Jamie Kirsch’s first season began with brilliant choral works aspiring to the heavens, perfectly suited to the resonant space of Old South Church and its magnificent Skinner organ. The chorus reaches for transcendence with anthems, hymns, and prayers, evokes earthly beauty with Estonia’s Veljo Tormis—considered one of the greatest living choral composers—and, with Eric Whitacre, imagines Leonardo da Vinci’s quest to soar into the skies.