Terce: A Practical Breviary is a radical rethinking of a monastic 9:00 AM mass and an adaptation that reimagines the face of the “Holy Spirit” through the lens of the Divine Feminine. Sung by a community choir of 30-plus caregivers and makers, it is a wild meditation/celebration of the sacred mothers alive in all of us and how that manifests in regard to the Earth, each other, and ourselves. Inspired by ideas taken from three primary female mystics (Julian of Norwich, Hildegard von Bingen, and Robin Wall Kimmerer) this non-narrative song cycle blends new music, neo-soul, and gospel with traditional medieval organum— is percussed with active caretaking and craft making and is danced wildly. More of an event than an opera, it is built as an active ritual to celebrate and venerate our feminine alignment with nature and recover from living in the confines of a civilization built to control or ignore it.

Commissioned, developed, and produced by HERE as part of PROTOTYPE: Opera/ Theatre/Now. Terce: A Practical Breviary is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Commissioning support provided by OPERA America’s Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. Additional support provided by Café Royal Cultural Foundation, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music Inc., and Frances Goelet Charitable Lead Trusts. Commissioned, developed, and produced through HERE&Back as part of PROTOTYPE: Opera/Theatre/Now. We are also grateful for the generous leadership support from Charlotte Isaacs and additional support from Andrea Kihlstedt. TERCE is also supported by the HERE’s Fund for Women Artists, which was generously established by Jennifer Suh Whitfield and Benjamin Whitfield. They are joined by Abigail Gampel, Amy Segal, Christie Snider and Tommy Young.