Program Concept

Music was a central interest in Mother Teresa’s family and in her early years. Like service to others, music is a universal language that can bridge divides, connecting us to one another no matter our race or language, our class or age, our gender or our creed. 

The program is divided into five segments, each representing a focal point of the time in which she lived and worked, and each piece is selected with a purpose: to reflect an element of Mother Teresa’s faith journey.  These selections may not have been her favorites, and in fact, many were not known to her. These composers, like Mother Teresa, push through the comfortable conventions of their time, and bring their ideas and beliefs to the collective consciousness; they through the metaphors of music, she through the laying on of hands.  Six pieces are composed or arranged by living composers, four are D.C. premieres. 

1. Mother Teresa’s Ministry was primarily focused  on the care of the sick and dying.  And when Gabriel Fauré composed “Requiem”, he said: “It does not express the fear of death; and someone has called it the ‘lullaby of death’. But that is thus that I see death: as a happy deliverance, an aspiration towards happiness above, rather than as a painful experience.” Faure died in November 2024, and we also honor the centenary year of his own “deliverance and aspiration toward happiness above”. Thus, we select Faure’s “Requiem” as the central work of the concert. 

2. Her early years: The beautiful soprano aria, “Ich folge dir gleichalls”, from Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John’s Passion, is chosen to represent Mother Teresa’s youth and joy in Christian faith. The musical setting is light and joyous, much like a young girl would have looked upon her love for Christ. The text reads: “I will follow you likewise with happy steps, and do not leave you, my life, my light. Pursue your journey, and don’t stop, continue to draw on me, to push me, to urge me”.

3. Her faith journey begins: Mother Teresa was born of Albanian descent, in present day Skopje, North Macedonia, which was at the time of her birth, part of the Ottoman Empire. We begin her faith journey with two pieces by living Albanian composers. Both pieces were U.S. premieres in their Carnegie Hall performance; they will be D.C. premieres at Strathmore.

4. The Call to the service of the poor became clear to Sister Teresa while she was studying to become a nun in Ireland, and thus four songs reminiscent of these years are presented. They 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.

5. Mother Teresa’s Work and Legacy began in India, where she founded the Missionaries of Charity, which expanded to 139 countries worldwide, building an international influence that continues to impact millions around the globe. The final section of the concert is dedicated to the concept that while we are all unique individuals, we are all of one world, regardless of our country of birth or our station in life.  Selections include compositions that reflect the world-wide scope of her legacy, ending with the Philip Glass Symphony N. 5 “Requiem, Bardo, Nirmanakaya”, Mvt. XI.  Philip Glass draws on the great wisdom traditions to more deeply understand the world’s transition from creation to the future.  In the XI. Movement, Paradisum, Glass describes Paradise in the words of the Hindu tradition, “On that shore there is a city, where the rain of nectar pours and never ceases. There is a sky filled with music. The harp strings jingle and there the drums beat….”.