"Under Your Shelters" - Sacred Choir Concert for All Saints' Day

The focus is on Bach's great motet "Jesu, meine Freude," surrounded by choral music spanning almost 300 years, from Scarlatti and Reger to Vasks, Vaughan Williams, and Goodall. The Motettenchor Speyer performs this program for the first time at St. German.

Security, trust in God, and the community of saints: these are the themes of the Motettenchor Speyer's new program, fitting for All Saints' Day. At the center is Johann Sebastian Bach's "Jesu, meine Freude," his most extensive motet. The title of the evening is also taken from this work.

Around this piece, the choir weaves a span of nearly 300 years of choral music. It ranges from the festive jubilation of Alessandro Scarlatti through Max Reger to the meditative "Pater noster" by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks. From England come Howard Goodall's lyrical setting of Psalm 23 and Ralph Vaughan Williams' celebratory All Saints' hymn "For all the saints." Most pieces are performed a cappella. Valeria Lo Giudice (cello) and Frederic Beaupoil (organ) accompany the other works and also perform solo.

This is the choir's first performance at St. German, the church of the priest seminary. The conductor is Michael Marz.