Houston Chamber Choir Explores Religious Exile

This weekend the Houston Chamber Choir will take a look at a phenomenon that many people have experienced: departing their religion. Mass in Exile is a deeply moving new work for chorus and orchestra by composer Mark Buller and librettist Leah Lax, whose previous collaborations include “Overboard,” commissioned by Houston Grand Opera.

In Mass in Exile, composer and librettist embark on a gripping, personal exploration of their strict religious pasts. Together, they glimpse the possibility of a different kind of faith within an ailing world. The performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at South Main Baptist Church.

“It is in the general form of a mass,” said Robert Simpson, founder and artistic director of the Houston Chamber Choir. “Mark uses the Gregorian chants for the credo and for the Benedict to set the Gloria. The piece launches into an amazingly personal investigation and exploration of similar experiences that Leah and Mark experienced in common but under very different circumstances.”

Buller grew up in a conservative Christian sect, whereas Lax was raised in a strict Orthodox Jewish sect, which they both found to be restrictive. Their histories serve as the backdrop for this piece.

“They broke away, and each found that they were called to move beyond,” Simpson described of the musical duo’s background. “They found that they were chained by these religious practices, and they had the great courage and strength to find their own path to God and for the first time experience the love of God.”

Mass in Exile traces the experiences that Buller and Lax had in going from the enslaved yet dutiful religious environment to an experience of freedom, wholeness and joy, where they were actually able to become the people that God had intended, he said.

“The first chord that the choir sings is the word ‘mercy,’ but it is sung fortissimo, and it is screeched,” Simpson said. “It is almost like an expletive, that word is sung in a way that conveys pain, anguish and agony, and yet it’s the word ‘mercy’ and ‘peace.’ Then, little by little, the piece explores how mercy is conveyed.

University of Houston Professor of Voice Timothy Jones will perform as the baritone soloist for “Mass in Exile.”

This journey from darkness to light is a common kind of arc, but in a very specific fashion.

“The audience will find that all of us in more or less dramatic fashions have had to fight to be our true selves at one point or another in our lives,” Simpson said. “I think everyone in the audience, and certainly the musicians and I, have identified with this search for our true selves, and I find it a very remarkable and moving piece.”

The concert will also feature Overboard” as well as “The Passion of St. Cecilia.”

“Overboard” is an acapella work, and it describes life on the shipboard and the way the sailors reacted to a battle that ultimately sank their ship. In the first movement, 30 percent of the crew survived the attack, were picked up by Japanese vessels and taken as prisoners of war. The second movement talks about the experiences of the prisoners, and the third movement is a recitation of some of the names from those lost on the ships.

“[The third movement] is sung in this gorgeous tribute with the Navy hymn being sung by a small group of singers over the recitation of these names that are sung in clusters, and then a tolling of a bell at the very end. It is just a spine-tingling piece,” Simpson said.

“The Passion of St. Cecilia,” named after the patron saint of music and musicians, was commissioned by Houston Chamber Choir during its 25th anniversary season.


“Her history is wrapped in legend and folklore, but basically St. Cecilia was the daughter of a noble person and was about to be married to someone she didn’t love. She had a religious conviction that she’d give her life to God, and when it turns out she was being married, she found herself protected by an angel that appeared. The story was that her husband didn’t see the angel, and he sent them off on a trek where he becomes enlightened enough to see the angel, and they become martyred together,” Simpson said in a 2021 interview with the Houston Press when the piece debuted.

While the three pieces tell the harsh truths and experiences people have encountered in various fashions, they all culminate with a path toward hope and completeness. It’s a roller coaster ride that Simpson hopes will inspire people, even in the darkest of times.

“There’s three very emotionally charged pieces, and so I hope that people will come out feeling as if they have been uplifted,” Simpson said.

Houston Chamber Choir will present Mass in Exile at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at South Main Baptist Church, 4100 Main. For tickets or information, call 713-224-5566 or visit houstonchamberchoir.org. $25 – $45. Livestream tickets are available for $25.