TONIGHT'S PROGRAM
Classical Set 1: approx. 8:10pm
Classical Set 2: approx. 8:45pm
Classical Set 3: approx 9:20pm
Classical Set 4: approx. 10:00pm
CLASSICAL SET 1: Approx. 8:10pm
Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
O-Antiphonen II. “O Adonai”
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.
Tonight’s concert pays tributes to Pärt’s 90th birthday in performances of several works. O-Antiphonen reimagines ancient Advent chants, traditionally sung in the weeks before Christmas.
Cello Octet: Lewis Patzner, Gabriel Beistline, Jessica Ivry, Octavio Mujica, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin , Zofia Sabee, Julian Sommer, Sophie Deng
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
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
Violin: Ava Pakiam
Harp: Julia Grünbaum
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
Arvo Part Für Alina (arr. M Bates)
One of Arvo Pärt’s most famous and malleable works, Für Alina is dedicated to the daughter of family friends as a simple gift meant to comfort her. Tonight’s orchestration combines the unique ensemble of cello octet with the resonant instruments of harp and vibraphone.
Harp: Julia Grünbaum
Vibraphone: Ben Paysen
Cello Octet: Lewis Patzner, Gabriel Beistline, Jessica Ivry, Octavio Mujica, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin , Zofia Sabee, Julian Sommer, Sophie Deng
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
CLASSICAL SET 2: Approx. 8:45pm
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.
(Luke 2:10-11 & Isaiah 9:6)
Performed by: The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco
Conductor: Matthew Otto
Lamma Bada Yatathanna Yatathanna
Traditional Muwashah (arr. Abu Khader)
Lamma Bada Yatathanna is one of the most beloved pieces in the Arabic classical repertoire, originating from the Andalusian muwashshah tradition of medieval Spain. Its title roughly translates to “When She Appeared, Swaying Gracefully,” and the poetry expresses awe and longing for a beloved whose beauty and movement captivate all who see her.
لما بدا يتثنى (أمان) When my love appeared walking with a swinging gait
حبي جماله فتنى (أمان) His beauty infatuated me
أمرٌ ما بلحظـة أسـرنا Something captured our hearts at a glance.
غصن ثنى حين مال A branch bended once tilted.
وعدي ويا حيرتــي Oh my destiny, my dilemma
مالي رحيم شـكوتي none will answer my appeal.
في الحب من لوعتـي for healing me from my ardor of love.
إلا مليك الجمــال except the Lord of beauty.
Performed by: The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco
Conductor: Matthew Otto
Snow Angel #1 Sarah Quartel
Sarah Quartel is celebrated for her luminous choral that often explores themes of nature, spirituality, and human connection.
Snow Angel paints a winter landscape where guardian angels walk beside us, offering protection, hope, and quiet strength. At once tender and powerful, Snow Angel invites listeners to reflect on the beauty in vulnerability and the comfort of knowing we are never truly alone.
All his angels, all his heavenly armies, ah.
Open your eyes, sweet child.
Performed by: The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco
Piano: Dara Phung
Cello: Sophie Deng
Conductor: Matthew Otto
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.
I’ve been a girl, I’ve been a boy
Digging my feet into the ground, like an apple tree
Wanting to live with a purpose
Skin is a word, love is not a sin
People are bad, people are good
Just like the moon is a stone
But it’s a star when it’s dark and now she’s hiding
If you’ve seen where the heart is, you’ve seen it’s color
If I ever knew how we could guide it
I would take care of its children, become their mother
If I ever knew how we could hide it, hide it
Let her save the world, she is just a girl
Let him save the world, he is just a boy
Hunger is quiet if you do it right
Hunter is loud and predictable, scaring away every prey
So they’re gone before the hunter arrives
Would you be kind to put away the sword
You cannot cut away what we’ve got
You cannot kill what we are
We are not here in physical form
You’ve seen where the knife is, its dark location
If I ever knew how we could guide it
I will cut into our anger, make your emotion
If I ever knew how we could hide it, hide it
Let her save the world, she is just a girl
Let him save the world, he is just a boy
Can we carry the weight of mortality?
The explosions around you is your symphony
Let her save the world, she is just a girl
Let him save the world, he is just a boy
Let her save the world, she is just a girl
The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco
Conductor: Matthew Otto
CLASSICAL SET 3: Approx. 9:20pm
Nuit D’Etoile
Claude Debussy
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.
Soprano: Aaliyah Capili
Harp: Julia Grünbaum
Cello Octet: Lewis Patzner, Gabriel Beistline, Jessica Ivry, Octavio Mujica, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin, Zofia Sabee, Julian Sommer, Sophie Deng
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
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.
Violin: Ava Pakiam
Harp: Julia Grünbaum
Vibraphone: Ben Paysen
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
Arvo Pärt
O-Antiphonen I. “O Weisheit”
Cello Octet: Lewis Patzner, Gabriel Beistline, Jessica Ivry, Octavio Mujica, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin, Zofia Sabee, Julian Sommer, Sophie Deng
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
CLASSICAL SET 4: Approx. 10pm
Hildegard bon Bingen (1098-1179)
O Frodens Virga (arr. Drew Collins)
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.
O blooming branch,
you stand upright in your nobility,
as breaks the dawn on high:
Rejoice now and be glad,
and deign to free us, frail and weakened,
from the wicked habits of our age;
stretch forth your hand
to lift us up aright.
The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco
Conductor: Matthew Otto
Arvo Pärt
O-Antiphonen I. “Festivo”
Cello Octet: Lewis Patzner, Gabriel Beistline, Jessica Ivry, Octavio Mujica, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin, Zofia Sabee, Julian Sommer, Sophie Deng
Conductor: Brad Hogarth
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.
Forever – is composed of Nows –
‘Tis not a different time –
Except for Infiniteness –
And Latitude of Home –
From this – experienced Here –
Remove the Dates – to These –
Let Months dissolve in further Months –
And Years – exhale in Years –
Without Debate – or Pause –
Or Celebrated Days –
No different Our Years would be
From Anno Dominies –
The Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco
Harp: Julia Grünbaum
Vibraphone: Ben Paysen
Cello Octet: Lewis Patzner, Gabriel Beistline, Jessica Ivry, Octavio Mujica, Yoyo Hung-Yu Lin, Zofia Sabee, Julian Sommer, Sophie Deng
Conductor: Matthew Otto
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