PROGRAM NOTES
Mercury Soul’s return to Grace Cathedral was filled with deep DJ grooves, sweeping classical works and stunning visual art.
DJs GARZA (of Thievery Corporation), Masonic (Mason Bates) and Justin Reed (illmeasures, Chicago) brought a Cathedral-sized dance party interspersed with waves of classical performance featuring The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco, The Mercury Soul Cello Ensemble, Violin prodigy Ava Pakiam, Soprano Aaliyah Capili and more!
Guests were surrounded by gorgeous visual art including the debut of a new sculpture by fnnch; immersive visuals by Mark Johns; and interactive LED Art by Christopher Schardt.
We got some great photos. Check out the photo gallery!
Big thanks to our partners at Grace Cathedral and Young Women’s Choral Projects!
What did I hear?
Mason Bates (b. 1977)
Forever — is composed of Nows [World Premiere]
commissioned by Paul J. Sekhri
Mason Bates composes music that imaginatively connects the worlds of orchestras, opera, film, and DJing. His new opera The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay became the top-selling new work in the Metropolitan Opera’s history and will be given an unprecedented mid-season revival in February. Bates currently serves as Artist-in-Residence at Grace Cathedral.
In this exquisite poem by Emily Dickinson, eternity is presented not as an endless expanse of time, but rather a collection of present moments. Dickinson transforms the abstract idea of eternity into something immediate and alive. Bates’ setting, a world premiere tonight, is scored for women’s chorus, cello octet, harp, and vibraphone.
Arvo Pärt
O-Antiphonen II. “O Adonai”
Für Alina (arr. M Bates)
O-Antiphonen I. “O Weisheit”
O-Antiphonen I. “Festivo”
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt creates whose luminous, spiritual music that captivates audiences worldwide. Drawing inspiration from Gregorian chant, Orthodox spirituality, and the purity of sound itself, Pärt creates works that invite listeners into stillness and contemplation.
This concert paid tribute to Pärt’s 90th birthday in performances of several works. O-Antiphonen reimagines ancient Advent chants, traditionally sung in the weeks before Christmas.
Philip Glass (b. 1937)
New Chaconne
One of America’s most ubiquitous living composers, Philip Glass is known defining early minimalism with his hypnotically simple textures. Influenced by his teacher Nadia Boulanger and Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar, Glass developed a musical language built on repetition, gradual change, and mesmerizing clarity.
In Glass’s hands, the ancient chaconne form – a set of variations over a repeating bass – becomes a hypnotic journey of shifting harmonies and evolving patterns
Sulpitia Cesis (1577 – ~1625)
Angelus ad pastores
Sulpitia Cesis’s Angelus ad pastores (“The Angel to the Shepherds”) is a radiant Christmas motet written by one of the earliest known female composers of sacred music, combining graceful vocal interplay with shimmering Renaissance harmonies
Aurora (b. 1996)
Apple Tree (arr. K Gimon)
Aurora Aksnes is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, and producer known for her ethereal voice and nature-inspired music that bridges the mystical and the deeply personal.
“Apple Tree” is a reflection on innocence and temptation that reimagines the biblical symbol of the apple tree as a call to awaken compassion in a broken world, urging listeners to reconnect with nature and empathy rather than greed and apathy.
Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Nuite d’Étoiles
Claude Debussy transformed classical music with his lush harmonies and Impressionistic textures, using a musical equivalent of soft brushstrokes to evoke mood. He transformed the way composers thought about harmony, color, and atmosphere, inspiring later composers such as Ravel, Stravinsky, and Messiaen, and even jazz artists such as Gershwin.
Nuit d’Étoiles (“Starry Night”) is an early song that anticipates the shimmering colors of Debussy’s later Impressionism. Composed when he was just 18, it sets a poem by Théodore de Banville that dreams of lost love beneath a luminous night sky.
Lou Harrison (1917-2003)
Varied Trio I. “Gending”
Lou Harrison wove together East and West into music of radiant beauty and generous spirit. A friend of John Cage, he explored new tunings, invented instruments, and drew inspiration widely from folk traditions and medieval music, becoming a pioneer of cross-cultural composition in American music.
Varied Trio draws from Indonesian gamelan in its use of non-Western scales, meditative rhythms, and expansive use of space and silence.
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
O Frodens Virga
Hildegard von Bingham, also known as Saint Hildegard, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, and visionary during the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, and she has been considered by scholars to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.
O Frondens Virga (“O Leafy Branch”) praises the Virgin Mary as a symbol of life, growth, and divine renewal, unfolding in long, arching melodies that seem to reach toward heaven.
PERFORMERS
The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco
Conductor: Matthew Otto
Piano: Dara Phung
Violin: Ava Pakiam
Soprano: Aaliyah Capili
Harp: Julia Grünbaum
Vibraphone: Ben Paysen
The Mercury Soul Cello Octet:
Lewis Patzner, Gabriel Beistline, Jessica Ivry, Octavio Mujica, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin, Zofia Sabee, Julian Sommer, Sophie Deng
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
Special thanks to:
