Roger Ames:
A Legacy Concert Series
August, 2022
Thank you to all who attended our concerts. The Same Stream sang an evening of music by Roger Ames and other composer friends of the choir, including Ames' final set of songs: AWAKENINGS.
To honor Roger and his battle with ALS, 10% of all ticket sale revenue was donated to the ALS Association.
1723 Race St, Philadelphia, PA 19103
August 5: St. Paul's Episcopal Church
28 Highland Road, Glen Cove, NY 11542
August 6: All Saints' Church of Princeton
16 All Saints Rd, Princeton, NJ 08540
August 4: The Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul
Singers
SOPRANO
Marion Jacob
Kristen Kozub
Joslyn Thomas
Camille Watson
Yiran Zhao
ALTO
Emily Chant
David Falatok
Julianna Massielo
Alex Meakem
Holly Scovell
TENOR
Jesse Borower
Ari Carrillo
Chrisopher Filice
Matthew Henry
Greg Nappa
BASS
Michael Banks
Jay Besch
T. Quinn Kimball
Joshua Palagyi
Sam Scheibe
Samuel Stephenson
A Time for Healing
The Music of Roger Ames
Recorded August 2021
Released January 2023
St Luke's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia
Recording released on Spiritum | GIA ChoralWorks, 2023
Available on all major streaming platforms.
Listen now!
This recording was made possible with a major gift by the Jody and Lester Hensley Family Trust.
This project is deeply special to The Same Stream and Dr. James Jordan. Roger was a great friend to us all, and we feel privileged to have recorded an album of solely his music.
The centerpiece of this project is Roger's final set of pieces: AWAKENINGS. All texts were written during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Roger leaves us with a hopeful and uplifting message despite the global crisis the pandemic has caused.
Singers
SOPRANO
Isabella Burns
Megan Page Gallagher
Kristen Kozub
Lindsey Reinhard
Jess Stanislawczyk
Alexandra Thomas
Camille Watson
Yiran Zhao
ALTO
Mary Dolch
Ashley Dupont
Moira Gannon
Sarah Engel
David Falatok
Alex Meakem
Holly Scovell
Kelly Zuzic
TENOR
John Burke
Ari Carillo
Christopher Filice
Aidan Christopher Gent
Matthew Koller
Christopher Nappa
BASS
John Arlievsky
Michael Banks
Peter Fischer
T. Quinn Kimball
James Kinzel
Joel Michalchuk
Alexander Miller
Sam Scheibe
Ruihang Zeng
The Fire of Love
& Songs of Innocence
Recorded January 2020
Released February 2021
The Cathedral Bascilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia
Recording released on Spiritum | GIA ChoralWorks, 2021
“very modern, very human [,] powerful”
-Choir & Organ
"The Stream Choir is truly world class. I have never known a body of singers convey so much warmth, humanity and mutual sympathy. It has been an honour and a joy to work with them."
-Patrick Hawes
The Fire of Love - the world premiere recording of two stunning new choral collections by leading English composer Patrick Hawes
Specially written for the Same Stream Choir and musical director James Jordan, the first collection, and album title, is adapted from the writings of the fourteenth-century English mystic Richard Rolle. Patrick’s librettist brother Andrew has created six beautiful new ‘song’ texts under the title The Fire of Love which Patrick has set for choir, piano and string quartet. Rolle believed that the soul’s movement towards God passed through three phases (heat, sweetness and song) and, as the words and music follow these themes, a rich and passionate sound world is created.
For the second collection, Patrick has set nine of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence. The fragile poetry gives rise to tender and heartfelt music for choir and piano, heard at its most poignant in pieces such as The Lamb and A Cradle Song.
Recorded in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia in January 2020.
The Fire of Love
Available on all major streaming platforms.
Listen now!
Singers
SOPRANO
Megan Gallagher
Kristen Kozub
Samantha Lax
Jess Stanislawczyk
Joslyn Thomas
Camille Watson
ALTO
Amanda Agnew
Ashley Dupont
David Falatok
Guisella Houlahan
Alex Meakem
Liz Richter
TENOR
Zachary Beeksma
Christian Koller
Matthew Koller
Cortlandt Matthews
Guillermo Pasarin
Austin Turner
BASS
Lucas DeJesus
Zackary Kent
T. Quinn Kimball
James Kinzel
Colton Martin
Sam Scheibe
Michael Zubert
Trinity Concert Series
Watertown, NY
Summer 2019
For this project, the group sang pieces from "To Hold the Light," "Serenity" and "Songs of the Questioner."
The performance was held at Trinity Episcopal Church, Watertown, NY.
Singers
SOPRANO
Theresa Bonilla
Megan Gallagher
Kristen Kozub
Samantha Lax
Kate Miksits
ALTO
Amanda Agnew
Ashley Dupont
Alex Meakem
Liz Richter
Kristin Schenk
TENOR
Matthew Henry
Christian Koller
David Lawn
Austin Turner
BASS
Joshua Acampado
Jay Besch
Lucas DeJesus
Ryan John
T. Quinn Kimball
Adam Lee
Drew Skitko
To Hold the Light
Recorded August 2018
Released August 2021
The Cathedral Bascilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia
Recording released on Spiritum | GIA ChoralWorks, 2021
"The music chosen for this disc is strangely and poignantly relevant, I believe, for each of us. We all now understand “The Fruit of Silence,” a motet that reminds us to visit those beliefs which are most sacred in the work by Cortlandt Matthews, or now, a deeply personal Requiem by Peter Relph that in reflection, remembers the hundreds of thousands of lives lost in this pandemic. And then there is the LaVoy work “O Great Beyond.” While all great texts speak to the universality of the human condition and, if are truthful, are timeless. Particularly the George Fox text set by Jackson Hill and the Tagore text set by LaVoy give us messages to reinforce the humanness of each of us for hope. Two works on this disc poignantly remind us of the passing of life in the Relph Requiem and especially the final movement of “O Great Beyond.” May these words give comfort to all those who endured the deepest of Life’s losses during our shared Pandemic journey. For, so many loved ones, goodbyes were said in silence, and alone. It is our hope that all the music on this CD will show us a way for living as we move forward and also give loving comfort to those who have lost loved ones."
-James Jordan
"For Quakers, wisdom begins in silence. Quakers believe that only when we have silenced our voices and our souls can we hear the ‘still small voice” that dwells within each of us---the voice of God that speaks to us and that we express to others through our deeds. Only by listening in stillness for that voice and letting it guide our actions can we truly let our lives speak."
-Robert Lawrence Smith in A Quaker Book of Wisdom
"The Universe works in strange ways. Recorded in 2018, none of us could have known that when this disc was released the world would have lived through a life-altering pandemic or a tumultuous upheaval in the cultural awareness that now surrounds us. And the work that opens this disc the words of Quaker George Fox ends with the words “So be faithful and live in that which doth not think the time long” provides an haunting premonition regarding the time in which we live. Quaker George Fox in “To Hold the Light’ is strangely prophetic about these days and perhaps contains a future caution for us all."
-James Jordan
Available on all major streaming platforms.
Listen now!
Singers
SOPRANO
Teresa Bonilla
Micaela Bottari
Isabella Burns
Megan Page Gallagher
Lucy Hole
Samantha Lax
Kate Miksits
Emily Shusdock
ALTO
Amanda Agnew
Ashley Dupont
Moira Gannon
Guisella Houlahan
Alexandra Meakem
Brianne Pantalone
Elizabeth Richter
Kristin Schenk
Joslyn Thomas
TENOR
Jesse Borrower
Victor Cristobal
Corey Everly
Christopher Filice
Matthew Henry
Matthew Koller
Anthony Maglione
Cortlandt Matthews
Christopher Nappa
Daniel Wells
BASS
Joshua Acampado
Lucas DeJesus
Peter Fischer
Charles Hartung
Ryan John
T. Quinn Kimball
Thomas LaVoy
Adam Lee
Colton Martin
Joel Michalchuk
John Shusdock
Zachary Wilson
Michael Zubert
Serenity
The Music of Paul Mealor
Recorded Summer 2017
Released April 2020
The Cathedral Bascilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia
Recording released on Spiritum | GIA ChoralWorks, 2020
“The images of the gods move the soul to contemplation and preserve the tradition of the undivided light.”
-Ezra Pound
Available on all major streaming platforms.
Listen now!
"On April 29, 2011, I, like the rest of the world, tuned in to watch the Royal wedding of Kate Middleton to Prince William. Of course, I was interested in the music chosen for the day. When it came to one of the anthems, a new piece by Paul Mealor was premiered. I was immediately attracted to the piece…l well, actually, was obsessed with the piece. Until that day, few people knew of Paul Mealor. After that day, thousands of musicians came to know him. For all intents and purposes, Paul and I met that day via sound. It was three years later in 2014 that through a serendipitous meeting in Princeton that I met Paul and he met Williamson Voices who sang for him, oddly enough, Ubi Caritas.
That began a friendship both musically and personally. In hindsight, for me, Paul’s music resonated with me for some very simple reasons. Perhaps some of the same reasons that the music of Arvo Part resonates with me and so many others. Paul’s music is simple. Usually constructed of only several harmonic chords which are added to or subtracted from that are intimately bonded to Paul’s melodic gift. Melodies that touch one deeply and immediately. Paul’s music is not sentimental stuff. As I got to know Paul, there are two distinct people. One person who loves the company of others, and the other we only see (hear) through the music he writes. Deeply honest spiritual journeys that must be navigated with honesty, simplicity and utter directness. For anyone tackling Paul’s music, the thick textures can become unruly if they are overloaded with things that are outside the realm of simple, honest communication. One learns to live and hover within the slow ebb and flow of his harmonic rhythm world. One also learns that dissonance in his music should be only “smudged”…a pastel of colors hidden within larger structures.
And there is that Russian thing in his music. This love of thick textures reminiscent of the Russian part of his background, but always through the harmonic sieve that is uniquely Paul Mealor usually spanning divisi 4 ½ octave scorings! I and the choir have tried to “gift” Paul’s voice to each of you in this recording. All those involved in this recording have sung a vast amount of his music and have come to our understanding of what the music is and what it is not. His music, to quote Erza Pound, is truly “undivided light;” rooted in deep spiritual places that are there hidden within if you wish to explore those places with a direct and “sincere” heart."
-James Jordan
The Inside Voice
A look into the making of Serenity by Cued In
Songs of the Questioner
Recorded Summer 2016
Released September 2018
The Cathedral Bascilica of Saints Peter and Paul, Philadelphia
Recording released on Spiritum | GIA ChoralWorks, 2018