Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa

 (Washington, D.C.) – EGC Productions brings “Journey of Faith: A Musical Tribute to Mother Teresa,” to D.C. audiences on Saturday, September 6, 2025, 8:00 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. This one-night musical event reprises a successful performance at Carnegie Hall in February 2025. The program celebrates the life of Saint Mother Teresa, highlighting her legacy of service to the poor through the organization she founded, Missionaries of Charity—which now reaches 139 countries and celebrates its 75th anniversary this year.

Renowned conductor Dante Santiago Anzolini returns to the D.C. area, following previous celebrated engagements including leading the American premiere of Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5 with the Choral Arts Society of Washington in 2001, and Philip Glass’ Appomattox with the Washington National Opera in 2015. He leads the Grammy® Award-winning Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and other world-class performers in a program that includes that includes movement 11, “Paradise,” from Glass’ Symphony No. 5, plus four D.C.-area premieres and works by other U.S. composers such as Missy Mazzoli and Leonard Bernstein, paired with traditional classical masterpieces by Fauré, J.S. Bach, Holst and more.

A centerpiece of the program is Hymn for Mother Teresa, composed by Albanian Genc Tukiçi on a motif by Lorenc Antoni. The Hymn was commissioned by Dijana Toska and debuted at the canonization ceremony for Saint Teresa at the Vatican in 2016, and was later performed in Albania on October 19, 2023, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her beatification. The concert in Albania featured Catherine Wethington, soprano—winner of the 2023 City of Brescia Tribute to Maria Callas International Competition—who also performed the Hymn in its American premiere at Carnegie Hall and now performs it for the D.C. audience. Tukiçi’s Hymn draws inspiration from a melody from Lamtumirë (“farewell”) composed by Lorenc Antoni—who was a cousin of Mother Teresa—which sets to music a poem that Mother Teresa herself wrote upon her departure from Albania to Ireland when she first accepted the call to service.

“Mother Teresa made difficult sacrifices in her life that led to incredible work that had a lasting impact in our world,” reflects Wethington, who curated the program in collaboration with Maestro Anzolini. “She had this feeling deep inside from a very young age that God could accomplish a great work of love through her. Her example of humility and service is inspiring. It has been an honor to share her powerful story through music, first in her native Albania, then at Carnegie Hall and now in my hometown of Washington, D.C.”

In addition to Wethington, the concert also features baritone Sean Michael Plumb—winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera Council National Auditions and the 2016 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition—as well as a Tribute Chorale of professional singers prepared by Joseph Holt, who served more than twenty years as principal pianist with The United States Army Chorus, held the position of Associate Music Director for The Choral Arts Society of Washington for fifteen years, and recently retired from his post as the Artistic Director of Choral Artists of Sarasota.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The program reflects the stations in the journey of the late Mother Teresa’s life:

·       The program’s first half features Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem, depicting her ministry for the sick and dying, and belief that death was not an end, but led to something greater.

·       The second half begins with the soprano aria, “Ich folge dir gleichalls” from J.S. Bach’s St. John’s Passion, representing Mother Teresa’s youth, joy and obedience in Christian faith.

·       Journey of Faith Begins (Albania): Mother Teresa is of Albanian descent, born in present day Skopje, North Macedonia, which was, at the time of her birth, part of the Ottoman Empire. The beginning of her faith journey is depicted by Thoma Gaqi’s “Vallia me Daire” from Valle Simfonike and Genc Tukiçi /Lorenc Antoni’s Vals Hyjnor (Hymn for Mother Teresa).

·       Call to Ministry (Ireland): Mother Teresa heard the call to serve the poor while she was studying to become a nun in Ireland. The four songs reminiscent of these years include:  Herbert Hughes, “Down by the Salley Gardens” (arr. Dante Anzolini); Michael William Balfe, “I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls,” from The Bohemian Girl; Vaughan Williams’ “The Call” from Five Mystical Songs, and Vladimir Vavilov’s (Arr. Steven Mercurio) Ave Maria.

·       Mission Work and Legacy (India & Worldwide): The final section celebrates Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity, which began in India and expanded to 139 countries worldwide, building an international influence that continues to impact millions around the globe. The music explores the concept that all humans belong to each other and one world, regardless of their country of birth or economic station. Works include an excerpt from Holst’s Sita Op. 23, Act III: Interlude; Leonard Bernstein’s Simple Song; Missy Mazzoli’s These Worlds in Us; and Philip Glass’ XI Paradise from Symphony No. 5, “Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya.”

“It is my sincere honor to lead this program of beautiful music dedicated to Saint Teresa,” shares conductor Maestro Anzolini. “Each work represents an important facet of her inspiring journey on this earth: Mazzoli’s meditative work examines how grief and joy can be intertwined as one. The Indian culture she embraced is represented in Holst’s Hindi musical themes and Sanskrit literature. In Glass’ Paradise, we celebrate her transition to her eternal home.”

About Saint Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in 1910 to parents of Albanian heritage. She responded to a call to religious ministry in Ireland and later founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious organization dedicated to serving the “poorest of the poor” in the slums of Calcutta, India.  In recognition of her service to humanity, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and canonized Saint Teresa by Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2016.