Our Music
Deus Ex Musica is an ecumenical project that promotes the used of a scared music as a resource for learning, spiritual growth, and discipleship.
New Music from Deus Ex Musica
Since 2019, Deus Ex Musica has premiered over 40 sacred concert works inspired by the psalms. Written by a global, diverse, ecumenical, and interfaith collection of composers, these works have been heard by thousands at interactive live and online events in the US, Canada, Russia, and the UK.
Composed for solo voice, violin, and viola, these works represent a major contribution to the repertoire of non-choral sacred music. Click on the links below to read about each Composers Project and to listen to these exciting new pieces.
Featuring 12 new psalm-inspired works for solo viola, premiered in Boston in 2022. Video-recordings of performances by Jordan Bak, Peter Slowik, and Daniel Orsen available on YouTube.
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New psalm-inspired works for solo violin written by Jewish and Christian composers, released on Deus Ex Musica Records in 2022. Presented as part of live events in London, Oxford, and Cambridge in 2022, Recording available on all streaming platforms.
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ABOUT OUR COMPOSERS PROEJCTS
“When we listen to Bach or a Gregorian melody, all the faculties of the soul become still and tense in order to apprehend this thing of perfect beauty – each in its own way – and among them the intelligence. The latter finds nothing in this thing it hears to affirm or to deny, but it feeds upon it. Should not faith be an adherence of this kind? The mysteries of faith are degraded if they are made a subject of affirmation and negation, when in reality they should be a subject of contemplation.”
For almost two thousand years visual artists have created works representing Biblical stories and characters. These works deepen our faith by allowing us to experience Scripture in ways that emphasize its artistic, dramatic, and emotional dimensions. They allow us to connect with these ancient texts in immediate and highly personal ways, and in doing so inspire us to live out our faith in the real world. What Christian cannot be moved to love his or her neighbor after seeing the masterpiece by Rembrandt pictured above?
Deus Ex Musica is founded on the belief that music can do the same. It can enrich our understanding of the Bible, deepen our faith, and even help us discern ways to follow Jesus in our own lives.
Though the great works of sacred art and music have timeless value, they still speak to us from across the gulf of history. Christians today also need contemporary works of art to reinvigorate the familiar elements of our faith, re-presenting them to us in the language of today, challenging us anew to grapple with their depth and richness, and inspiring us to put our faith into action.
The Deus Ex Musica Composers Project is the part of DEM that supports contemporary composers. It has two goals:
To promote the creation and performance of new sacred concert works.
To develop initiatives that will bring those compositions into the lives of Christians in spiritually valuable ways.
Please contact us if:
you are a composer who would like to be involved in a future project
you are a performer or pastor who would like to bring a live version of one of our events to your locality
you have an idea for a new event that promotes new sacred music as a living resource for the church