Join us on June 24th!
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While all services at St. John’s are welcoming and affirming to all, this Pride week Vespers lifts up the theme of God’s radically inclusive and expansive love, as attested for millennia, with music ranging from Gregorian chant to a solo Baroque cantata -- Buxtehude’s “Jubilate Domino” with gamba obbligato — and a brand new cantata, all echoing the good news and celebration found in the Psalms and the Book of Isaiah nearly a thousand years before the gospel was declared in the New Testament.
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Audrey Fernandez Fraser’s 2026 cantata, “What Kind of House,” uses Baroque and other traditional settings of Old Testament scripture to tell the enduring and expanding story of God’s house and the people who are privileged to live there. A countertenor and soprano represent the voices of people once banned from the congregation of Israel — eunuchs, Moabites, and those of “illegitimate birth,” expressing their longing for God’s temple and their steadfast faith, calling upon the Lord and refusing to turn away, even when they feel rejected.
Their heartbreak gives way to rejoicing when the choir proclaims God’s revelations to Isaiah welcoming in the eunuch, the “foreigner,” and all the “outcasts of Israel” who choose to "join themselves to the Lord,” clarifying the nature of God’s house:
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​​“I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with the one who is contrite and humble in spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15)​
The cantata will feature musical motives from its chorale, the Dutch tune In Babilone, or “Glorious Things are Sung of Zion,” as well as from the Gregorian chant tract, “Qui confidunt in Domino,” whose Psalm text echoes the message of the evening to every person who trusts, who hopes:
​​​“They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion,
which cannot be removed, but abideth forever.
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As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people, from henceforth even forever.”
(Psalm 125: 1-2) ​
As usual, the service will feature congregational hymns, prayers, readings, and reflection.
It is our hope that on this evening of prayer any who have felt marginalized or rejected by the church will feel comforted, and any who have been tempted to shun or alienate others for their God-given differences will become emboldened to embody God's love in its infinitude.
Please join us, whatever your faith or background, and invite
your friends!
​A Vespers for All
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Wednesday June 24, 2026 at 7pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY​
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The Christopher Street Collegium
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Marina Fragoulis, Violin
Amneris Puscasu, Violin
Surai Balbeisi, Viola
Adam Young, Viola da Gamba & Cello
Patricia Ann Neely, Violone & Bass Viol
Daniel Golden, Organ
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano
Sarah Balsam-Moga, Alto
Padraic Costello, Counter-tenor
Adam Bock, Tenor
Oliver Holt, Bass
Past Events
For the fourth year in a row, the Christopher Street Collegium performed Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres for a vespers service that first touched many hearts at Holy Week 2023.
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Holy Wednesday, or "Spy Wednesday," marks the day when Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus. Its evening ushers in the three days of Tenebrae, meaning "darkness". For centuries the church celebrated Tenebrae liturgies for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings of Holy Week, focused on the betrayal, crucifixion, and death of Christ. These were often celebrated the night before, starting on Wednesday evening.
Our Baroque Tenebrae Vespers carries on this ancient tradition, featuring 15 verses from the Book of Lamentations, with each reading followed by a sung version of the text, in Latin, composed by François Couperin. His Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredi saint were composed for Holy Wednesday, 1714, to be performed at the Abbaye Royale de Longchamp, by two sopranos, organ, and viola da gamba.
In this beautiful liturgy of lament, candles are gradually extinguished as the church recalls its ancient descent into darkness. This opportunity is all the more rare for Couperin's exquisite French Baroque setting of Jeremiah's ancient Lamentations.
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Our service this year began with a solo viola da gamba prelude by Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c. 1640-c. 1700).
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Wednesday April 1, 2026 at 6:30pm
St. John's Lutheran Church,
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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All welcome.
Freewill offering.
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Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Adam Young, Viola da Gamba
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Sarah Balsam-Moga, Mezzo-soprano
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Lenten Vespers​
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This prayerful service of Lent featured musical gems from Baroque, romantic, and 20th century composers, performed by the Christopher Street Collegium. Bach's Cantata 131, his motet, "O Jesu Christ, mein's Lebens Licht," BWV 118, and a stunning geistliches Lied by Heinrich Schütz, were interspersed with congregational hymns, Eastern rite musical prayer settings, and Brahms’s choral geistliches Lied, “Laß dich nur nichts nicht dauren mit Trauren” (“Let naught afflict thee with grief,”), in keeping with a theme of divine comfort amidst trial and tribulation.
Friday March 6, 2026 at 6pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY​
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The Christopher Street Collegium
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Janet Sora Chung, Organ,
Co-artistic Director​
Emily Ostrom, Oboe,
Marina Fragoulis, Violin
Amneris Puscasu, Violin
Surai Balbeisi, Viola
Adam Young, Violoncello
Joe Jones, Bassoon
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Greta Moorhead, Alto
Nathan Riehl, Tenor
Mel Shu, Bass
Advent Lessons & Carols
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This was our first Advent Lessons & Carols, featuring nine scripture readings each paired with a choral offering. Music ranged from a six-voice Monteverdi motet and Buxtehude trio — with violins and viola da gamba — to a cappella anthems from the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Saturday December 13, 2025 at 6:00pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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The Christopher Street Collegium
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Sarah Balsam-Moga, Soprano
Michelle Repella, Mezzo-soprano
Peter Gruett, Tenor
Nathan Riehl, Tenor
Oliver Holt, Bass
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Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic & Choral Director
​Marina Fragoulis, Violin
Amneris Puscasu Violin
Adam Young, Viola da gamba
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Heinrich Schütz: Sacred Arias
This concert featured devotional arias by this master of vocal music Heinrich Schütz. Born in 1585, exactly 100 years before J.S. Bach, and trained in both Germany and Venice, this remarkable composer created a uniquely beautiful melding of cultures, conveying both the spiritual passion and drama of the early Lutherans and early Baroque Italians.
While best known for his copious choral masterpieces, he produced a plethora of lesser-known and equally excellent solo and chamber works. It was a rare treat to hear such a collection of Sch​ütz’s works for solo voice, especially those featuring violins in addition to continuo. Most of the arias are Psalm settings from Schütz's collections, Symphoniae Sacrae (I + II); the concert also featured a Magnificat (Song of Mary) and a setting of two ancient prayers by St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD), translated into German and Latin.
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Heinrich Schütz: Sacred Arias
Friday November 21, 2025 at 6:00pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Continuo, Co-artistic Director
​Marina Fragoulis, Violin
Amneris Puscasu Violin
Adam Young, Violoncello
At the end of October, 1517, the Augustinian friar Martin Luther voiced concerns about the Church in his hisoric "95 Theses". The ensuing movement of Protestant Reformation ignited the hearts of believers around the world for centuries. Luther's own theological, poetic, and musical legacy resounds strongly in the works of Baroque composers around Europe.
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In this Reformation Vespers, we share in festive congregational hymns, prayers, and readings, woven throughout with Reformation-themed vocal and instrumental performances by the Christopher Street Collegium.
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This Vespers remarkably features two cantatas by Dietrich Buxtehude. His “Ich suchte des Nachts,” BuxWV 50, for two voices, strings, and continuo, tells of the long and ardent search for “him whom my soul loves,” through “lanes and streets" and “without light”.
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Buxtehude’s triumphant cantata “Jesu meine Freude,” BuxWV 60, is a setting of the beloved hymn, “Jesus, My Joy,” with lyrics by Johann Franck and melody by Johann Crüger, popularized by J.S. Bach’s five-voice motet setting of the hymn. Greatly admired by Bach, Buxtehude set the hymn with beautiful musical figures that foreshadow Bach’s later motet. Buxtehude’s setting is performed by just three singers, with strings and continuo.
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The spirit of Lutheran Reformation is perhaps most famously captured in Luther's hymn, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress is Our God"), based on Psalm 46, "God is our refuge and strength". Our vespers will feature two vivacious movements of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantata 80, based on Luther’s iconic chorale, after which the congregation will join in singing the hymn.
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Reformation Vespers
Friday October 24, 2025 at 6:00pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Emi Ostrom, Oboe
​Marina Fragoulis, Violin
Amneris Puscasu, Violin
Adam Young, Violoncello
Andrew Yeargin, Harpsichord
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Emi Ostrom, Alto
Andrew Yeargin, Tenor
Oliver Holt, Bass​​
For the third year in a row, the Christopher Street Collegium performed Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres for a vespers service that first touched many hearts at Holy Week 2023.
​
Holy Wednesday, or "Spy Wednesday," marks the day when Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus. Its evening ushers in the three days of Tenebrae, meaning "darkness". For centuries the church celebrated Tenebrae liturgies for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings of Holy Week, focused on the betrayal, crucifixion, and death of Christ. These were often celebrated the night before, starting on Wednesday evening.
Our Baroque Tenebrae Vespers carries on this ancient tradition, featuring 15 verses from the Book of Lamentations, with each reading followed by a sung version of the text, in Latin, composed by François Couperin. His Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredi saint were composed for Holy Wednesday, 1714, to be performed at the Abbaye Royale de Longchamp, by two sopranos, organ, and viola da gamba.
In this beautiful liturgy of lament, candles are gradually extinguished as the church recalls its ancient descent into darkness. This opportunity is all the more rare for Couperin's exquisite French Baroque setting of Jeremiah's ancient Lamentations.
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Wednesday April 16, 2025 at 6:30pm
St. John's Lutheran Church,
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Adam Young, Viola da Gamba
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Marcia Young, Soprano
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Baroque Lenten Vespers​
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This rich and reflective service of sacred music and prayer featured treasures of Baroque repertoire performed by the Christopher Street Collegium. Bach's Cantata 131, his motet, "O Jesu Christ, mein's Lebens Licht," BWV 118, and stunning geistliche Lieder by Schütz, Buxtehude, and Tunder were interspersed with congregational hymns, prayers, and readings.
Friday March 28, 2025 at 6pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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The Christopher Street Collegium
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Janet Sora Chung, Organ,
Co-artistic Director​
Emily Ostrom, Oboe,
Marina Fragoulis, Violin
Amneris Puscasu, Violin
Surai Balbeisi, Viola
Adam Young, Violoncello
Joe Jones, Bassoon
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Michelle Repella, Alto
Andrew Yeargin, Tenor
Oliver Holt, Bass
Baroque Advent Vespers
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Friday December 13, 2024 at 6:00pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ,
Co-artistic Director
​Erica Dicker, Violin
Surai Balbeisi, Violin
Marina Fragoulis, Viola
Adam Young, Violoncello
Yanni Burton, Double Bass
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Michelle Repella, Alto
Andrew Yeargin, Tenor
Oliver Holt, Bass​​
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A special service with Advent music interwoven with congregational hymns, readings and prayer. We journey through Bach's classic Advent Cantata, BWV 61, "Nun komm der Heiden Heiland;" Schutz's treble duet, first plaintive and then jubilant, "O Lieber Herre Gott" SWV 287, from his Kleine Geistliche Konzert; Charpentier's choral Magnificat H. 80; Bach's beloved tenor setting of Philipp Nicolai's hymn, "Wachet auf," from Cantata 140; and Charpentier's dancing lullaby, "Salve Puerule" for strings, and choir, from his In Nativitatem Domini Canticum, H. 414.
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Baroque Reformation Vespers
Friday October 25, 2024 at 6:00pm
St. John's Lutheran Church
81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
​Jimmy Drancsak, Violin
Amneris Puscasu, Violin
Adam Young, Violoncello
Yanni Burton, Double Bass
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Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Michelle Repella, Alto
Andrew Yeargin, Tenor
Christopher DeVage, Bass​​
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At the end of October, 1517, the Augustinian friar Martin Luther voiced concerns about the Church in his hisoric "95 Theses". The ensuing movement of Protestant Reformation ignited the hearts of believers around the world for centuries. Luther's own theological, poetic, and musical legacy resounds strongly in the works of Baroque composers around Europe.
In this Baroque Reformation Vespers, we shared in festive congregational hymns, prayers, and readings, woven throughout with Reformation-themed vocal and instrumental performances by the Christopher Street Collegium.
J.S. Bach's Cantata 79, "Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild," composed for Reformation Sunday, shines with the grateful zeal of early Lutheranism, with vivacious instrumental lines and jubilant vocal movements of praise, thanks, and extolling the Lord as "sun and shield". A similar spirit of victory and confidence is conveyed in a contrasting cantata by Dieterich Buxtehude, "Der Herr ist mit mir," BuxWV 15, in C Minor, which dances through verses of Psalm 118 in homophonic declarations in dialogue with the strings, culminating in an energetic "Alleluia" section.
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The spirit of Lutheran Reformation is perhaps most famously captured in Luther's hymn, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress is Our God"), based on Psalm 46, "God is our refuge and strength". The vespers program featured Georg Philipp Telemann's choral setting of "Ein feste Burg," followed by congregational singing of the hymn. And in the only Italian piece on the program, "Deus noster refugium," (God our refuge," an aria setting of Psalm 46 by Girolamo Frescobaldi, we hearken to the Roman Catholicism of Luther's early years, while the same text reflects the continuity of biblical faith across the life of Luther and the universal church.
For the second year in a row, the Christopher Street Collegium performed Couperin's Leçons de Ténèbres for a vespers service that first touched many hearts at Holy Week 2023.
​
Holy Wednesday, or "Spy Wednesday," marks the day when Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus. Its evening ushers in the three days of Tenebrae, meaning "darkness". For centuries the church celebrated Tenebrae liturgies for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings of Holy Week, focused on the betrayal, crucifixion, and death of Christ. These were often celebrated the night before, starting on Wednesday evening.
Our Baroque Tenebrae Vespers carried on this ancient tradition, featuring 15 readings from the Book of Lamentations, each followed by a sung version of the reading, in Latin, composed by François Couperin. His Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredi saint were composed for Holy Wednesday, 1714, to be performed at the Abbaye Royale de Longchamp, by two sopranos, organ, and viola da gamba.
In this beautiful liturgy of lament, candles were gradually extinguished as the church recalled its ancient descent into darkness. This opportunity was all the more rare for Couperin's exquisite French Baroque expression of Jeremiah's ancient Lamentations.
Wednesday March 27, 2024 at 5:30pm
St. John's Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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Rev. Andrew C. Patty, Pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church
Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Adam Young, Viola da Gamba
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Linda Tsatsanis, Soprano
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This jubilant and joyful Eastertide Vespers featured cantatas by J. S. Bach, Christoph Graupner alongside stunning selections by Johann Hermann Schein, George Friederic Handel and more.
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Thursday May 4, 2023 at 6pm
St. John's Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher Street, New York, NY
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Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Carmen Johnson Pajaro, Violin
Kako Miura, Violin
Maren Rothfritz, Viola
Adam Young, Violoncello
Charlie Caranicas, Trumpet
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Michelle Repella, Alto
Andrew Yeargin, Tenor
Matthew Cramer, Bass
Holy Wednesday, or "Spy Wednesday," marks the day when Judas Iscariot decided to betray Jesus. Its evening ushers in the three days of Tenebrae, meaning "darkness". For centuries the church celebrated Tenebrae liturgies for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings of Holy Week, focused on the betrayal, crucifixion, and death of Christ. These were often celebrated the night before, starting on Wednesday evening.
Our Baroque Tenebrae Vespers carried on this ancient tradition, featuring 15 readings from the Book of Lamentations, each followed by a sung version of the reading, in Latin, composed by François Couperin. His Leçons de ténèbres pour le mercredi saint were composed for Holy Wednesday, 1714, to be performed at the Abbaye Royale de Longchamp, by two sopranos, organ, and viola da gamba.
In this beautiful liturgy of lament, candles were gradually extinguished as the church recalled its ancient descent into darkness. This opportunity was all the more rare for Couperin's exquisite French Baroque expression of Jeremiah's ancient Lamentations.
Wednesday April 5, 2023 at 6pm
St. John's Lutheran Church, 81 Christopher Street, New York, NY​
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Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Adam Young, Viola da Gamba
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Nola Richardson, Soprano
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This Baroque Lenten Vespers featured an interweaving congregational singing, spoken word, and choral-orchestral music reflecting the emotional range of Jesus's 40 days in the wilderness. The harmonious cries of Purcell's Funeral Sentences giving way to robust Lutheran hymns of penitence and submission, including exquisite harmonizations by Heinrich Schütz and J.S. Bach.
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Two solo cantatas -- Buxtehude's "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" (BuxWV 42) for soprano, and Bach's "Widerstehe doch der Sünde" (BWV 54) for counter-tenor, reflecting upon the believer's suffering, temptation, and ultimate triumph over sin.
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The program featured two contemporary works by renowned performers of sacred music -- the doleful exilic Psalm 137, "By the waters of Babylon," set stirringly by McNeil Robinson; and a short, celestial setting of "Jesu, meine Seelen Wonne" for voice and strings by the Bach Institute's Rudolph Lutz. The service was opened and concluded by a stunning viola prelude and postlude.
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Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Carmen Johnson Pajaro, Violin
Amelia Sie, Violin
Kako Miura, Violin
Maren Rothfritz, Viola
Adam Young, Violoncello
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Daniel Moody, Counter-tenor
Andrew Yeargin, Tenor
William Hawley, Bass
This Advent Vespers at St. John's (81 Christopher St.) met with an enthusiastic congregational response. In addition to congregational chorales, the Christopher Street Collegium performed Bach Cantata 61, Buxtehude's BuxWV100 ("Wachet Auf"), BuxWV52 ("In Dulci Jubilo"), and a Schein Magnificat. The evening began with a sublime prelude of solo viola.
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Click here to view the program notes.
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Dr. Janet Sora Chung, Organ, Co-artistic Director
Carmen Johnson Pajaro, Violin
Amelia Sie, Violin
Maren Rothfritz, Viola
Adam Young, Violoncello
Joe Jones, Bassoon
Audrey Fernandez-Fraser, Soprano, Co-artistic Director
Sarah Balsam-Moga, Mezzo-Soprano
Andrew Yeargin, Tenor
Bryan Murray, Baritone