The question at the heart of the Christmas story is an invitation to listen. Shepherds, kings, a mother, a night sky — each one hears the same wonder differently, and each one is changed by it. In Do You Hear What I Hear?, the Washington Douglass Chorale gathers those many voices into one celebration, honoring the two great traditions that live side by side in this ensemble.
You'll hear the radiant sweep of the European sacred repertoire, Bruckner's Ave Maria, Michael John Trotta's luminous O Magnum Mysterium, and Dan Forrest's tender setting of Silent Night, set alongside the fervor and joy of the American spiritual, in Stacey Gibbs's arrangements of The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy and Go Tell It on the Mountain, and Rosephanye Powell's exhilarant The Word Was God. Carols new and beloved carry the story forward, from In the Bleak Midwinter to How Great Our Joy, rising to a jubilant close with brass and percussion in The Dream Isaiah Saw, Praise the Birth, and the title work that gives the afternoon its name.
Come listen. However you hear it, the story is one worth gathering to tell, and there is room in it for every voice.
Date & Time
Sunday, December 6, 2026 | 5:00 PM
Location
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church (4900 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008)
Program
Praise The Birth (from The Christmas Story) (with brass & percussion)
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Peter Go Rings Them Bells
How Great Our Joy
The Dream Isaiah Saw (with brass & percussion)
Do You Hear What I Hear? (with brass & percussion)
In the Bleak Midwinter — Alvin Trotman
Ave Maria — Anton Bruckner
The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy — arr. Stacey Gibbs
Go Tell It on the Mountain — arr. Stacey Gibbs
O Magnum Mysterium — Michael John Trotta
The Word Was God — Rosephanye Powell
Silent Night — Dan Forrest
Program Preview Playlist includes 12 reference performances by other artists and ensembles. In the Bleak Midwinter is listed in the program but has no reference video provided.
Co-Artistic Directors
Theodore Thorpe III
Theodore Thorpe III is a versatile conductor, educator, and composer recognized for his leadership in the Washington music community.
He serves as Music Director at Alfred Street Baptist Church, Artistic Director for Washington Performing Arts, and Director of Choral Activities at Alexandria City High School.
His choirs have performed at national events including Kennedy Center Honors and Christmas in Washington, earning top honors nationwide.
Scott Tucker
Scott Tucker is an acclaimed choral conductor who has collaborated with leading orchestras including the National Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Philadelphia Orchestra.
As Artistic Director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington (2012–2022), he led numerous acclaimed performances at the Kennedy Center.
Renowned for his artistry and vision, Tucker continues to inspire excellence and unity through choral music.
Venue
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
Founded in 1843 as Washington, D.C.’s first English-speaking Lutheran congregation, St. Paul’s has long served the city from its Gothic church on Connecticut Avenue.
The cornerstone of the present church was laid in 1930, and the completed building was dedicated in 1958.