St. Mary's Cathedral, 1739 NW Couch St, Portland, OR 97209

the tudor choir
+ doug fullington

Tudor England (c1485–1603) was deeply unstable — yet monuments of its Latin sacred music survived, including the Sarum rite chant used before the Reformation. This chant formed the basis of devotional works by Taverner, Sheppard, Fayrfax, and Tye. It appears directly in several pieces on this program — among them Sheppard’s deeply moving Libera nos, whose chant melody is shown here. This music is inseparable too from the stone abbeys and cathedrals it was made to fill. These Stones Remain restores these masterworks to their spiritual home, performed by the Northwest’s own Tudor Choir.

Program

• Sacred Masterworks from Tudor England

cappella Romana
+ john michael boyer

Long before gift-giving and reindeer, there was St. Nicholas of Myra—the 4th-century bishop whose deep compassion made him one of Christianity’s most beloved saints. Patron of children, sailors, the wrongly accused, and countless others, the real St. Nicholas is celebrated throughout the world, East and West. From the medieval West, we’ll sing the remarkable isometric motet O Gemma lux by Guillaume Dufay, shown here. From the Byzantine tradition an exquisite Kalophonic (“beautiful sounding”) chant for his feast day by Manuel Chrysaphes (15th c.).

We finish with Arvo Pärt’s “O Holy Saint Nicholas,” featured on Cappella Romana’s acclaimed recording Odes of Repentance, a contemporary meditation that bridges ancient tradition and modern spirituality.

Program

• Guillame Dufay
  • O Gemma lux
• Arvo Pärt
  • O Holy Saint Nicholas (from Triodion)
• Manuel Chrysaphes
  • Kalophonic Sticheron for St. Nicholas

cappella Romana
+ john michael boyer

Reprising Cappella Romana’s first all-chant concert in 2001, Epiphany features an ecstatic repertoire of Old Roman and medieval Byzantine chant.

Celebrated across the Roman Empire on January 6th, Epiphany honored both Christ’s nativity and baptism. New Rome (Constantinople) focused on his baptism in the Jordan (Theophany) while Old Rome embraced the adoration of the Magi, expanding Christmas to twelve days.

The Latin half features Old Roman Chant, an enigmatic repertoire cultivated in Rome’s urban churches before being suppressed in the 13th century. You’ll hear chants from the 11th-century St. Cecilia Graduale — the oldest Western source from which Cappella Romana has ever sung, including the joyous introit Ecce advenit, pictured here.

The Byzantine selections span centuries, from 8th-century Palestinian hymns to virtuoso compositions by Constantinopolitan and Athonite composers.

Old and New Rome: two eternal Cities, one eternal Epiphany.

Program

• Old Roman Chant selections
• Byzantine Chant selections

cappella Romana
+ john michael boyer

Born in ninth-century Constantinople, Kassia the Nun was a precocious scholar, defender of icons, abbess, poet, and composer. She stands as the preeminent woman hymnographer of the Byzantine tradition. Her hymns — composed three centuries before Hildegard — still resound in Orthodox worship today, her voice especially echoing through Lent and Holy Week.

Her most famous work, known popularly as “The Hymn of Kassianí,” is a hauntingly beautiful lament of the anonymous woman who anointed Jesus’s feet before his crucifixion. Startlingly direct and deeply emotional, it has inspired countless settings over the centuries, which can last over four times the length of the medieval melody!

Her odes for Holy Saturday extol Christ’s descent into hell and liberation of captive souls; these hymns were later suppressed in favor of texts by male poets, restored here by Cappella Romana.

Discover Kassia’s medieval melodies as she herself sang them — before centuries of tradition shaped them into the versions Orthodox faithful know today.

Program

• Kassia
  • The Hymn of Kassianí
  • Odes for Holy Saturday

cappella Romana
+ john michael boyer

Fifty days after the Resurrection, the promised Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, descended upon the Apostles in tongues of fire — transforming frightened disciples into fearless witnesses. Orthodox Christianity has celebrated this cosmic moment with some of its most magnificent music, from ancient Byzantine chant to contemporary works from across the Orthodox world.

Central to our celebration is the ecstatic Teleutaion (Final Antiphon) of the Kneeling Vespers from Cappella Romana’s acclaimed recording Byzantium in Rome. This monumental 13th-century chant from Grottaferrata Abbey near Rome features extended psalmody on Psalm 18 and exuberant settings of “Alleluia,” capturing the wonder of that first Pentecost – “speaking in tongues,” Byzantine style.

Program

• Teleutaion
• Settings of “Alleluia”
• Music for Orthodox Pentecost