellsworth) Berkeley

Sunday, May 12, 4 PM St. Francis Lutheran Church 152 Church Street (btwn Duboce & Market) San Francisco

Winter, 2013

Hallelujah: Music from the Jewish Tradition

Join Sacred and Profane as we celebrate the diversity of Jewish Choral Music. We will sing sacred and secular music of the Jewish people from the seventeenth- through the twentieth-centuries, including folksongs in Yiddish, Ladino, and Hebrew, and music by such composers as Salamone Rossi, Kurt Weill, and Shulamit Ran. We will feature music that spans the emotional gamut of Jewish experience, from works commemorating the tragedy of the holocaust to celebratory dances.

Sunday, March 3, 4 PM Congregation Emanuel 2 Lake Street (at Arguello) San Francisco

Saturday, March 9, 8 PM Congregation Beth El 1301 Oxford Street (btwn Eunice and Rose) Berkeley

Coming Up

Songs from the North: Music from Scandinavia

In the last several years, Sacred & Profane has championed the rich choral tradition of Sweden and its neighboring countries. In May, we will continue to sing some of Scandinavia’s most beautiful and inspiring music, including a number of works based on the rich folk music of the region. Our program will feature music from all five Scandinavian countries, including Grieg’s lovely Four Psalms for choir and baritone, Leifs’ moving Requiem, Mäntijärvi’s delightful Four Shakespeare Songs, Sixten’s Peace for the Victims of the massacre in Norway in 2011, and two pieces by one of our favorite composers, Karin Rehnqvist.

Sunday, May 11, 8 PM St. Mark’s Episcopal Church 2300 Bancroft Way (at Ellsworth) Berkeley

Sunday, May 12, 4 PM St. Francis Lutheran Church 152 Church Street (btwn Duboce & Market) San Francisco

Fall, 2012

A Contemplative Christmas: Holiday Music by the Spiritual Minimalists

The Spiritual Minimalist composers Arvo Pärt, John Tavener, and Henryk Górecki have won the dedication of listeners of all sensibilities, including lovers of popular music, early music aficionados, and followers of the avant-garde. All three of these composers turned to sacred music at a time when modern composers frequently rejected sacred music for secular influences, creating music that is meditative, hypnotic, and gently repetitive.

Join Sacred & Profane as we sing the moving music of these important composers, as well as the music of one of their Medieval inspirations, Hildegard von Bingen. Our concert will include celebrated pieces such as Pärt’s Magnificat, Tavener’s The Lamb, and Górecki’s Totus Tuus.

Saturday, December 8, 8 PM St. Mark’s Episcopal Church 2300 Bancroft Way (at Ellsworth) Berkeley

Saturday, December 15, 8 PM First Presbyterian Church of Alameda 2001 Santa Clara Ave (at Chestnut) Alameda

Sunday, December 16, 4 PM St. Francis Lutheran Church 152 Church Street (btwn Duboce & Market) San Francisco

Program

Hildegard von Bingen: O frondens virga

Tavener: The Lamb

Pärt: Magnificat

Górecki: Totus Tuus

Tavener: Christmas Round

Tavener: Today the Virgin

Górecki: Marian Songs

Górecki: Three Lullabies

Pärt: Bogoroditse Djevo

Pärt: Da Pacem Domine

Tavener: A Hymn the Mother of God