Program:

David, the man after God’s own heart

O King, your favours [from Saul, George Frederic Handel (1685-1759)]

Cantique du berger [from Le Roi David, Arthur Honneger (1892-1955)]

Miserere Mei (Gregorian Chant)

God’s mercy to his people, Israel

Woe unto them who forsake Him [from Elijah, Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)]

O Rest in the Lord [from Elijah]

Deus Abraham [Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921)]

The Lord is long-suffering and merciful [from Judith, Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)]

The Queen Mother

O thou that tellest [from Messiah, George Frederic Handel]

Manger Carol [French carol arr. Leo Sowerby (1895-1968)]

Inflammatus et accensus [from Stabat Mater, Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904)]

O Marie [Auguste Cherion, 1854-1904)]

Christ, our Lord and King

Laudamus Te [from Mass in B Minor, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-`1750)]

Songs of Gladness I will sing Thee [No. 5 from Biblical Songs, Antonin Dvorak]

Anima Christi [Ettore Pozzoli, 1873-1957]

A Song of Battle [no. 6 from Bible Songs, Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)]

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About the performers:

Emily Helferty

Clara Gerdes, originally from North Carolina, is a 2021 graduate of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she studies with Martin Jean. She recently graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Alan Morrison. She received first prizes in the Fort Wayne, Albert Schweitzer, AGO-Quimby Mid-Atlantic Regional and UNCSA School of the Arts organ competitions; was the recipient of the 2020 Baker Prize in Organ Performance and the 2021 Julia Sherman Award for Excellence in Organ Playing from Yale. She has performed around the United States, including at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York and Washington National Cathedral, the Church Music Association of America annual conference, the American Guild of Organists 2018 National Convention in Kansas City, and at Spoleto, Oregon Bach Festival, Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts and most recently the Uncommon Music Festival in Sitka, Alaska. Clara is an avid accompanist and collaborator and has accompanied the combined choirs of Westminster Choir College for Readings and Carols, Commencement and on other occasions. Pre-Covid, she served as Assistant Organist at Saint Bartholomew’s Church, Park Avenue in New York City and was previously Organ Scholar at Saint Mark’s Church, Locust Street in Philadelphia. She now serves as Director of Music at Most Holy Redeemer and Nativity Parish in Manhattan, New York, where her responsibilities include directing four different choirs and overseeing the restoration of the church’s 1891 Roosevelt organ.