philoxenia gatherings
Classic choral music in dialogue with contemporary, communal experience
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CLASSIC CHORAL MUSIC
The heart of Philoxenia is in classic choral pieces that have set the standard as the best of the choral genre for centuries. While classics like Rachmaninoff’s Vespers were often composed for liturgical use, classic choral music can hold sacred space for everyone, regardless of religious affiliation.
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CROSS-GENRE MUSIC
By pairing sacred choral music with contemporary music of any genre, we hear the works of Beethoven or Arvo Pärt in new ways. Above all, we hear choral classics, too, as contemporary in their own way; contemporary and classic music enter into the timeless.
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POETRY & OTHER FINE ARTS
Finally, poetry, theatre, dance, painting, and other fine arts contribute in ways beyond what music alone can do. The final result of a Philoxenia Gathering is an evening steeped in story unfolding in front of us together, performer and audience member.
“Philoxenia gatherings are really special events and, even more than that, they cultivate a supportive artistic community. I loved getting to share my art with an interested and thoughtful audience, and I especially loved allowing my poetry to enter into dialogue with the lyrics, musicianship, and flow of the evening. That sort of artistic collaboration has a powerful multiplying effect.”
— Hallie Waugh, Featured Poet, Philoxenia: Time (2025)
past gatherings
Philoxenia: Wanderer
May 28-29, 2026
Featuring: O Gentle Light of Holy Glory, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov; Let My Love be Heard, Jake Runestad; The Road Home, Stephen Paulus; Visita Quæsumus Domine, William Byrd; Desert Song, saje; To the Mountains, Lizzy McAlpine; Wasted on the Way, Crosby, Stills, and Nash
September 25-26, 2025
Featuring: The Beatitudes, Arvo Pärt; Goodnight Moon, Eric Whitacre; Hope is the Thing with Feathers, Emily Dickinson/Christopher Tin; Human Heart, Coldplay; My Body is a Cage, Arcade Fire
Philoxenia: Voices Within
January 10-11, 2025
Featuring: Vespers, Op. 37: VI Bogoroditse Devo, Rachmaninoff; The Peace of Wild Things, Jake Runestad; All I’ve Ever Known (from Hadestown), Anais Mitchell; Stay Alive, Jose Gonzalez; Both Sides Now, Joni Mitchell
Philoxenia: Time
July 13, 2024
Featuring: The Ground (from Sunrise Mass), Oja Gjello; Will There Really Be a Morning?, Emily Dickinson/Craig Hella Johnson; Requiem, Op. 48: Sanctus, Gabriel Faure; The Seal Lullaby, Eric Whitacre; All These Things That I’ve Done, The Killers; I’m Not My Season, Fleet Foxes
Philoxenia: Water
November 18, 2023
Featuring: Holy Radiant Light, Alexandre Gretchaninoff; Ubi Caritas, Ola Gjello; Even When He is Silent, Kim Andre Arnesen; Father, Father, Laura Mvula/Megan Taylor Gilstrap; Harvest Moon, Neil Young