Open Source
Sat, Jun 14
|First Congregation Church
Featuring special guest Bass-Baritone Timothy Jones Music by Karl Blench
Time & Location
Jun 14, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
First Congregation Church, 10840 Beinhorn Rd, Houston, TX 77024, USA
About the event
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the First Congregational Church of Houston, we are proud to once again present Open Source, an original work written for bass-baritone and string quartet. Open Source was commissioned in 2023 by the church as a love letter to its founding, and was poignantly brought to life through the collaboration between composer Karl Blench and librettist Jacqui Sutton. Inspired by the history and inclusive mission of First Congregational, Open Source follows an everyman soul, searching for, and finding, spiritual healing at their open door.
Jacqui Sutton’s evocative libretto asks, “if someone knocks on your spiritual door, will you let them in? If someone is lost, speaks a different language, looks different, or believes differently—will you let them in?” In its spirit of openness, the work explores past failures, mutual misunderstandings, and the possibility of healing and renewal through the welcoming of all.
In 2024, Open…