Grantee Spotlight: Cantata from the Crypt

This week, early music afficionados receive an autumnal treat: the premiere of Relics & Martyrs, a program centered around a new work by Doug Balliett woven with Caroline Shaw’s to the hands and 17th-century Danish composer Dieterich Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri. This adventurous, old-meets-new project—performed by a collaborative mix of vocalists from The New Consort and the period-instrument band Theotokos—is the brainchild of CMA Member Brian Mummert, baritone and artistic director of The New Consort. It’s also the premiere of a CMA-awarded, 2025 Artistic Project commission, supported by The Howard Gilman Foundation.

Here’s where things get interesting: Relics & Martyrs—a work chronicling the spiritual and literal histories of relics and martyrs (and all the body parts that remain)—will premiere in a real-life crypt, underground the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, dating back to 1892. It’s presented as part of the ultra eerie Death of Classical chamber music series. (Tickets and info here.)

Ahead of this perfect-for-spooky-season cantata, Chamber Music America spoke with both Mummert and Balliett about their collaboration, CMA’s Artistic Projects grant program, and if their spirituality informs their work—or vice versa.

CMA: How did this project come together?

Doug Balliett: Brian contacted me last spring with an idea for a commission and collaboration between our two groups [The New Consort and Theotokos]. He envisioned something around Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, a work that explores each body part of Jesus that was damaged during the crucifixion and set to very emotional poetry.

The first thought I had was something to do about martyrs and their relics, because we’re talking about body parts of this spiritual figure. And in Western spirituality—and other traditions as well—there is an idea that after a saint’s death, their remaining body parts become like a direct telephone line between earth and heaven.

Brian Mummert: We were thinking about these pieces of preserved history, but also about how this piece could bring in other religions and cultures’ stories. Adding Caroline’s music was a way to do just that. I was interested in the way that she expands the lens of who we think about when we think about a martyr or someone experiencing suffering. One of Doug’s movements comes out of the Buddhist tradition. So the program is about tracing these sorts of myths that run through multiple societies and exploring what function they serve and why we tell such similar stories across different cultures.

One of The New Consort’s missions is exploring fantastic vocal music that lives in a Christian context and recontextualizing it for a current, more secular society. One of the reasons I wanted to work with Doug is because of his history of connecting early music with new music and threading ideas and themes from early music into his 21st-century creations.

CMA: Doug, many of your works are driven by narrative. Does this piece have a story?

DB: It’s more of a suite of stories, surrounding some of the more interesting and unusual narratives that concern saints, the ways they died, and how their body parts still contain an enormous amount of power. Each movement is almost like a two-sided flashcard—one side with the facts about the martyrs, and the other with a song that’s drawn from the typical repertory, in Latin, but recomposed, reharmonized, reinterpreted—all of that. After this premiere, I may continue to expand the piece because there are stories from Hindu and Islamic martyrdom that could be interesting to include. For now though, I the piece sticks with stories of early-Christian martyrs, one Buddhist story, and one from 9th-century Rome.

CMA: There’s a lot layered in your works. How do you distill it all into a digestible program note?  

DB: Luckily that’s Brian’s job this time. But a lot of my pieces are like this— pretty nerdy and heady…intricately connected with lots of cross-referencing. But I don’t care if the audience knows any of that. Of course, I have goals: the most important thing is that while they’re hearing the music, they’re having an experience, and the piece is soothing, thought-provoking, activating emotions of grief or joy. But it’s not important to me if people understand each movement and the Latin chant. The whole thing should just wash over you.

BM: This concert celebrates a masterwork from 350 years ago—but it also explores a relationship to the music and themes, even by those of us who don’t necessarily share the deep Lutheran 17th-century beliefs. I want to give people a route to understanding and loving music from the time. And for people who already understand it and love it, I want this work to offer a route to thinking about it differently in a modern world.

CMA: While we’re speaking before rehearsals officially kick off (at the end of September), I’m curious how the work may change in process—and are you anticipating changes for future performances?

DB: At this point, the singers have the music, but the orchestration begins this afternoon. It’s all in my head, and now I have to write it down. That’s my typical process though, and as I’ve been working in the church, I’ve gotten used to composing and then orchestrating at the last minute. In a quick rehearsal before a premiere during mass, I’ll make edits and work with the singers and instrumentalists. I totally intend to do that with Brian and our band in our upcoming rehearsals. I like to give performers as much autonomy and creative input as possible. I also don’t feel bad telling someone I don’t like an idea—but nothing is more energizing than hearing another person’s idea that’s better than anything I could have come up with. I know The New Consort singers will come in with amazing ideas.

BM: It’s such a tight-knit early- and new-music community that are coming together for this work, and many of them already know one another and can speak each other’s language. So that will certainly be helpful in this upcoming collaborative process.

DB: Collaboration and being flexible with what was written really ties into the whole historical performance thing. In my early 20s, I played in the San Antonio Symphony. But I found the job—playing the exact notes on the page exactly the way the guy next to me is—very restrictive. Historical performance is the opposite. You’re essentially not allowed to play the notes exactly as they’re written. You’re required to put yourself into them. One Corelli sonata, for instance, should sound different in the hands of a different violinist. That’s the way I want to make music.

CMA: The crypt performance space seems perfect, adding in a site-specific element.

BM: I always had a sense that I wanted the work to be set in a vaguely spooky-feeling, religious space. So that this is happening in a way that I imagined is so thrilling.

CMA: Both of your professional careers dive into early sacred music, and you often perform in churches themselves. Do you consider yourselves religious or does your work influence your spirituality?

BM: I often describe myself as the most religious atheist that I know. I don’t believe in God in any sort of conventional sense, nor do I think of myself as a Christian. But so much of what I sing is religious, and therefore so much of my professional career has happened in and for churches. It’s certainly shaped my worldview and values, even if I don’t necessarily buy into the doctrine.

DB: Religion is a topic I’m genuinely interested in. I think it’s very hard to put one’s connection to the unknown into words. I grew up in a family that was traditionally Catholic. But I really re-entered church history during the pandemic when I began working as a church musician. And about 10 years ago, I started a very nerdy multi-year reading project, reading chronologically, starting rather arbitrarily in what we call the year 0. I’m currently around the year 1150. As it turns out for most of those centuries—especially in terms of Western Europe—the most brilliant people were working in the church. If you want to understand what a brilliant 4th- or 5th-century mind was thinking about and how they understand the world, you have no choice but to dive deep into the religious weeds.

CMA: This work was developed through the support of our Artistic Projects grant program. We’re so excited to witness the premiere.

BM: I am so grateful. CMA has been particularly supportive of The New Consort, and one of the main factors that has allowed us to take a step up in touring and professional capacity of the org. We received a Classical Commissioning award in 2023 for a piece that Jonathan Woody wrote for us that we’ve been touring and we just recorded, which will be coming out in the spring.

DB: I’ve crossed paths with CMA many times in the last decade it’s always a little thrill of excitement when I get an e-mail with CMA in the subject line. I know it’s going to be something good—either an interesting performance in an interesting place where the musicians are treated with respect, or it’s going to be an opportunity to be creative.

CMA: Brian, you’ve received multiple CMA grants. Any advice for someone less seasoned in projects like this?  

BM: Bounce ideas off a trusted source as you’re figuring out how the project or piece will be shaped. That’s important. But at a certain point, you need to remember that you are the one writing the grant; you have an artistic vision. You deserve the opportunity to stand by that. Bring that to the rehearsal room, too. I often begin a new collaboration thinking about the first conversation I want to have with the ensemble—and that first conversation will guide the way that everybody understands the goal of the piece or concert. Intention setting is a powerful tool. Have a few minutes of discussion right at the beginning of a process to make sure everyone is aligned. That alignment may shift as different people add new ideas and thoughts to the room. But starting on the same page does help collaborators or ensemble members feel more invested.

Relics & Martyrs is presented as part of the Death of Classical chamber music series. Tickets and info here. Find The New Consort and Theotokos online and follow Brian Mummert and The New Consort on Instagram @TheNewConsort.