2026-2027 Season
October 18, 2026 | Pentecost 21 | Proper 24
Allemande, from Partita in D Major, BWV 828, by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
I It Am, by Justine Koontz (b. 1987)
Is He Worthy, by Andrew Peterson (b. 1974) and Ben Shive (b. 1979)
Ave verum corpus, by W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)
Courante, from Partita in D Major, BWV 828, by J.S. Bach
Our introit is from a collection of works by Justine Koontz, Director of Music and Organist at Memorial Episcopal Church in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore. St. David’s was one of the churches which commissioned this collection, along with parishes in California, Indiana, and Virginia. The text is by Julian of Norwich, a medieval visionary and anchorite, having withdrawn from society to live in her cell attached to St. Julian’s Church (her own name may not have been Julian, and may have been related to the church where she was secluded). Her writings are the recorded first English writings by a woman.
Today’s anthem, a choral arrangement of a contemporary worship song, takes its textual inspiration from Revelations, but also responds to the reading from Genesis (“For how shall it be known that I find favor in your sight?”). The song originated as part of songwriter Andrew Peterson’s Resurrection Letters project.
Recital & Evensong for Indigenous Peoples Day | October 11, 2026
Recital: Dylan Aguayo, Tenor (Taíno), and Douglas Buchanan, Piano
Chansons madécasses, by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Witch of November in the White City, by Kirsten C. Kunkle (Mvskoke) (b. 1980)
Shawi’ (“Raccoon”), from Loksi’ Shaali’ , by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (Chickasaw) (b. 1968)
Introit: Ʋba Isht Taloa 14 [no composer attribution]
Preces & Responses: Tariq Al-Sabir (b. 1993), 2015-2016 Composer-in-Residence
Phos Hilaron: Bonnie Duckworth (b. 1949)
Canticles: Charles Shadle (Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) (b. 1960)
Anthem: Four Directions, by Andrew Balfour (Cree) (b. 1967)
Voluntary: Little Variations on a Choctaw Theme, by Charles Shadle
Chansons madécasses is a late work of Ravel’s, who stated that these were the songs of which he was most proud. The text is by the French poet Évariste de Parny, who supposedly translated a collection of poems from documents written in Malagasy (the language spoken in Madagascar) while living in French-colonized India. The validity of Parny’s claim has since been called into question (for instance, he never actually visited Madagascar). For their time, Parny’s and Ravel’s anti-colonialist sentiments are certainly notable. Indeed, these sentiments riled several audience members at the Paris premiere of Ravel’s composition in 1925, disrupting the performance. In a contemporary context, the dubious provenance of the text (combined with the overlay of Ravel’s compositional agency) create additional colonial layers. Opening the program in this way connects with past artists who have engaged in anti-colonial sentiment while also inviting ongoing critique.
Witch of November in the White City was commissioned by the Chicago Fringe Opera and premiered in 2023. The work begins with the marking “pensive, but with an underlying urgency,” a feeling which continues throughout. It begins as a meditation on the wonder of Lake Michigan, with specific memories filtering through. The scope broadens to consider the presence of water before humans, and then before colonizers, eventually returning to the present. Composer Kirsten C. Kunkle, lauded as the leading Native American soprano in today’s classical music world, is a voting citizen of the Mvskoke Nation. She has been hailed as an outstanding singing actress with a voice that has been described as beautiful, ethereal, powerful, fiery, and bewitching. Kirsten commissioned and premiered sixteen original compositions, including one of her own, based upon the poetry of her ancestor and highly-acclaimed poet of the Native American Muscogee Nation, Alex Posey. Her recordings are collected at the Library of Congress, the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution (NMAI), and the Merkel Area Museum in Merkel, Texas. Kirsten is included on the list of Classical Native American Artists and Musicians at the Smithsonian Institution’s NMAI and on the Molto Native Music list of performers. She was featured as a composer and soloist for the Circle of Resilience concert, with Intermountain Opera Bozeman in May, 2021.
Loksi’ Shaali’ (Shell Shaker) is a new opera based upon the Chickasaw Indian legend of how the Chickasaw people received turtle shells for stomp dancing and ceremonies. Shaawi’ was the raccoon who became a spirit animal teacher of Loksi’ while she was in the forest. The legend tells of a Chickasaw girl named Loksi’, who was different from the other children. After feeling lonely and discouraged, she followed her grandmother’s advice to seek guidance from the river. The water told her to leave home for four years and seek a vision. During her journey, Loksi’ befriended a turtle and cared for him with kindness, remembering how she herself had been treated. At the end of the four years, she received turtle shells as a gift and returned home transformed into a young woman. She became the first turtle clan mother. Her turtle-shell dancing became part of the Chickasaw stomp dance, teaching her people to remember who they are, where they came from, and to treat others with kindness.
During the 2025-2026 season, we commissioned several works from composer Charles Shadle, a member of the Choctaw Nation. In addition to a new Christmas caro, he composed a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, employing a Gloria Patri sung in Choctaw (according to the translators, we believe this text has been translated into Choctaw). Additionally, Charles kindly wrote a small set of organ variations dedicated to Director of Music Douglas Buchanan, based on the 14th hymn in the Choctaw Hymnal. We hear the original hymn during the introit, and the variations are performed as the closing voluntary.
Andrew Balfour’s Four Directions is part of a larger project entitled Nagamo. Works in this series invert the compositional and textual process we observed in Chansons madécasses. In this anthem, Balfour utilizes a work of Thomas Tallis, treating it as a palimpsest (a manuscript page from which text has been scraped off), and instead overlaying Ojibway text. Regarding the Nagamo project, Balfour writes:
“As a former choir boy brought up in the high Anglican choral tradition, growing up singing the glorious choral music of Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, and Purcell, and traveling to England several times, singing in English cathedrals made lasting impressions on me. As a 60s scooper,* I was taken away from my Indigenous family when I was a baby, but luckily was raised in a loving and very musical family. I have spent most of my life trying to identify my Indigenous blood, culture, and language. Through my composing and collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists it has been a beautiful Ispiciwin (journey). Nagamo is a reimagining of history….In this fragile time in history, in the relationship between settler Canada and the Indigenous people of Turtle Island†, I feel Nagamo was a powerful and important step in reconciliation and healing. As well, I’d like to think this is only the first step of many more towards a deeper understanding of Indigenous healing and artistic perspectives on Mother Earth now, and in the future. Chi Miigwetch. [Big thank you.]”
* The Sixties Scoop refers to the period in Canadian history from the mid 1950s into the 1980s, when Indigenous children were forcibly “scooped” from their homes by child welfare authorities and adopted without their families’ consent into white, largely middle-class homes. This misguided policy had far-reaching ramifications with which Canada continues to reckon today.
†Turtle Island is a non-colonial name used by some (but not all) Indigenous peoples for the continent more commonly known as North America.
October 11, 2026 | Pentecost 20 | Proper 23
Little Variations on a Choctaw Theme, by Charles Shadle (b. 1960)
The Marriage in the Skies, arr. Sidney Burdette Denson (1890-1964)
Rejoice in the Lord alway, Anonymous (16th c.)
O salutaris hostia, by Caterina Assandra (c. 1590-after 1618)
Overture, from Partita in D Major, BWV 828, by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Monday, October 12 marks Indigenous Peoples Day, which we mark each year with a Recital and Evensong commemorating the event. During the 2025-2026 season, we commissioned several works from composer Charles Shadle, a member of the Choctaw Nation. In addition to a new Christmas carol and a setting of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis, Charles kindly wrote a small set of organ variations dedicated to Director of Music Douglas Buchanan, based on the 14th hymn in the Choctaw Hymnal. You’ll hear the world premiere of this work this morning at the opening voluntary and again this evening at Evensong.
Today’s introit is a shape-note tune entitled The Marriage in the Skies, arranged by Sidney Burdette Denson. Originally from Troup County, Georgia, she later moved to Alabama. She would return to Georgia to lead the Chattahoochee Music Convention in 1880. This convention is the oldest Sacred Harp singing convention (founded in 1852); Denson was the first woman to serve as its leader. The text resonates with today’s Gospel parable.
Rejoice in the Lord is an English Renaissance anthem with text taken from today’s Philippians reading. Its opening gesture – an upward leap of a melodic fourth – is the foundational motive for the work. The composition alternates between overlapping close imitation (i.e., the entrance of one voice after another, like a canon or a round), creating long sections without breaks, and shorter phrases marked by homophony (a chordal, or chorale-like texture).
During Communion we hear the music of Caterina Assandra, a 17th-century Benedictine nun, composer, and organist from Pavia, Italy. Assandra published numerous two-part sacred works with instrumental accompaniment. This setting of St. Thomas Aquinas’ eucharistic hymn O Salutaris Hostia was arranged for four vocal parts by Douglas. Buchanan, with two of the instrumental parts being given text (a process called “contrafactum”) to match the two existing vocal parts. The work begins with a fanfare figure common in Italian instrumental works of the time and proceeds with other dance-like rhythms to create a joyous composition.
10•4•26 | The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
The Tree of Peace, by Judith Weir (b. 1954)
O Wondrous Earth, by Merton Shatzkin (1929-2024)
For the Beauty of the Earth, by John Rutter (b. 1950)
Four Directions, by Andrew Balfour (b. 1967), after Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
Gigue, from Partita in D Major, BWV 828, by J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
To observe the Feast of St. Francis today, we hear several selections that emphasize our interconnectedness, both to each other and to the natural world.
British composer (and past Master of the Queen’s Music) Judith Weir composed The Tree of Peace in 2017 in memory of organist Richard Axtell, who had died suddenly during Holy Week in 2015. It takes its title from a quote by Virgil: “Cultivate the olive, therefore, the tree of peace.” She wrote the music keeping in mind the colorful and quirky sounds of the organ at St. Andrew’s Parish in West Tarring, Sussex, England. She “had picked up the idea that Richard Axtell might have been a refreshingly atypical organist, and was delighted when arriving in the church to see him represented front-stage in a larger-than-life cardboard cutout photo, surveying the audience with a natty and jaunty expression.”
At the introit, we hear Merton Shatzkin’s luminous setting of O wondrous earth, composed by Shatzkin in 2019 for St. David’s, and with poetry by the composer. Shatzkin was (in addition to being a parishioner at St. David’s) an ardent scholar, performer, and composer. Shatzkin’s setting has opened our Blessing of the Animals service for the past several years.
Our offertory anthem is a setting of For the Beauty of the Earth by prolific British composer John Rutter. His setting features a new melody for the text (the one Episcopalians may be familiar with is Dix, the same tune as “As with gladness men of old”) with harp-like accompaniment, creating a luminous, joyful composition.
During communion, we hear Andrew Balfour’s Four Directions, from Balfour’s Nagamo series. Balfour, a Cree composer, writes:
“As a former choir boy brought up in the high Anglican choral tradition, growing up singing the glorious choral music of Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, and Purcell, and traveling to England several times, singing in English cathedrals made lasting impressions on me. As a 60s scooper,* I was taken away from my Indigenous family when I was a baby, but luckily was raised in a loving and very musical family. I have spent most of my life trying to identify my Indigenous blood, culture, and language. Through my composing and collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists it has been a beautiful Ispiciwin (journey). Nagamo is a reimagining of history….In this fragile time in history, in the relationship between settler Canada and the Indigenous people of Turtle Island†, I feel Nagamo was a powerful and important step in reconciliation and healing. As well, I’d like to think this is only the first step of many more towards a deeper understanding of Indigenous healing and artistic perspectives on Mother Earth now, and in the future. Chi Miigwetch. [Big thank you.]”
* The Sixties Scoop refers to the period in Canadian history from the mid 1950s into the 1980s, when Indigenous children were forcibly “scooped” from their homes by child welfare authorities and adopted without their families’ consent into white, largely middle-class homes. This misguided policy had far-reaching ramifications with which Canada continues to reckon today.
†Turtle Island is a non-colonial name used by some (but not all) Indigenous peoples for the continent more commonly known as North America.
9•27•26 | The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21)
Nettleton, by Aaron David Miller (b. 1972)
God be in my head, by Alinda B. Couper (1901-1989)
O Love, by Elaine Hagenberg (b. 1979)
Christus factus est, by Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Improvisation on King’s Weston, by Douglas Buchanan (b. 1984)
Alinda B. Couper’s prayerful setting of God be in my head takes its text from the Sarum Primer, a 13th-century compilation of prayers and liturgical resources from Salisbury, England. “Sarum” refers, generally, to Salisbury, and the “Sarum Rite” are the Latin rituals and chants developed at Salisbury Cathedral. (The Sarum Rite is unique in that it is utilized by not only the Anglican Communion, but also the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.) Couper studied with famed French pedagogue Nadia Boulanger. In addition to numerous compositions, she also developed the “four-in-hand” technique of handbell playing. Her archives are located here in Baltimore, at the Peabody Conservatory.
At the offertory, we hear O Love, by American composer Elaine Hagenberg. Hagenburg’s flowing, melodic setting utilizes poetry of 19th-century Scottish clergyman George Matheson. The poem was written on the eve of his sister’s wedding.
Today’s communion motet is from a collection of short choral works by Anton Bruckner. Bruckner is perhaps best known for his symphonies, which are large-scale and redolent of late Romanticism. The choral works are distillations of his style, capturing the curious twists and turns he achieves through sequencing through melodic snippets and adding in chromatic surprises. The text is a setting of a portion of today’s Philippians reading, which is heard also on Good Friday. (You can hear this work again at our Music for Good Friday offering on March 26.)
Regarding the closing voluntary, Doug Buchanan writes: “When I was at my first post as a music director/organist, I hadn’t had much experience improvising. However, one learns pretty quickly to adapt and to realize ideas on the fly. I started to become comfortable with brief improvisations, like one might hear during communion. The first toccata-like piece that I improvised was on the tune King’s Weston. The gestures and ideas I used way back in 2011 when I first put this together have stayed under my fingers, and I like to revisit them when we sing that hymn. It’s always interesting to see what my fingers and toes decide to do differently each time.”
9•20•26 | The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20)
Holy Manna, by David Cherwein (b. 1957)
Holy Manna, arr. William Moore (1790-1850)
Draw us in the Spirit’s Tether, by Saunder Choi (b. 1988)
Panis angelicus, by Caesar Franck (1822-1890)
Fugue, by Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
Today’s introit comes from the shape note tradition of singing. “Shape notes” were a method of teaching music literacy in 19th century America. Many tunes from this tradition – like Holy Manna and What wondrous love is this – have made it into modern hymnals. Because these tunes emphasized a communal, come-one-come-all ethos, the performance practice for these songs often leans into a boisterous, folk-inflected feeling. The melody (which we will sing communally later in the service) appears first in the tenor voice, a common practice in shape note arrangements. The poet of Holy Manna, originally from Ireland, was a preacher in the Baltimore Conference who died in Frederick, Maryland.
Our offertory anthem is by Filipino-Chinese composer Saunder Choi. His welcoming setting of Draw us in the Spirit’s Tether is a fitting message as we continue to welcome back our fall programs. Based in California, Choi is a professional choral singer as well as a composer mentor and conductor.
Caesar Franck has had an enduring presence in organ and choral repertoire, with Panis Angelicus being one of his most-performed choral works. Beginning with a soprano solo – sung today by Zoë Chessa, our newest member of the Schola, the professional core of singers in the St. David’s Choir – this setting of the penultimate stanza of Thomas Aquinas’ eucharistic hymn Sacris solemnis (“Our solemn feast”) later blossoms into lush choral accompaniment.
9•13•26 | The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 19)
Prelude, Fugue, and Chaconne, by Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Hark I Hear the Harps Eternal, arr. Alice Parker (1925-2023)
Light of a Clear Blue Morning, by Dolly Parton, (1946-2026), arr. Craig Hella Johnson (b. 1962)
Ego sum panis vivus, by William Byrd (c. 1540-1623)
Carillon de Longpont, by Louis Vierne (1870-1937)
As we welcome back the Chancel Choir, it is a perfect opportunity to not only learn about the music we are hearing today, but also to mention how each piece of music functions in the course of the service.
Our opening voluntary is an active, bubbling prelude by J.S. Bach’s idol, Dietrich Buxtehude. Though C Major is sometimes thought of as a “simple” key because it has no sharps or flats, this particular work counters this notion by weaving together rapid scales, a miniature fugue, and finally a grand dance which ushers us into our worship.
The term “voluntary” originated in 15th century England, being a type of improvisatory piece that was “volunteered” prior to a service. Now, it refers to a composition (typically for organ) that is used to open or close the service.
Following the voluntary is an introit. In the Roman rite (the liturgical practice of the Roman Catholic Church) introits have a specific formula drawn from psalms and liturgical poetry, intended to reflect on the day’s readings and to accompany the entrance of the ministers. Outside the Roman rite, the introit’s preparatory function remains the same, but the content is more flexible: in addition to traditional introit chants, we often will sing Lutheran chorales, free compositions, or—as we hear today—music from the American “shape-note” tradition. Today’s introit is a setting of the American hymn tune Invitation, to the text of Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal, arranged by Alice Parker. Parker was a prolific composer and tireless conductor. She and famed conductor Robert Shaw worked closely together; his choruses recorded a great deal of her music.
After the opening hymn and Gloria, we hear a chanted psalm. Psalm-chanting is a practice that is several millennia old; the specific type of chant we typically hear in the Episcopal Church — Anglican chant — is relatively young, only 500 or so years old. In Anglican chant, a text is sung to sets of 10 chords, which are sometimes combined with each other. Contrast this with plainsong chant, as heard in the Alleluia verse, (the verse preceding the Gospel) which is made of only a single line without accompanying chords. (Because Anglican chant can be used for any unmetered text, some musicians get cheeky — search online for the King’s Singers intoning a weather report, or Director of Music Douglas Buchanan conducting Anglican chant celebrations of the Orioles and the Ravens.)
After the homily and the prayers is the offertory anthem. The word “anthem” is derived from “antiphon,” which is a response; in this case, one can view it as a response to the Priest’s offertory sentence. (Compare this with the fraction anthem, which we sing in response to the breaking — the fractioning — of the bread.) In the Anglican choral tradition, anthems were typically accompanied by the organ, but here we use the term more loosely. As a case in point, today’s anthem — a choral setting of Dolly Parton’s Light of a Clear Blue Morning — is only lightly accompanied, with much of it being unaccompanied (i.e., a cappella, literally “for the chapel”). Recorded in 1977, Parton described the composition as her “song of deliverance” following the painful legal battle that resulted from her leaving Porter Wagoner’s (her former business partner’s) band.
During communion, the choir sings a motet. Like “anthem” and “introit,” “motet” had a specific meaning which has now become a little more flexible. The term originates with the French word “mot,” meaning “word.” In Medieval France this referred to a musical setting of a text. The French motet evolved to be hyper-complex (piling multiple texts in multiple languages, sung simultaneously—the ultimate mash-up) before coming to refer simply to an unaccompanied work for voices (though you’ll hear plenty of instances of accompanied Communion music here). Today’s motet, William Byrd’s Ego sum panis vivus, evokes the classic sounds of Anglican polyphony: imitative entrances, thoughtful dissonance control, and careful text-setting that illumines the scriptural setting.
Following the final hymn is a closing voluntary, bookending the service with organ music. Today we hear Louis Vierne’s Carillon de Longpont. Vierne studied with Charles-Marie Widor (whose Toccata, excerpted from his Fifth Symphony, is often heard on Easter Day), and eventually served as organist at the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris from 1900 until his death in 1937. In this piece, Vierne uses a recurring pattern based upon four notes, heard most often in the pedals. This pattern is adapted from the bells he heard being rung when he visited the commune of Longpont in northern France on August 15, 1913. (While he visited, he participated in a grand procession, playing a harmonium balanced upon a cart pulled by two donkeys. It’s enough to make an organist rethink their primary mode of transportation.)