Brahms | Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
Bonds | Credo
Brian Ganz and Eric Conway | piano
Of his Requiem, Brahms wrote: “as regards the text, I must confess that I would gladly leave off the ‘German’ and replace it simply with ‘human.’” Composed after the death of his mother, Brahms’ Requiem would become a universal gift not for the dead but for the living: a sweeping meditation on grief and hope. From the intimate bond between parent and child to the communal solace of collective mourning, it carries the echoes of those across generations who have found comfort in its embrace. The Thirteen performs this genre-defying masterpiece in Brahms’ own version for piano four hands with pianists Brian Ganz and Eric Conway.
Bonds’ Credo, set to a text by W.E.B Du Bois and also accompanied by piano, stands as a monument to conviction and hope. Penned in 1904 yet still urgent today, Credo is a clarion call for justice, dignity, and possibility. Together, Brahms and Bonds explore music’s power to console, inspire, and bear witness across time.
This program is made possible by a generous gifts from our Concert Sponsors, Cheryl Naulty & Walter Hill and an Anonymous donor. The Thirteen’s Vocal Fellows Program is made possible by a gift from the Andrew Warnock Clarke & Martin ‘Chip’ Sherrill Family Foundation.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
Tallis, Barber & Britten
Composition is a process in which fragments of the past are infused with fresh genius, creating something wholly new. Barber’s Reincarnations transfigures James Stephen’s Irish lyric poems evoking intense love, tragic grief, and the pastoral into songs of expressive intensity. With distance from Barber’s life, the composer is increasingly recognized as one of the finest American composers of that time. Despite the depression, alcoholism, and financial ruin that characterized the end of his life, his music sings on.
Thomas Tallis likely wrote his extended votive antiphon Ave rosa sine spinis early in his career, during the reign of Henry VIII. His output spanned the religious and political upheavals inherent in serving not only that single Reformation-era monarch, but Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I as well—as seen in the astonishing variety in his church music, which ranges from ebullient and ornate Latin motets to music of austere beauty in the English language. Ave rosa sine spinis reflects a shining moment in which the political climate permitted richly ornate music of devotion, resulting in an overflowing of musical scale and possibility.
Join The Thirteen for an exploration of some of our most beloved English-language composers in a display of virtuosity and artistry.
This program is made possible by our Producing Sponsor, J. Penny Clark, and by generous gifts from our Concert Sponsors, Stephen & Maygene Daniels and Don Picard.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
The region’s only all-professional, complete production of Messiah.
We perform all three parts of Messiah—including the iconic “Hallelujah Chorus”—telling the greatest story ever told in song. Our “dazzling” choir and center-stage soloists are joined by the nation’s finest period instrumentalists, performing Messiah’s iconic solos and duets with “distinctive approaches to these famous arias” (Washington Classical Review).
Due to its ubiquity, Handel’s Messiah is a piece we all think we know. And yet, each return reveals new resonance: echoes of its original context in 1742 Dublin, of the generations of listeners and performers who have become part of its history, and of the questions it continues to pose in our own time. Messiah raises enduring questions of justice, power, and of what it might mean for “every valley [to] be exalted” or “why do the nations so furiously rage together?” The Thirteen returns annually to Handel’s masterpiece as stewards of this beloved tradition.
This program is made possible by generous gifts from our Concert Sponsors, Robert & Lynn Downing and the Downing Family Foundation.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
by Joby Talbot
Immersive projections by Camilla Tassi
Immersive projections by Camilla TassiIn Path of Miracles, British composer Joby Talbot takes the listener on a musical journey along the mystical Camino de Santiago de Compostela—literally, St. James of the Field of Stars. The work vibrates with the footfalls of the pilgrims who have walked this path for millennia, its four movements marking the major stages of the Camino.
In Path of Miracles, Talbot weaves together medieval texts in multiple languages with musical styles as far-ranging as those of Taiwanese Bunun people, creating a sonic tapestry in which past and present sound together, an extended ‘thin space’ where the human and the divine meet. Paired with projected images of the cosmos, The Thirteen’s performances of Path of Miracles promise to be replete with beauty and wonder.
This program is made possible by a generous gifts from our Concert Sponsors, Sara Fein and Michael Kellogg & Lucy Pugh.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
Matthew Hill | Evangelist
Edward Vogel | Jesus
Nathan Troup | Stage Director
Children’s Chorus of Washington
Bach wrote his St. Matthew Passion three hundred years ago, in 1727, for his third Good Friday services at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. Following our nationally acclaimed staged performance of his St. John Passion in 2021 and 300 years after St. Matthew’s composition, The Thirteen turns to Bach’s greatest Passion through a fully staged and acted-out production, bringing to life the drama, devotion, and depth of Bach’s most profound masterpiece.
Described as “a church for everyone” by Dutch conductor Jos van Veldhoven, the St. Matthew Passion carries the imprint not only of the Passion narrative and Bach’s compositional genius, but also of the echoes of its centuries-long performance history and how its story and music resonate in our time. With 66 performers—our largest production to date—the program promises to be “a faithful and acoustically lively account, skillfully performed” (The Washington Post).
This program is made possible by our Producing Sponsors, John & Sara Thorne, and by generous gifts from Concert Sponsors Sherman & Maureen Katz and Sue Berryman, who has further supported this concert through a gift to The Thirteen’s Building for Tomorrow fund.
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
US In Our Time is an exploration of American voices and contemporary stories through the frame of relationships: with lovers, with family, with the other, and with our country. In a series of scenes, The Thirteen explores how music reflects and shapes our place in the world. Featuring a World Premiere commission from Ashi Day, and works by Ted Hearne, Scott Ordway, Pulitzer Prize–winner Caroline Shaw, and more, The Thirteen performs music that blends intimate personal narratives with broader social reflection, creating a portrait of our time in sound.
This program is made possible by generous gifts from Concert Sponsors Charles Cerf & Cynthia Dunbar and Bruce Rosenblum & Lori Laitman.
