Where sound and light dance for Christmas: Co-Cathedral choir brings sacred music underground

Led by Crista Miller, DMA, past and current members of the Schola Cantorum are seen in Houston’s underground cistern during a past performance. (Photo by the Schola Cantorum)

HOUSTON — Since Dec. 14, the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart’s Schola Cantorum, a group of singers focused on Gregorian chant, have been hosting a series of Christmas-themed concerts in the Cistern at Buffalo Bayou Park.

Located at 105-B Sabine St. just outside of downtown Houston, the 87,500-square-foot cistern is a former drinking water reservoir built in 1926 for the city of Houston. Restored and opened in 2016, the Cistern now hosts art installations and other events, such as the “Voices of Light: Choral Performances in the Cistern” with the Schola Cantorum.

Led by Crista Miller, DMA, the Schola Cantorum features a myriad of seven voices each night, who Miller said will “paint with sound” as the Cistern is illuminated with a unique light show at each of the three 20-minute performances held each night at 7 p.m., 7:45 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

While all of the 12 nights are sold out, Cistern officials are taking an in-person only waiting list on a first-come-first-served basis starting 30 minutes prior to each show time.  Tickets are $25 per person, and no children under nine are permitted.

The choir’s voices are paired with vibrant lighting designs crafted live during the concert that uniquely reflect each song. The underground Cistern becomes a shimmering canvas gem of colorful light, like how sunlight dances as it shines through a stained glass window.

The show features several songs or chants, some more than a thousand years old, like “Cum Erubuerint” by Hildegard von Bingen, and newer pieces, such as a song written by Miller in 2022 just to be sung in the Cistern. The shows featuring the men’s choir will include a song called “Northern Lights,” which will, in turn, reflect the effervescent voices and ethereal lights moving throughout the cavernous Cistern.

Churches and cathedrals have long been known for their reverberation, which is the movement of sound in a space after the original sound, often an organ or a voice, has stopped. Miller said the Cistern has a 15-second reverb, twice as long as the reverb in the Co-Cathedral, which lasts for seven seconds.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like it,” Miller said. “You can actually physically sense [the sound] traveling, and depending on where we stand, we can manipulate what the listener is hearing. It’s very much painting with sound.”

She said the music chosen “is really beautiful,” and the text and sounds are “engaging and compelling,” for anyone, Catholic or not, and the listeners don’t have to know the music is sacred to find it inspiring.

“We just lay down the platform [with our voices and songs], and what God intends will happen,” Miller said. “What we do is a gift. These are more than just pretty songs, they were written by people who were reaching out to others and to God.”

In the Cistern, a quarter-mile, six-foot-wide walking path surrounds the glass-like water that stands at the bottom of some 221 columns that tower 25 feet over the water. The water gives a mirrored reflection of the columns and ceiling, giving the illusion that there is a 25-foot well of water beneath the columns instead of the actual 10 inches of water. Sometimes, when a drop of water falls from the ceiling, a small ripple forms and moves across the water.

Outside of the “Voice of Light” choir performances, the Cistern also hosts a winter art light and sound installation called “Cistern Illuminated,” which is on view through Jan. 26, 2025, with multiple showings per day with tickets ranging from $12 to $15.

Because many shows have low availability or are already sold out, Miller suggested interested visitors should contact the Buffalo Bayou Partnership at [email protected] or 713-752-0314 to request more showings in January in 2025.

To purchase tickets and for parking and other helpful information, visit buffalobayou.org.