November 14, 2026
Aria Women's Choir: Where Mercy Dwells
Aria Women's Choir sings Where Mercy Dwells: Sacred Songs for Women's Voices at 3:00pm on Saturday 14 November 2026 at First United Methodist Church of Pacific Grove — the Butterfly Church — at 915 Sunset Drive. It opens the choir's 15th Anniversary Season. The choir's timed programme runs 65 minutes with a 15-minute intermission and finishes at 4:05pm. Dr. Seán Boulware, who founded the choir in 2012, conducts, with Jon-Mark Hurley as collaborative pianist. Tickets are $25, $20 or $10 plus a booking fee, sold through the choir's TicketSpice page.
When
November 14, 2026
- Saturday 14 November — 3:00pm; timed programme ends 4:05pm
Hours as published by the organiser.
Everything else in November 2026 → See November 2026 on the calendarWhere
First United Methodist Church of Pacific Grove
915 Sunset Drive
Pacific Grove, Monterey County, CA 93950
Open in maps ↗ More events in Pacific Grove →Tickets and booking fees
TicketSpice sells three tickets, all labelled general admission. Adult admission is $25 plus a $3.97 fee, $28.97 in total. The senior, veteran and military ticket — for seniors 65 and over, and veterans and active military and their families, and labelled presale — is $20 plus a $3.79 fee, $23.79. The student and youth ticket, for students with ID or anyone under 18, is $10 plus a $3.44 fee, $13.44.
Checkout asks for each attendee's name, and offers an optional donation to the choir on top of the ticket price.
The running order
The choir's event page publishes a timed programme. The first half runs from 3:00pm to 3:25pm: O Virtus Sapientiæ, Salve Regina, Cantate Domino, I Will Be a Child of Peace, And Can It Be, and Song of Miriam. A 15-minute intermission follows, from 3:25pm to 3:40pm. The second half runs from 3:40pm to 4:05pm: Mangisondele Nkosi Yam, We Are Held, I Will Lift My Eyes, I Choose Love, When the Spirit Says Sing, and Elijah Rock. The programme's stated duration is 65 minutes, with a finish time of 4:05pm.
The repertoire list on the ticketing page does not quite match it: it has a seventh piece in the first half, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, with Jon-Mark Hurley as vocal soloist, which the timed programme does not include.
The choir offers a digital concert programme, DiCoPro, to explore on your phone before you arrive, and asks that phones are kept silent and screens dim during the performance.
Who wrote the music
The choir describes the concert as a journey through centuries of sacred tradition, from the ancient mystical voice of Hildegard von Bingen and the timeless music of Palestrina and the early Baroque Monteverdi to contemporary works. The ticketing page credits each piece.
First half: O virtus Sapientiae by Hildegard von Bingen, arranged by Alice Parker; Salve Regina by Palestrina, arranged by Sprague; Cantate Domino by Claudio Monteverdi, arranged by Gallina; I Will Be a Child of Peace by Elaine Hagenberg; And Can It Be? by Dan Forrest; Great Is Thy Faithfulness by William M. Runyan and Thomas O. Chisholm, arranged by Jon-Mark Hurley; and Song of Miriam by Elaine Hagenberg.
Second half: Mangisondele Nkosi Yam, arranged by Michael Barrett; We Are Held by Susan LaBarr; I Will Lift My Eyes by Mark Hayes; I Choose Love by Mark A. Miller; When the Spirit Says Sing, arranged by Rollo Dilworth; and Elijah Rock!, arranged by Stacey V. Gibbs.
In the choir's words it is music of peace and praise, struggle and hope, compassion and courage, asking where mercy dwells — perhaps in forgiveness, in courage, in justice, or in the quiet assurance that we are not alone.
The performers
Aria Women's Choir was founded in 2012 by its conductor, Dr. Seán Boulware, and brings together singers from California's Central Coast. Its repertoire spans sacred masterworks, contemporary choral music, jazz and musical theatre, and it made its Carnegie Hall debut in 2016.
Boulware also directs Monterey Peninsula Voices and the California Central Coast Chorale. Jon-Mark Hurley, the choir's collaborative pianist, holds the same role with Monterey Peninsula Voices.
Common questions
- What time does Where Mercy Dwells start?
- 3:00pm on Saturday 14 November 2026. The choir's timed programme runs 65 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission, and finishes at 4:05pm.
- How much are tickets?
- $25 for adults, $20 for seniors 65 and over, veterans and active military and their families, and $10 for students with ID and anyone under 18. TicketSpice adds a booking fee, so they cost $28.97, $23.79 and $13.44. All three are general admission.
- Where is the concert?
- First United Methodist Church of Pacific Grove — the Butterfly Church — at 915 Sunset Drive, Pacific Grove, CA 93950.
- Who conducts the choir?
- Dr. Seán Boulware, who founded Aria Women's Choir in 2012. Jon-Mark Hurley is the collaborative pianist.
- What music is on the programme?
- Sacred music for women's voices, from Hildegard von Bingen, Palestrina and Monteverdi to contemporary pieces by Elaine Hagenberg, Dan Forrest, Susan LaBarr, Mark Hayes and Mark A. Miller, with arrangements by Rollo Dilworth and Stacey V. Gibbs.