Saturday, January 31, 2026
8:00 PM
BSO Conductor Thomas Wilkins leads the Boston premiere of Good News Mass, a new co-commission by Composer Chair Carlos Simon that includes narration by librettist and spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and vocal contributions by tenor Zebulon Ellis, gospel choruses, and others. Simon’s mass is paired with another work of faith by contemporary composer David Lang. Inspired by the world of Charles Ives and the simplicity of New England hymns, poor hymnal was composed for the Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble The Crossing, using a wide variety of texts to contemplate how we respond to those in need.
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Jekalyn Carr, soprano
Melvin Crispel III, alto
Zebulon Ellis, tenor
Marc Bamuthi Joseph, librettist and spoken word artist
The Crossing
Donald Nally, Artistic Director and conductor
Good News Mass Gospel Chorus
Dennis Slaughter, Guest Chorus Director
David LANG Selections from poor hymnal
Carlos SIMON Good News Mass (BSO co-commission)
Learn more about the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2025-2026 season on their site.
Carlos Simon talks with CRB's Brian McCreath about Good News Mass, its use of the Hammond B3 organ, the work's relationship to other sacred music, and the very personal origin of one of the hymns embedded in it.
TRANSCRIPT (lightly edited for clarity:
Brian McCreath I'm Brian McCreath at Symphony Hall with Carlos Simon, Composer Chair of the Boston Symphony with a piece new to Boston, maybe only performed once before, the Good News Mass, has it been performed more than just by the LA Phil?
Carlos Simon This is one time, yeah, with the LA Philharmonic, last April, 2025.
Brian McCreath Okay, so we're the second city to be able to hear this amazing piece of music. That's great.
Carlos Simon Second world premiere. Yes.
Brian McCreath The second world premiere, because it's a different world here on the east coast for sure. [laughs] Hey, I want to start with something really specific, okay? Because I love the sound of this entire piece, with the spoken word by Marc Bamuthi Joseph and amazing soloists, a choir that is full of spirit, and electric bass, so much going on. But there's this B3 Hammond organ that you're playing, and first of all, that's interesting to me by itself, the fact that you are on stage playing this. But this instrument has such an incredible signature in its sound. So, tell me about the Hammond B3, its place in the culture that you're coming from and your own background, and why it's something that's essential for the Good News Mass.
Carlos Simon Yeah, well, like you mentioned, I grew up playing the Hammond organ in my father's church. But the Hammond organ has an amazing history. When churches really didn't have money to buy a large pipe organ, they bought the Hammond organ, which kind of serves the same purpose, playing the hymns and that sort of thing. But Black Americans took the Hammond organ, and it became a mainstay in many Black churches, particularly the Pentecostal churches, the Church of God in Christ. These churches that are known for spirited worship. And so, when I wanted to write this piece, I had to include this work, because that's what I grew up in, this tradition of having the Hammond organ in the piece or even in the room. That's a huge thing to have.
Brian McCreath And the way that you employ it in the piece is, I feel like I imagine that's how it's used in church services, a little bit of punctuation, a little bit of elaboration, ornamentation, whether the words are spoken or sometimes during the music, providing a texture. Tell me about just how that works for you. I mean, is it fair to compare it, is it too far away to say that it's almost like Baroque harpsichordists who just offer a little something at the end of a phrase or like that. How do you describe the sound of the Hammond and your way of playing it?
Carlos Simon It's like a call and response. And even the actual notation, it's written out, but I've written it out similar to Baroque notation, where it's figured bass, but they're lead symbols, jazz lead symbols. So, I'm giving the performer freedom to kind of express themselves. In this case, I'm expressing myself because I'm playing the organ, but there's a lot of call and response between me and the orchestra and the soloists. But also, the Hammond organ really provides support, harmonic support. And a lot of times it's not even just embellishment, it's just kind of padding, using chords to kind of give support, like I said.
Brian McCreath But with this sound, you say that it was sort of a substitute for a big pipe organ, but it's got this sound, that's nothing like a pipe organ, right? How do you describe the sound of a Hammond B3?
Carlos Simon I would say soul, because it mimics the sound of a voice. It has this thing called the Leslie speaker, which is backstage, and it's mic'd. But there's a switch on the actual console where I can switch it, and there's the horn that turns and creates the sound of a vibrato, and the voice. So that gives it that punch, if you will, and fills up the room.
Brian McCreath That's fascinating because I think of the sort of especially German tracker style organs from the Baroque. These are meant to actually imitate in many cases, I think - I'm not an organ specialist - but they imitate particular instruments. But what you're saying is the Hammond B3 is meant to imitate the voice itself so that's very, very cool
Carlos Simon Absolutely, and it even it has a swell. I'm using the swell with my foot. But if you think about the crescendos and decrescendos of a voice, combined with the vibrato and the Leslie, it's wow, it feels like a gospel singer.
Brian McCreath There's so much of this music that is clearly coming out of your own soul, out of your own background. But I know that your base of knowledge, your base of experience is incredibly broad, and just because we're here in Symphony Hall and we're kind of talking about the Boston Symphony, tell me about whatever classical tradition sacred music sticks with you. What are the one two pieces that you could note that have been especially important to you from the classical tradition in terms of a mass or other sacred work?
Carlos Simon Oh, that's a great question. Verdi's Requiem, you know, the very beginning where it's just very solemn, it is sacred. So, I kind of take that with me everywhere. And Mozart's Requiem, which I love. Missa Solemnis by Beethoven. There's so many great masses, I think, even Bernstein, his Mass that he wrote in 1971 for the founding of the Kennedy Center, which is so eclectic, if you think about it. It has a lot of different styles. And even the concept of the piece questions the idea of God, which is a normal thing. It strengthens one's faith. And so even in that time, Bernstein was grappling with the concept of what the mass is, you know, and it is to deal with God, the actual idea of God.
Brian McCreath You're right. I mean, that piece is notable because it does confront doubt head on. What strikes me about the Good News Mass is that I don't hear as much of doubt. But I want to return to that thought in just a minute, because there's another specific part of the piece that I want to ask you about. It's the movement called "Meditations on Faith." And this is an instrumental only movement with really significant trombone and trumpet solos. And when I look at the layout of the Good News Mass, I see the liturgical structure that you're evoking or maybe even adhering to, however you want to define it. But "Meditations on Faith" is not sort of a standard part of a liturgy as far as I know. I don't know, but you can correct me. Tell me about that movement. What's the role of that movement in this piece, and its sound, which is so extroverted, so bold, with trumpet and trombone solos, and how that sound felt like the right thing for you at that point.
Carlos Simon Well, really, it's a homage to my family. My grandmother used to sing before my grandfather got up to preach. And she would always sing this song, "'I'll Take Jesus for Mine.'" And the words are, "I'll take Jesus for mine. You can have the whole world. But for me, I will take Jesus." And I take the melody, and I put it in the trombone. There's a trombone solo that takes that melody and plays it in a way that she would sing it. And the concept of the whole movement is just a declaration of faith. The words in itself, I feel, are embedded with the DNA of a Credo, of belief, and belief in one's faith. So that's really what it is. Harmonically speaking, it lends itself to gospel music. There are lots of call and response, lots of solos in there, not just trombone, but it's clarinet, bassoon, even violin. I will say it's one of my favorite movements, one of them, just because it's so extroverted. It's very colorful in nature. And I wanted to go over the top, if you will, with the orchestration.
Brian McCreath Clearly very personal too. Would I put you on the spot if I asked you to play a little of that melody?
Carlos Simon No, no, no. [plays music on the piano]
Brian McCreath Carlos, thank you for that. Oh, beautiful, beautiful. But now, I hope our listeners will imagine a spirited trombone solo from Toby Oft in the back of the orchestra, standing up and taking that chorus. That's awesome, that's great. Okay, I want to ask you about this piece, its very name, its very nature, in the midst of our world. It is a sort of dark world. I think I speak for many when I say that many of us get up in the morning, and we have a hard time facing what we're facing these days. It feels like a very dark time, very difficult to process what's going on around us. And as I mentioned, this piece doesn't, to me, on my first listening, there's not a lot about the doubt, which is totally fair. But tell me about your own sense of this place and this time and how this piece responds to that?
Carlos Simon Well, I think the whole concept of the piece, if you think about the name itself, Good News, and think about gospel. The word gospel means good news. And I think we all need a lot of good news. We need something, right? But I think internally, finding one's good news if you will, through faith and love - I say to folks who may not believe in God, they mostly believe in love, of course, love of a loved one, spouse or child - and there's an element of sacrifice, I think, that comes with that. And oftentimes it comes with struggle, because you don't want to give up something, but you love something. So, I think good news is that understanding that, yes, you're giving up something. You're sacrificing something, but what is the ultimate goal? You know, and that goal is good news. You may not see it. You might not live to see it, but there’s faith in knowing that your sacrifice will be fulfilled.
Brian McCreath That's beautiful. It's a wonderful piece. I'm so glad that it's coming right here to Symphony Hall and that many people in Boston will have a chance to hear it. So thank you, Carlos, I really appreciate it.
Carlos Simon Thank you, Brian, it was a pleasure, always.