Duke University Chapel enriches the aesthetic landscape of Duke and Durham through its annual series of choral concerts, organ recitals, and other artistic events.

Find below a listing of concerts in the 2025–2026 season of Music at Duke Chapel. Through the generous support of our partners and the friends of Duke Chapel, many of these concerts are free and open to the public. Events requiring tickets are indicated below. Tickets can be purchased at the Duke University Box Office. To receive updates on Chapel Music concerts and programs, sign up for our email newsletter.

Our world offers us connection through our shared anxieties—economic woes, global conflict, artificial intelligence. But music offers a different kind of shared encounter: beauty, joy, contentment, peace.

Music makes community.

Whether it is a group of singers uniting their voices for a choral concert, an audience spreading blankets on Abele Quad for a carillon recital, or a congregation led by one of Duke Chapel’s majestic organs in a resounding hymn of praise, music binds people together in an aesthetic experience. Our world offers us connection through our shared anxieties—economic woes, global conflict, artificial intelligence. But music offers a different kind of shared encounter: beauty, joy, contentment, peace.

The 2026–2027 season of Music at Duke Chapel celebrates community and revolves around two musical milestones for the Chapel. Firstly, we observe the fiftieth anniversary of the installation of the Benjamin N. Duke Memorial Organ (Flentrop, 1976) with the Flentrop at 50 celebration in December. Secondly, in 2027, we mark the release of The Chapel Hymnal, an ecumenical collection of hymns, psalms, and spiritual songs that will become Duke Chapel’s primary worship resource. A year of hymnal celebrations kicks off with Singing the Psalms in March, and A Thousand Tongues Shall Sing in April.

We also celebrate this year with the communities that form around our signature choral offerings: the Chapel Choir’s annual presentations of Handel’s Messiah, our Bach Cantata programs, and the February Evensong Singers concert. Also in February, a Triangle Choral Festival unites Durham-area vocal ensembles as a part of Duke Arts’ 2026–2027 “We The People” initiative.

And of course, we do not forget the blessing of communal worship at Duke Chapel, from which all our musical offerings flow. Sunday morning, Choral Evensong, and Jazz Vespers services are filled with anthems, voluntaries, hymns, and spirituals. This year, festival services like All Saints Day and Christmas Eve feature special presentations of choral-orchestral works, and our Holy Week and Easter services are shaped by glorious music.

We hope you will join us at Duke Chapel this year—for one program or many—and join in the beautiful, glorious, sacred experience of music-making.

Luke A. Powery
Dean of Duke University Chapel

Zebulon M. Highben
Director of Chapel Music

George Frideric Handel's

Messiah

Vibrant, colorful painting depicting a nativity scene in a modern cubist, stylized folk-art style.
Friday, December 4, 2026, at 7:30 PM
Saturday, December 5, 2026, at 3:00 PM
Sunday, December 6, 2026, at 4:00 PM
KATHLEEN JASINSKAS, soprano
SARA COUDEN, contralto
MORGAN MASTRANGELO, tenor
DAVID C. GROGAN, bass
DUKE CHAPEL CHOIR
MALLARMÉ MUSIC
ZEBULON M. HIGHBEN, conductor

Since its premiere in 1742, Messiah has been in nearly continuous performance. In Dublin, London, and across the world, choruses and orchestras large and small have mounted productions of Handel’s timeless masterpiece, a musical tapestry that recounts the story of Christ’s life, from birth through death and resurrection.

Duke Chapel’s own Messiah concerts began in 1933 and have become a beloved tradition of the Duke and Durham communities. This year’s ninety-third annual performances will be presented on period instruments with Baroque-era tuning, and will include selections from Parts I, II, and III. The program will last approximately two hours and fifteen minutes with intermission.

Image: Messiah, 2004, He Qi (hequiarts.com).

Spring Oratorio

A Thousand Tongues Shall Sing:
A Festival of Hymns

Vibrant, colorful expressionist painting showing seven haloed angels standing together on soft blue clouds. Each angel holds a long golden horn or trumpet to their lips. The figures are styled with bold black outlines, stylized faces, and bright hues of blue, green, yellow, and purple against a background illuminated by beams of light.
Sunday, April 18, 2027, at 4:00 PM
DUKE CHAPEL CHOIR & EVENSONG SINGERS
MALLARMÉ MUSIC
AMALGAM BRASS
BELL DURHAM
CHAD FOTHERGILL, organ
PHILIP CAVE & ZEBULON HIGHBEN, conductors

In celebration of the release of The Chapel Hymnal, this year’s spring oratorio invites everyone to join their voices with those of the whole creation, as we sing praise to God our Maker, Redeemer, and Sustainer.

The choirs of Duke Chapel will lead the audience in stirring arrangements of great hymns of the faith, accompanied by organ, brass, handbells, and orchestra. Beloved favorites will stand alongside newer treasures, interspersed with evocative choral anthems and inspiring narration.

Image: The Seven Trumpets, 2013, He Qi (hequiarts.com).

Oh, that I had a thousand voices
to praise my god with thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the lord rejoices,
would then proclaim in grateful songs
to all, wherever I might be,
what great things god has done for me!
—Johann Mentzer

Organ Rectial Series

A low-angle, close-up shot of the multi-level keyboards and buttons on a large wooden pipe organ inside a church. On the left side of the organ is a wall of large, round buttons. On the right side, there is a large, ornate wall of white buttons. In the background, a stained-glass window is visible on the left.
Headshot of a man with short brown hair, smiling directly at the camera. He is wearing a dark suit jacket, a white button-up shirt, and a grey patterned tie. The background features blurred stained-glass windows illuminated with soft blue and gold light.
Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 7:00 PM
Joshua Stafford

Acclaimed for his “innate yet highly mature musicality,” Joshua Stafford was named First Prize Winner in the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition in 2016. Mr. Stafford regularly performs on the world’s two largest pipe organs at the former Wanamaker store in Philadelphia and Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall. His passion for silent film music brings him to accompany the 1922 masterpiece Nosferatu on the Chapel’s Aeolian organ.

Portrait of a smiling man with short dark hair and a neatly trimmed beard, seated with his hands clasped in front of him. He is wearing a dark suit jacket, a white shirt, and a red patterned tie. Directly behind him is a large wooden pipe organ console, featuring multiple keyboard manuals and rows of drawstops on either side.
Saturday, December 12, 2026, at 7:00 PM
Nathan Laube

In demand as a recitalist, recording artist, and teacher, Nathan Laube is currently on the organ faculty at the Eastman School of Music, and is recognized as one of the world’s foremost performers and pedagogues. His program on the Flentrop organ will mark fifty years (to the day) since the organ was dedicated on December 12, 1976.

A head-and-shoulders portrait of a young woman with brown hair, blue eyes, and a broad smile. She is wearing a black v-neck top and gold hoop earrings. Her hair is parted and has bangs. The background is a solid blue.
Sunday, February 21, 2027, at 5:00 PM
Katelyn Emerson

Hailed as “one of the world’s most promising organists,” Katelyn Emerson is a prizewinner of competitions on three continents, including first prize in the 2016 AGO National Young Artists’ Competition in Organ Performance. Currently based in both the U.S. and United Kingdom, she has received grants for her doctoral research at Cambridge’s Centre for Music and Science. Her recital features the Brombaugh and Flentrop organs.

A head-and-shoulders portrait of a man with short brown hair and glasses, wearing a dark blue suit jacket over a white polka-dot collared shirt. He is smiling slightly and looking at the camera. In the background, there is a blurry, light-colored stone wall.
Sunday, March 14, 2027, at 5:00 PM
Chad Fothergill

As part of the 2026 North Carolina HIP (historically informed performance) Festival in association with Mallarmé Music, Chad Fothergill—Duke Chapel Organist and organist at Duke Divinity School—will present a program of theme-and-variation pieces on the Brombaugh organ.

Sunday, April 11, 2027, at 5:00 PM
A "Consort" of Colleagues

The final program of the 2026–2027 season features area organists who perform regularly at Duke University Chapel for organ demonstrations and who assist with weddings and other services. This wide and varied program will feature performances on the Aeolian and Flentrop organs by Stephen Aber, Eddie Abernathy, Adam Cobb, Filippa Duke, Andy Lang, Jane Lynch, Andy McBeath, and Tanner Winchester.

Flentrop at 50

Graphic with background overlay showing cathedral arches and a large pipe organ, featuring the text "FLENTROP AT 50: CELEBRATING FIVE DECADES OF SACRED SOUND" with decorative flourishes.
December 12 & 13

The organ is more than a replica from a glorious past. It is an instrument for contemporary expression.

This quote from Dirk A. Flentrop, designer and builder of Duke Chapel’s Benjamin N. Duke Memorial Organ, centers our celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the instrument, which was dedicated on December 12, 1976.

Join us as we mark this jubilee with a weekend of music, learning, and reflection. Saturday’s events will include a masterclass for young organists, demonstrations of the Flentrop’s mechanical action and tonal palette, a recital by Nathan Laube (see the preceding page), and more. On Sunday, former organists and organ scholars will perform extended preludes before the 11:00 a.m. service and 4:00 p.m. Evensong.

Learn More and Register

Bach Cantata Series

Sundays at 5:00 PM in Duke Chapel
Pre-Concert Talks at 4:00 PM in Goodson Chapel
Interior view of a large, grand chapel filled with an audience seated in wooden pews facing the choir stalls and altar. At the front, a small choir and ensemble stand performing in dark formal attire, led by a conductor with his back turned to the audience. High above, intricate stained-glass windows, ornate wooden carvings, hanging decorative lanterns, and tall stone arches illuminate the space.
PHILIP CAVE, director

Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas stand among the great achievements of sacred music, uniting theological depth, dramatic immediacy, and extraordinary musical invention. The 2026–2027 series, Odes & Oratorios, explores music ranging from intimate devotion to public celebration, from chamber-scale reflection to works of festive grandeur.

September 27, 2026

Two of Bach’s most intimate solo cantatas—Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke, BWV 84, and Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170—explore themes of contentment, contemplation, and spiritual reflection. Selections from Handel’s exquisite Italian chamber duets, later transformed into Messiah, offer a fascinating glimpse into the composer’s creative process and the journey from private music-making to public masterpiece.

November 22, 2026

A joyful St. Cecilia’s Day celebration honors music’s patron saint with works by Purcell and Handel. From Purcell’s sparkling Welcome to All the Pleasures to Handel’s tributes to Cecilia, this program explores the rich culture of celebration, ceremony, and artistic homage in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England.

April 4, 2027

The series concludes with two of Bach’s most radiant large-scale sacred works: the Easter Oratorio, BWV 249, and Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11. These masterworks bring together drama, lyric beauty, and festive brilliance in music of celebration, reflection, and hope.

J. Samuel Hammond Carillon Recital Series

Three large iron bells change in a chamber.
Sunday, September 20, 2026, at 5:00 PM
Sunday, April 25, 2027, at 5:00 PM
AARON COLSTON & MITCHELL EITHUN, carillonneurs

Duke Chapel’s fifty-bell carillon is among the oldest and largest such instruments in the American South. Both the instrument and the recital series are named in honor of the late J. Samuel Hammond (1947–2021), University Carillonneur Emeritus, who played Duke’s carillon from 1964 until his retirement in 2018.

Bring a lawn chair or blanket and enjoy the music from the beautiful surroundings of Abele Quad. These recitals will be presented rain or shine, and will also be livestreamed.

All Saints Day

A man in a checkered button-down shirt holds a lit candle and a program during a dimly lit church service while another person lights a large pillar candle beside him.
Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 11:00 AM
From Death, The Rising: A Requiem
Robert Buckley Farlee
Sunday, November 1, 2026, at 4:00 PM
Requiem Canticorum
James Whitbourn

On All Saints Day we remember the communion of saints, rejoicing in the witness of our predecessors in the faith, and celebrating our unity with them through our baptism, death, and resurrection in Christ.

At the 11:00 a.m. service, the Chapel Choir and Mallarmé Music present the world premiere of From Death, the Rising: A Requiem by Robert Buckley Farlee. The libretto, by the poet Susan Palo Cherwien (1953–2021), blends traditional liturgical texts with scripture and poetry, weaving the voices of the faithful departed together with the collective cry of creation.

At the 4:00 p.m. service, the Evensong Singers perform James Whitbourn’s deeply moving Requiem Canticorum. Scored for chorus, organ, and soprano saxophone, the work is tender and immediate in expression— a compelling meditation on remembrance, consolation, and hope.

Gerald Finzi's

In Terra Pax: A Christmas Scene

Thursday, December 24, 2026, at 10:30 PM
Vibrant, stained-glass-style artwork of two winged figures playing musical instruments under a white dove against a deep blue background.

In the final years of his life, the English composer Gerald Finzi (1901–1956) completed his last major choral-orchestral work: a setting of the nativity story from Luke, laced together with Robert Bridges’s poem Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913. This ethereal cantata reflects on the beauty of the first Christmas and its message for a broken world, echoed in the words of the
angel: “And on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The Duke Chapel Schola Cantorum, soloists Ted Federle and Danielle Assessor, harpist Anita Burroughs-Price, Mallarmé Music, and conductor Zebulon Highben offer Finzi’s In terra pax as a prelude to the Chapel’s traditional service of Nine Lessons & Carols. The cantata begins at 10:30 p.m., followed by the service at 11:00 p.m.

Sacred Choral Clinic

with André Thomas
Saturday, January 23, at 9:00 AM
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Headshot of André Thomas smiling warmly while wearing tortoise-shell glasses, a dark suit jacket, and a patterned tie.

Singers and conductors are invited to the Chapel’s fourth annual Sacred Choral Clinic with Dr. André J. Thomas, an internationally renowned conductor and composer, who is Professor Emeritus at Florida State University as well as a past national president of the American Choral Directors Association. Participants will sing with the Duke Chapel Choir and other choirs from around North Carolina, as Dr. Thomas teaches vocal techniques and introduces choral repertoire appropriate for the upcoming liturgical seasons.

Triangle Choral Festival

A youth choir wearing matching red polo shirts and dark pants stands on stone steps outside a building, singing under the direction of a choir conductor facing away from the camera.
Sunday, February 7, 2027, at 4:00 PM
DUKE CHAPEL SCHOLA CANTORUM
ZEBULON HIGHBEN, conductor
DURHAM CHILDREN’S CHOIR
DENA BYERS, conductor
VOX VIRORUM
JEREMY NABORS, conductor

As a part of Duke Arts’ “We The People” initiative, three Durham-area choirs join forces to celebrate history, identity, civic life, and community. The Durham Children’s Choir, Vox Virorum Men’s Chorus, and the Chapel’s own Schola Cantorum present an engaging program of spirituals, folk songs, and music by American composers spanning our nation’s 250 years.

Light Beyond Loss

A choir wearing purple robes stands together in a stone sanctuary holding music folders, as their director gestures toward them to acknowledge audience applause.
Sunday, February 28, 2027, at 4:00 PM
DUKE CHAPEL EVENSONG SINGERS
PHILIP CAVE, conductor
SUSAN FANCHER, soprano saxophone

In Light Beyond Loss, the Evensong Singers revisit James Whitbourn’s Son of God Mass and Requiem Canticorum, sung in November on All Saints Day. Radiant choral writing and the expressive voice of soprano saxophone combine in these companion works to create a contemporary requiem of striking beauty, reflection, and hope.

Singing the Psalms

Friday, March 19, 2027, at 8:00 AM
Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School

For centuries, monastic orders and other intentional faith communities have prayed the Psalms cyclically from beginning to end. Musical renderings of the Psalms have given them even greater potency, as sonorities of pitch and rhythm combine with the music inherent in the poetic texts.

On March 19, join Duke Chapel and Duke Divinity School as we sing and pray “The Duke Psalter” from The Chapel Hymnal. This newly published psalter features original translations by Ellen F. Davis, Amos Ragan Kearns Distinguished Professor of Bible and Practical Theology at Duke Divinity School.

The cycle will begin with Psalm 1 at 8:00 a.m., and will continue into the early evening with brief breaks. Participants are welcome to come and go, and stay for as much or as little as they wish.

Co-sponsored by Duke Divinity School and the Anglican Episcopal House of Studies.

Music in Worship

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Sunday Morning

Sundays at 11:00 AM

Duke Chapel’s longstanding excellence in sacred music is rooted in its weekly, year-round Sunday morning services, which combine potent preaching, imaginative liturgy, and inspiring sacred music. During the academic year, the Duke University Chapel Choir and the Chapel’s magnificent organs provide primary musical leadership, supplemented by student chamber groups, professional instrumentalists, and visiting artists.

See the Schedule of Sunday Morning Services
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Choral Evensong

Alternating Sundays at 4:00 PM

For centuries, the church has marked the transition from daytime to evening with psalms, prayer, and song. Duke Chapel’s Choral Evensong follows this historic pattern, using the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer and featuring choral and organ music from the English cathedral tradition, led by the Chapel’s Evensong Singers.

See the Schedule of Choral Evensong Services
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Jazz Vespers

Thursday, November 19, 2026, at 7:00 PM
A Service of Thanksgiving
Thursday, March 18, 2027, at 7:00 PM
A Service of Hope

For twelve years, Jazz Vespers has been an integral part of the musical life of Duke Chapel. Sing, rest, pray, and celebrate in these worship services combining the ancient Christian tradition of evening vespers services with the aural idioms of Black sacred music, including jazz, gospel, and spirituals. Jazz Vespers is musically led by John V. Brown, Professor of the Practice of
Music at Duke University, and the John Brown “Little Big Band.”

Supporters & Partners

We are once again grateful for the many supporters who make this season
possible, including:

Duke Chapel Choir and Chapel Music Endowment
Director of Chapel Music Endowment

Agnus Dei Endowment Fund
Amy Geissinger Chapel Choir Quasi-Endowed Scholarship Fund
Barbara-Jean Ross Jones Music Education Fund
Carl A. Herring Carillon Endowment
CB Richardson Chapel Endowment Fund
Charles B. Wade Oratorio Endowment for Duke Chapel
Donald and Hazel Jansen Wallis Endowment
F. M. Kirby Foundation Endowment Fund for Chapel Music
Frances Wilson Leavenworth Endowment
Hurst Family Chapel Endowment
J. Benjamin Smith Endowment Fund
J. Foster Barnes Endowment
J. Horst & Ruth Mary Meyer Fund for Duke Chapel
James and Helen Burnett Coppridge Endowment Fund
Jefferson W. Kirby Duke Chapel Choir Scholarship Endowment Fund
John O. Blackburn Chapel Oratorio Fund
Kathleen Upton Byrns McClendon Aeolian Organ Fund
Marvin Boren and Elvira Lowe Smith Memorial Endowment Fund
Mary Duke Biddle Foundation Chapel Oratorio Endowment
Mildred Clusman Phillips Duke Chapel Choir Endowment
Mildred L. Hendrix Endowment
Professor Paul Young Endowment Fund
Roy A. Goss Memorial Fund
The Klove Family Fund
Thomas C. Clark Fund for Chapel Choral Music
Vereen Family Endowment for Choral Vespers
Waldo Beach Hymnody Endowment Fund
William Arthur Higgins Choir Scholarship Endowment Fund


and the many friends of Chapel Music who generously support our program
every year.

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