A Feast for the Eyes and Ears
by Megan Collier
Choir of the Sound concert goers are in for a rare treat with the The Book of Hours: A Choral Reflection of Time concert series. The skill and sound of the choir will be on display in two very special locations in March of 2024 – Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle and the Bastyr University Chapel in Kenmore.
Artistic director and conductor Jeremy Matheis carefully selects the music for each concert series. The choir, Jeremy, associate director Anjali Chudasama, and collaborative pianist Avery Groenman work together for months to explore and fine tune the music.In the March concert, the performance venues provide light, acoustics, and magic that are their own.
Many of our March performances over the past 15 years have been at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral on Capitol Hill in Seattle, and we are thrilled to be performing in this space on Saturday, March 9. From the soaring ceiling to the custom windows to the elevated choir loft and the Flentrop organ, the nave is a magnificent space to perform and enjoy music. Our past concerts in this space have included the Verdi Requiem and last March’s The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.
Less familiar to Choir of the Sound regulars is the Bastyr University Chapel. Located in Kenmore, Washington, Bastyr University is surrounded by Saint Edward State Park. After a short drive through the fir and hemlock forest, concertgoers will find the Bastyr University campus hidden away from the bustle of Seattle life. The campus was originally built as a Catholic seminary, with the campus closed by the diocese and later sold to Bastyr University, a private alternative medicine university, in 1978.
The chapel was built in the 1950s for the Saint Edward Seminary. Seattle archbishop Thomas Connally gave young architect Don Van Wieringen the charge to design the chapel to be “as acoustically perfect as possible.” Seventy years later, the chapel is known for its exquisite acoustics. Numerous film scores have been recorded here, including About Schmidt, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Mirror Mirror, and the Academy Award-winning score to Brokeback Mountain. Along with its marvelous acoustics, the chapel is beautiful. After entering through the impressive copper doors, visitors have a feast for the eyes with the hand-carved oak paneling, mosaics, stained glass, and the 48-foot-high box-beam ceilings. Choir of the Sound holds our winter choir retreat at Bastyr every year, and in 2008, we performed our Simply Bernstein! concert here under the direction of Judy Filibeck. The Choir offers The Book of Hours: A Choral Reflection of Time at Bastyr on Sunday, March 10.
