PROGRAM NOTES
Wow… What a night! Mercury Soul transformed San Francisco’s iconic Grace Cathedral for a magical evening of luxe DJ beats, lush classical music, and immersive visuals. Opera, Ballet, Classical and Choral music joined DJs for an unforgettable experience. We’re so grateful SF Classical Voice enjoyed the show too! (Read their review)
Interspersed between sets by DJ Masonic (Mason Bates), DJ Justin Reed, and special guest DJ GARZA, guests enjoyed the music of Francis Poulenc, William Byrd and Jean-Louis Florentz performed by a lush brass chorale and organ. Smuin Contemporary Ballet provided stunningly beautiful choreography exclusively for the event performed by dancers Terez Dean Orr and Yuri Rogers. 14-year-old violin phenomenon Ava Pakiam brought Jules Massenet’s exquisite Taïs Meditation to life. SF Opera Adler Fellow Arianna Rodriguez performed an gorgeous aria from Bellini’s La Sonnambula and the SF Gay Men’s Chorus filled the cathedral with choral music of the Renaissance.
Massive visual projections by Mark Johns flashed across Grace Cathedral’s gorgeous architecture and illuminated its massive columns. We also featured performances by Grace Cathedral’s organist Christopher Keady; Pianist Kristie Janczyk; Violinist Diego de la Cruz Iwadare; SF Conservatory of Music Brass Ensemble and conductor Daniel Stewart.
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What did I hear?
Francis Poulenc
O Magnum Mysterium (1952)
Written by the 20th Century French composer Francis Poulenc, O Magnum Mysterium is based on a responsorial chant from the Matins of Christmas. Drawn from a set of exquisite choral miniatures, this piece is the most harmonically austere, growing in intensity toward the final repetition of the main text, via an intimate verse in praise of the Virgin.
Performed by SF Conservatory of Music Brass Ensemble
Max Richter
Mercy (2019)
Mercy was commissioned by violinist Hilary Hahn as part of the Encores Project 2010. A British composer of German origin, Richter arranges, performs and composes music primarily for film.
Performed by Violin: Diego de la Cruz Iwadare; Piano: Kristie Janczyk; and SFCM Brass
William Byrd
Ave Vernon (1620)
Ave Verum Corpus is a Renaissance setting of a Eucharist chang for men’s voices by William Byrd. The poem is a meditation on the Catholic belief in Jesus’s real presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist, and ties it to the Catholic conception of the redemptive meaning of suffering in the life of all believers.
Performed by SF Conservatory of Music Brass Ensemble
Jules Massanet
Thäis Meditation (1894)
Méditation is a symphonic intermezzo from the opera Thaïs by composer Jules Massenet. Featuring solo violin, the piece may have been written with religious intentions, as the tempo marking is “Andante religioso.”
Performed by Violin: Ava Pakiam; Piano: Kristie Janczyk; and SFCM Brass
Jean-Luis Florentz
Chant des Fleurs (1983)
Jean-Louis Florentz studied under renown French composers Pierre Schaeffer and Olivier Messiaen, whose distinctive harmonic language clearly impacted the young composer. In this short surreal work, the organ pedals played close intervals to create an almost electronic effect.
Performed by Organ: Christopher Keady
John Adams
China Gates (1977)
China Gates animates a minimalist palette of four musical modes with rippling pianist textures. The composer has described it as “an almost perfect palindrome” that explores “dark, light, and the shadows that exist between them.” Inspired by falling rain around the composer’s Northern California home, the music is gentle and hypnotic.
Performed by Smuin Contemporary Ballet: Terez Dean Orr and Yuri Rogers; Piano: Kristie Janczyk; and SFCM Brass
Vincenzo Bellini
Ah Non Creda (1831)
This aria appears in the opera La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) as Amina sleep-walks across an unstable mill bridge after her lover. The melody at the very beginning is a typical Bellini cantilena: elongated and with small intervals without doubling by the instruments. When Amina wakes, the cabaletta (faster second section) unfolds with fast leaps, trills, and coloratura.
Performed by Soprano: Arianna Rodriguez; Piano: Kristie Janczyk; and SFCM Brass
Tomás Luis de Victoria
O Sacrum Convivium (1572)
Written by the most famous Spanish composer of the Renaissance, this motet of the Holy Communion creates a deep and mystical space using an extraordinary amount of overlapping vocal phrases and subtle key shifts.
Performed by San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus
Charles-Marie Widor
Toccata (1879)
The Toccata Widor’s Symphony No. 5 in F minor features perpetual 16th-note motion in the right hand, crisp repeated chords in the left hand, and an octave-leaping melody in the pedals showcasing distinctive elements of the French organ toccata.
Performed by Organ: Christopher Keady
Mason Bates
Mercury Interludes (2024)
Mercury Interludes preceded and followed each classical set.
Electronica playlist
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