Saint Philip’s Sings

The new concert series, Saint Philip’s Sings, will begin on May 15 when the adult choirs of Saint Philip’s, in conjunction with a chamber orchestra, will present a program of choral and instrumental works by the revered Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt.

Photo: Eric Marinitsch and the Arvo Pärt Centre

Known recently as the most performed living composer, Pärt has produced a substantial body of work that stands out in a post-modern musical landscape. In our current musical space, characterized as it is by ever multiplying genres, commodification, crossover elements, and the degradation of dominant artistic narratives, Pärt’s music cuts through the clutter and speaks with timeless simplicity to fundamental realities, even—dare we say it—to the soul of Everyman.

Pärt’s musical technique, known by the word tintinnabuli (Latin for ‘little bells’), manages with a terse vocabulary to express seemingly endless depths of meaning, as evidenced by the remarkable broad response to his work.

This program will serve as an overview of Pärt’s late works, touching upon a few famous and substantial works, like his Fratres for violin solo (played by Ellen Ensey), strings, and percussion, his substantial choral setting of Saint Silouan’s text, Adam’s Lament, and his Salve Regina for chorus, strings, and celeste.

For decades, the choirs of Saint Philip’s have presented significant choral works in the context of the liturgy, and we are pleased to announce the beginning of a new and ongoing concert series, Saint Philip’s Sings. In this series, we hope to build upon the success of our First Sunday Music tradition with a concert of sacred repertoire, which we hope to offer once or twice each year. This first concert of Estonian music promises to be followed by another unique event: the premier of a new mass setting in the fall by the Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds.

Mark your calendars and bring a friend! This is a one-time live event which we hope to share with as many people as possible.

What Saint Philip’s Sings: Arvo Pärt
When 3:00pm on Sunday, May 15—at 2:30pm a pre-concert talk by Justin Appel
Where: Saint Philip’s In the Hills Episcopal Church
Cost free!

—Justin Appel, Director of Music