Astra Ensemble

2026–2027 Season

Light, history, and the road home.

Concerts

Tickets and dates

Constellations is on sale now. Tickets for December and May open closer to each date, and our email list hears first.

Constellations
Fall 2026 · on sale now

Constellations

The program that gives the ensemble its name, built as one arc rather than a list of pieces: how people have used the sky to find their way, and what they sang while doing it. Josquin and Tallis sit beside composers writing now, and the thread between them is the story, not the century.

Every piece is introduced from the floor by the singer performing it, so you always know what you are hearing and why it is there. One number is yours to sing if you want it — we teach the line in about a minute. Pay what you want.

DateSunday, October 4, 2026
Time3:00 pm
VenuePine Ridge Presbyterian Church
AdmissionPay what you want
LengthAbout 70 minutes, no interval
reserve a seat
A Colonial Christmas
Winter 2026 · tickets soon

A Colonial Christmas

Early American and colonial-era carols alongside new arrangements — a holiday program with more history in it than nostalgia. Shape-note hymnody, eighteenth-century New England anthems, and the older European carols that traveled here with the people who sang them.

The singers tell you where each one came from and who first sang it. The carols you already know are in the program too, and those are for the whole room.

First nightFriday, December 18 · 7:00 pm
VenueVisitation Parish
Second nightSaturday, December 19 · 7:00 pm
VenueGrace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
TicketsOn sale later this year
tell me when tickets open
The Road Home
Spring 2027 · venue to be announced

The Road Home

A season-closing program about leaving and coming back — folk song settings, spirituals, and contemporary work on the places people carry with them. The most personal program of the season, and the one the singers speak about most directly.

Expect a hymn or two you grew up with, and an invitation to sing them. Venue confirmed to our email list first.

First nightSaturday, May 15, 2027
Second nightSunday, May 16, 2027
VenueTo be announced
TicketsOn sale in spring
tell me when tickets open

What to expect

An hour you can follow from the first piece.

Astra concerts are informal in manner and serious in preparation. If you have never been to a choral concert, this is the one to start with — nothing about the afternoon assumes you have.

Told, not annotated

The singers talk to you

Every piece is introduced from the floor by the person performing it — what it is, why it’s in this program, and what to listen for. There is no lecture and no program notes to read in the dark.

Sing if you want to

You are part of one piece

Most programs end with something you’re invited to join. We teach the melody in about a minute. Plenty of people just listen, and that is completely fine.

No etiquette to learn

Applaud whenever

There is no protocol here. Clap when you feel like it, come as you are, and ask us questions afterward — we stay in the room.

Pay what you want

Bring someone new

Admission for Constellations is pay-what-you-want precisely so a first concert is never a financial decision. Bring a friend who thinks this isn’t for them.

About seventy minutes

One continuous arc

Programs run a single span with no interval, so the shape of the story stays intact. You will be out in good time.

Seating

General admission

No assigned seats. Arrive fifteen minutes early if you want to be near the front, which is where an unamplified ensemble sounds best.

Audience members applauding at close range A full house during an Astra Ensemble concert The full sanctuary during a concert An Astra Ensemble singer mid-phrase
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