Caroline Shaw
and the swallow

Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) is an American composer, violinist, and singer—the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music (2013), winner of the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.
and the swallow was composed in 2017 and sets a verse from Psalm 84: 
“Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young”
This piece offers a luminous meditation on refuge, peace, and the shared longing for a home—both earthly and spiritual. Its transparent harmonies and gentle rhythmic flow evoke a sense of quiet, compassionate hope

original text:
How beloved is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts.
My soul yearns, faints;
My heart and my flesh cry out.
The sparrow has found a house,
And the swallow a nest,
Where she may raise her young.
As they pass through the valley of Baca,
They make it a place of springs;
The autumn rains also cover it with pools.

Francis Poulenc
O magnum mysterium (O Great Mystery)

Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)—a French composer and pianist, a member of the group Les Six, who had a significant influence on the development of 20th-century European music. Despite his wide range of interests—from the music of French harpsichordists to jazz and the avant-garde—Poulenc became renowned as an outstanding melodist, with his talent most fully revealed in vocal genres.

O magnum mysterium is the first piece from the cycle Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël (Four Motets for Christmas), written in 1952. In these works, Poulenc approaches the Christmas theme with rare simplicity and vivid expression. His colleague from Les Six, Darius Milhaud, once wrote about Poulenc’s works: “I know no music more direct, more simply expressed nor which goes so unerringly to its target.”

original text:
O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
Jacentem in praesepio!

Beata Virgo, cujus viscera
meruerunt portare
Dominum Iesum Christum.

en:
O great mystery,
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the newborn Lord,
lying in a manger!

Blessed is the virgin whose womb
was worthy to bear
the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Arvo Pärt
Nunc dimittis (Now You Let Depart)

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) is an Estonian composer who recently celebrated his 90th anniversary. His style is often described as “sacred minimalism,” though the composer himself referred to it as an “aesthetic of new simplicity” and a “flight into voluntary poverty.”

Composed in 2001, Nunc dimittis sets the biblical canticle of Simeon from the Gospel of Luke.

Performed in ensemble.

original text:
Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine,
secundum verbum tuum in pace,
quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum,
quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum,
lumen ad revelationem gentium
et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper,
et in saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

en:
Lord, now You let Your servant depart in peace,
according to Your word:
For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
Which You have prepared before the face of all people;
A light to lighten the Gentiles,
and the glory of Your people Israel.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
Both now and always, and
unto the ages of ages.
Amen.

Ēriks Ešenvalds
Magnificat (My Soul Magnifies the Lord)

Ēriks Ešenvalds (b. 1977) is a Latvian composer, professor of Latvian Academy of Music, celebrated for his atmospheric sacred choral works.
The Magnificat is one of the most popular canticles (religious songs) in the Christian tradition, also known as the Song of Mary. Composed in 2013, Ešenvalds’ Magnificat successfully blends old liturgical tradition with contemporary harmonic textures.

Solo: Nana Makharashvili

original text:
Magnificat anima mea Dominum;
et exsultavit spiritus meus
in Deo salutari meo,
quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae;
Ecce enim ex hoc beatam me
dicent omnes generationes.
quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
Et misericordia eius a progenie
in progenies timentibus eum.
Fecit potentiam in brachio suo;
dispersit superbos mente cordis sui;
deposuit potentes de sede,
et exaltavit humiles;
esurientes implevit bonis
et divites dimisit inanes.
Suscepit Israel puerum suum,
recordatus misericordiae suae,
sicut locutus est ad patres nostros,
Abraham et semini eius in saecula.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper:
et in Saecula saeculorum.
Amen.

en:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for He has looked with favor
on His humble servant.
From this day all generations
will call me blessed,
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is His Name.
He has mercy on those who fear Him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
He has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich He has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of His servant Israel
for He has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise He made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children forever.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.
Amen.

Arvo Pärt
Da pacem Domine (Give Peace, Lord)

Pärt composed this piece for the 2004 Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona. Based on biblical verses, Da pacem Domine is a prayer for peace, reflecting the pain and suffering of all humankind.

“Each phrase breathes on its own. Its internal pain and the removal of this pain, inextricably linked, form breathing... In pauses, one must learn to listen to the silence... This is not some kind of formal technique or effect. Behind the pause lies eternity,” – this is how Arvo Pärt himself described his music.

original text:
Da pacem Domine
in diebus nostris
quia non est alius
qui pugnet pro nobis
nisi tu Deus noster.

en:
Give peace, O Lord,
in our time
because there is no one else
who will fight for us
if not You, our God.

Tadeja Vulc
O sapientia (O Wisdom)

Tadeja Vulc (b. 1978) is a Slovenian composer and conductor whose work often explores liturgical themes through modern harmonic language.

Composed in 2015 as part of a contemporary Advent cycle of the traditional medieval “O Antiphons”, O sapientia is the first of the set. This piece refleсts Divine Wisdom through a distinctive, almost mystical musical expression.

original text:
O Sapientia,
quae ex ore Altissimi prodiisti,
attingens a fine usque ad finem,
fortiter suaviterque disponens omnia:
veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiae.

en:
O Wisdom,
coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from one end to the other,
mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
come and teach us the way of prudence.

Paul Mealor
Locus iste (This Place)

Paul Mealor (b. 1975) is a British composer, professor of composition at the University of Aberdeen, known internationally for his choral works, including music performed at the British royal wedding in 2011.
Locus iste was written in 2009 for the 500th anniversary of the King's College Chapel in Aberdeen, based on the Latin text: “This place was made by God, a priceless mystery; it is flawless.”

Solo: Polina Safronova

original text:
Locus iste a Deo factus est,
inaestimabile sacramentum,
irreprehensibilis est.

en:
This is the Lord's house, which He has made.
Profoundly sacred,
it is beyond reproof.

Ola Gjeilo
Northern Lights

Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978) is a Norwegian composer and pianist, one of the most frequently performed in the choral world.

Written in 2008, Northern Lights was inspired by Gjeilo’s personal experience of watching the aurora borealis in northern Norway. Setting a Latin text from the Song of Songs, the work weaves rich harmonies and lyrical expression to embody what the composer described as “terrible and powerful beauty.”

original text:
Pulchra es amica mea,
suavis et decora filia Jerusalem.
Pulchra es amica mea,
suavis et decora sicut Jerusalem.

Terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.
Averte oculos tuos a me,
quia ipsi me avolare fecerunt.

en:
You are beautiful, O my love,
sweet and comely daughter of Jerusalem.
You are beautiful, O my love,
sweet and comely as Jerusalem.

Terrible as an army set in array.
Turn away your eyes from me,
for they have made me flee away.

Eric Whitacre, E.E. Cummings
Hope, Faith, Life, Love

Eric Whitacre (b. 1970) is an American composer and conductor best known for his choral music.

Created in 1999, Hope, Faith, Life, Love sets just a few words from E.E. Cummings’ poem—each representing an essential aspect of human life—in a gradually expanding texture: hope, faith, life, love, dream, joy, truth, and soul. The piece exemplifies Whitacre’s signature harmonic language of close clusters and gentle suspensions, creating a sense of inner radiance.

original text:
Hope, faith, life, love
Dream, joy, truth, soul

Jakub Neske, Miron Białoszewski
Mironczarnia (Mironagony)

Jakub Neske (b. 1987) is a Polish composer, arranger, and pianist known for his experimental choral writing and interest in the intersection of text and sound.
Composed in 2013, Mironczarnia is a musical interpretation of an avant-garde poem by Polish writer Miron Białoszewski describing the “creative impotence” of attempting to write a poem and ending up with only his name on the page.
Recognized for its originality and expressive power, Mironczarnia took honors in the 1st International Competition of Choral Composition, juried by the legendary film music composer Ennio Morricone.

Solo: Nana Makharashvili, Anastasia Dorozhkina, Kim Adameyko

original text:
męczy się człowiek Miron męczy
znów jest zeń słów niepotraf
niepewny cozrobień
yeń
Miron Białoszewski

en:
human Miron torments himself torments
once again he’s from him words unabl
uncertain whattodoo
du
Miron Białoszewski

Ambrož Čopi, William Yeats
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Ambrož Čopi (b. 1973) is a prominent composer, conductor, and educator, widely recognized as one of the central figures in contemporary Slovenian choral music.
Composed in 2015, this work sets William Yeats’ famous love poem, in which the poet offers his beloved his dreams as the most precious gift he can give. Čopi’s setting perfectly captures the emotional fragility of the original text through transparent harmonies and delicate phrasing. A distinctive feature of the piece is its use of two choirs, whose intertwining lines create a shimmering texture, sometimes echoing one another in quiet dialogue, sometimes joining in luminous unity—a musical reflection of the poem’s tenderness and depth.

Solo: Alexander Zimin

original text:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths
Enwrought with golden and silver light
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams

Jake Runestad, Alfred Noyes
Let My Love Be Heard

Jake Runestad (b. 1986) is an American award-winning composer and conductor acclaimed for his lyrical, emotionally charged choral music.
Originally written in 2014 as a setting of Alfred Noyes’ poem, Let My Love Be Heard took on a new life after being performed by the Chamber Choir of the California State University, Long Beach, in memory of the student who was killed in the Paris attacks in 2015. This piece is a powerful outpouring of grief but also a glimmer of light, suggesting hope even in difficult times.

original text:
Angels, where you soar
Up to God’s own light
Take my own lost bird
On your hearts tonight;
And as grief once more
Mounts to heaven and sings
Let my love be heard
Whispering in your wings

Jēkabs Jančevskis, Tadeusz Dąbrowski
Odpływ (Ebb)

Jēkabs Jančevskis (b. 1992) is one of the leading Latvian composers of his generation, known for his choral, symphonic, and theatre music. He values concise poetry, which, in his view, provides space for broader and more nuanced musical expression.
Composed in 2014 for the Amber Vein choral project, Odpływ sets a poem by Polish writer Tadeusz Dąbrowski. The project brought together twelve Latvian composers and twelve poets from various countries around the theme of historic amber trade routes. According to the composer, while creating this work he tried to drill down into the Polish language, phonetically shaping every syllable of every word in this laconic poem and, at the same time, reflecting the natural beauty of amber.

Solo: Palina Kalach, Yana Vladimirova

original text:
Chcę wypowiedzieć bursztyn, a w ustach mam kalafonię.
Symfonię pisków, do której zgina się jak owad
tancerka o brązowo-zielonych oczach. Za chwilę
zniknie w szumie braw, za falującą kurtyną
słów. Jak krab w szarym piachu,
który nazywa życiem.

en:
I want to utter amber, but my mouth is full of colophony.
A symphony of squeals, to which flexing like an insect
moves a dancer whose eyes are brown-green. Quite soon
she’ll vanish in a roar of bravos, behind a rippling curtain of
words. Like a crab in the grey sand
that it calls life.

Dan Forrest
Good Night, Dear Heart

Dan Forrest (b. 1978) is an American composer, pianist, and educator known for his deeply expressive choral music.
He composed this tender elegy in 2010 after the sudden loss of an Ethiopian infant his family hoped to adopt. The text, carved on Mark Twain’s daughter Susy’s headstone, yet traced to poet Robert Richardson, whispers “Good night, dear heart” in luminous harmonies. The music rocks like a lullaby, rising only to sigh and fall back to silence.

original text:
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here
Warm southern wind, blow softly here
Green sod above lie light, lie light
Good night, dear heart
Good night, good night

The Ursa Major choir thanks you from the bottom of our hearts for joining us tonight. We look forward to meeting again, and for now, we wish you a good night!