Sunday, November 23, 2025 at 4 PM

Flor Peeters: Entrata Festiva, Op. 93
Peeters: Magnificat
Lili Boulanger: Psalm 24
Boulanger: Vieille prière bouddhique ( “Old Buddhist Prayer”)
Daniel Pinkham: Christmas Cantata
Max Janowski: Sim Shalom (“Grant Us Peace”)

Omar Naji, tenor
Susan DeSelms, organ
With organ, brass quintet, and timpani 

A Commonwealth Composer concert

Celebration! Solace in difficult times. Yearnings for joy, peace, and spiritual sustenance.  As we start our 50th anniversary season, experience all these emotions and more with in our program of Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata, Lili Boulanger’s Vieille prière bouddhique (“Old Buddhist Prayer”) and Psalm 24, and Flor Peeters’ Entrata Festiva and Magnificat.

Daniel Pinkham is this season's Commonwealth Composer, and we bring you his well-known, joyful Christmas Cantata. In keeping with our anniversary celebration and the upcoming holiday season, Pinkham’s modern Christmas classic is infectiously jubilant, with rhythmic vitality and a lively brass accompaniment that will lift your spirits.

Lili Boulanger, the musically gifted younger sister of Nadia Boulanger, is less well-known because she died of tuberculosis at age 24.  Like many composers, Boulanger used texts from ancient sources for inspiration.  This concert features Boulanger’s Psalm 24 with text from the biblical Psalm 24.  The text in her Vieille prière bouddhique (“Old Buddhist Prayer”) is from a poem influenced by a Buddhist prayer.  Psalm 24 celebrates moral purity and sincere devotion, while Vieille prière bouddhique is a prayer that all may attain happiness and be able to move freely toward their destiny.  Regardless of one’s spiritual beliefs, Boulanger’s gift for combining intensity with lyrical beauty will prove a distinctly contemplative experience.

Words of wisdom and reassurance endure through time and across faith traditions.  In his Magnificat, the famous 20th Century Belgian organist and composer Flor Peeters uses “Mary’s Song” (verses from the Gospel of Luke) to present enduring themes of praise, prophecy, and achieving a hoped-for better world.  We will also perform Peeters’ bright and festive Entrata Festiva. The program includes music for organ and brass, two familiar Christmas carols, and Max Janowski’s Sim Shalom, an exquisite plea for establishing peace.