Everything is Made of Light
Timothy Takach (b. 1978)

Nunc Dimittis
Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934)

Plain-Chant for America
William Grant Still (1895 – 1978)
Joanne Kelly, Speaker

Spiritual
Ysaÿe Barnwell (b. 1946)
Amanda Standard, dance

Ella’s Song
Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942 – 2024)
Nancy Dougherty, Taylor Russell, Patricia Liu, and Andrew Smith, Soloists

Suite in B
Ulysses Kay (1917 – 1995)
Stephen Key, Oboe

Mass in D Major
Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904)

This program will run approximately 80 minutes with no intermission.

To our dear audience —

Thank you all so much for being with us tonight. This concert features faith that speaks, hope that sings, and light that gathers us together.

While this is our first performance at National Presbyterian Church since 2019, we have held weekly rehearsals and built our community here for years. This space has long felt like home to the Chorus, and returning carries a deep sense of gratitude and joy. We have been so grateful to reconnect with a space that has shaped our music, our identity, and our shared memories.

NPC’s sanctuary is itself central to the concert experience tonight. Feeling both grand and intimate, this space was designed to resemble an inverted ship’s bow to evoke Noah’s Ark, symbolizing a place of refuge, safety, and welcome. Likewise, tonight’s concert is full of powerful questions that may be asked, and answered, in safety. We have also programmed repertoire specifically for this space’s acoustics—works designed to flourish in large, reverberatory spaces, where sound lingers and resonates.

Tonight, the echoes in this space are not only our own, but those of the many voices that came before us. I invite you to savor the beauty of the sound we create together, while remaining open to the passion and message within these works. There is much to hear and reflect upon as we gather, celebrate our freedoms, and ask essential questions:

What is our responsibility to one other, our community, and the world?

And do we advocate or abdicate our responsibility to improve all three?

Thank you again for joining us,

Eugene Rogers
Artistic Director, The Washington Chorus

Everything is Made of Light
Timothy Takach (b. 1978), Text by William Reichard

The moon translates a rhythm
of this night that knows no breath.
Everything is made of light.
The whole world is glowing.

Nunc Dimittis
Gustav Holst (1874 – 1934)

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 sæcula sæculorum.
Amen.

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace: according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people:
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be: world without end.
Amen.

Plain-Chant for America
William Grant Still (1895 – 1978), Text by Katherine Garrison Chapin

For the dream unfinished
Out of which we came
We stand together
While a hemisphere darkens
And the nations flame

Our earth has been hallowed
With death for freedom;
Our walls have been hallowed
With freedom’s thought.

Concord, Valley Forge, Harpers Ferry
Light up with their flares
Our sky of doubt

We fear tyranny as our hidden enemy:
The black shirt cruelty, the goose-step mind.
No dark signs close the doors of our speaking
No bayonets bar the doors of our prayers.
No gun butts shadow our children’s eyes.

If we have failed—Lynchings in Georgia,
Justice in Massachusetts undone,
The bloody fields of South Chicago—
Still a voice from the bruised and the battered
Speaks out in the light of a free sun,

Saying, “Tell them again, say it, America;
Say it again ‘till it splits their ears:
Freedom is salt in our blood and its bone shape.
If freedom fails, we’ll fight for more freedom—
This is the land and these are the years!
When freedom’s a whisper above their ashes,
An obsolete word out of their graves—
When the mind has yielded its last resistance
And the last free flag is under the waves—

“Let them remember that here on the western horizon
A star, once acclaimed, has not set;
And the strength of hope, and the shape of a vision
Died for and sung for and fought for,
And worked for,
Is living yet!”

Spiritual
Ysaÿe Barnwell (b. 1946)

Cain’t no one know at sunrise
how this day is gonna end (an’ I’m tellin’ you).
Cain’t no one know at sunset
if the next day will begin (an’ I’m tellin’ you).

In this world of trouble and woe,
a person had better be ready to go (you know).
We look for things to stay the same,
but in the twinkling of an eye,
everything can be changed (an’ I’m tellin’ you).

The troubles of this world fill our hearts with rage
from Soweto, to Stonewall, Birmingham and LA (you know).
We’re searching for hope that lies within ourselves
as we fight against misogyny, race, hatred, and blame.

Ella’s Song
Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942 – 2024)

We who believe in freedom cannot rest,
We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes

Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons
Is as important as the killing of white men, white mothers' sons.

That which touches me most is that I had a chance to work with people
Passing on to others that which was passed on to me.

To me young people come first, they have the courage where we failed
And if I can but shed some light as they carry us through the gale.

The older I get, the better I know that the secret of my going on
Is when the reins are in the hands of the young who dare to run against the storm.

Not needing to clutch for power, not needing the light just to shine on me,
I need to be one in the number as we stand against tyranny.

Struggling myself don't mean a whole lot, I've come to realize
That teaching others to stand up and fight is the only way my struggle survives,

I'm a woman who speaks in a voice, and I must be heard;
Sometimes I can be quite difficult, I'll bow to no man's word

Suite in B
Ulysses Kay (1917 – 1995)

Mass in D Major
Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904)

I. Kyrie

Kyrie eleison.
Christe eleison.
Kyrie eleison.

———

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

II. Gloria

Gloria in excelsis Deo,
Et in terra pax
hominibus bonæ voluntatis.
Laudamus te, benedicimus te,
adoramus te, glorificamus te!
Gratias agimus tibi
propter magnam gloriam tuam,
Domine Deus, Rex cælestis,
Deus Pater omnipotens.

Domine Fili Unigenite, Jesu Christe,
Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris,
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.
Qui tollis peccata mundi,
suscipe deprecationem nostram.
Qui sedes
ad dexteram Patris,
miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus,
tu solus Dominus,
tu solus Altissimus,
Jesu Christe,
cum Sancto Spiritu:
in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.

———

Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth,
peace to people of good will.
We praise You, we bless You,
We worship You, we glorify You!
We give you thanks
for your great glory,
Lord God, heavenly King,
O God almighty Father.

Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son,
Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of The Father,
You take away the sins of the world,
have mercy on us;
You take away the sins of the world,
receive our prayer;
You are seated
at the right hand of the Father
have mercy on us.

For you alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

III. Credo

Credo in unum Deum,
Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem coeli et terrae,
visibilium onmium et invisibilium.

Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum.
Et ex Patre natum ante onmia saecula.

Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero.
Genitum, non factum,
consubstantialem Patri:
per quem omnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos homines,
et propter nostram salutem
descendit de coelis.
Et incarnatus est de
Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine:
Et homo factus est.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis;
sub Pontio Pilato passus,
et sepultus est.
Et resurrexit tertia die,
secundum Scripturas.
Et ascendit in coelum:
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est com gloria
judicare vivos et mortuos.
Cujus regni non erit finis.

Et in Spiritum Sanctum,
Dominum et vivificantem:
qui ex Patre Filioque procedit.
Qui cum Patre, et Filio
simul adoratur et conglorificatur:
qui locutus est per Prophetas.

Et unam, sanctam, catholicam
et apostolicam Ecclesiam.
Confiteor unum baptisma
in remissionem peccatorum.
Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum.
Et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

———

I believe in one God,
the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ
the only-begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.

God from God, Light from Light,
true God of true God.
Begotten, not made,
one in being with the Father:
By whom all things were made.
Who for us men
and for our salvation
came down from heaven.
And became incarnate by the
Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary:
And was made man.

He was crucified for us,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
and was buried.
And He was resurrected on the third day
according to the Scriptures.
And He ascended into heaven:
Sitting at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit,
Lord and Giver of life,
Who proceeds from the Father and Son.
Who together with the Father and Son
is worshipped and glorified,
who spoke through the prophets.

And one holy, catholic and
Apostolic Church.
I acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins.
And I await the resurrection of the dead.
And the life of the world to come. Amen.

IV. Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.

Pleni sunt cæli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis.

———

Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts,

Heaven and earth are full of Your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

V. Benedictus

Benedictus qui venit
in nomine Domini.
Hosanna in excelsis.

———

Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

VI. Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei,
qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona nobis pacem.

———

Lamb of God,
who take away sins of world,
have mercy on us,

Lamb of God,
who take away sins of world,
grant us peace.