Music for Double Choir

You are on the page for our concert in Cambridge on May 4th. To purchase tickets for our concert in Newton on May 5th, please click here.

We invite you to encounter the beauty and complexity of music written for two choruses, featuring Frank Martin’s enthralling Mass for Double Choir.

Originally written as a personal devotion— “a matter between God and myself”— Frank Martin's Mass remained hidden from public view for 40 years before the composer allowed its premiere in 1963. The Mass fuses aspects of Renaissance polyphony with modern harmonic and rhythmic expression. As the musical world honors the 50th anniversary of Martin’s death, experience the awe, anguish, and hope of this sublimely human work.

We also present Bach’s dazzling Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (Sing to the Lord a New Song), whose scoring for double choir is exploited to its full potential. Bach’s kaleidoscopic array of textures sees his two choruses echo, support, contrast, compete, and, finally, unite.

Completing our program are two shorter double chorus works: Raffaella Aleotti’s Surge, propera amica mea (Arise, My Love), written circa 1593; and the world premiere of Andrés Ballesteros’ Ave Maria. A local composer and Jameson Singers tenor, Ballesteros entwines ceremonial Latin in one choir with a more personal and subdued Spanish in the other, creating an exquisite meditation on grief.

Music for Double Choir

Saturday, May 4, 2024 at 8:00 PM

First Church in Cambridge

11 Garden Street, Cambridge

Tickets

In advance: General admission: $25, Student or limited income: $15, Under 18: $5

At the door: General admission: $30, Student or limited income: $20, Under 18: $10