Observatory

Observatory is an original oratorio for choir, vocal soloists, and full orchestra, combining David Matthew Brown’s music, poetry by Cameron Martin, and deep-space astrophotography by Dave Hockenberry – a multidisciplinary exploration of the human experience, the cosmos, and the interconnectedness between us and all things.

I. Destroying and Becoming

II. Please Leave a Message After the Tone

III. Drawing Down the Moon

IV. The Litany of Lullabies

V. The Horsehead Nebula

VI. How to Burn Down Ballrooms

VII. The Witness

Photography by David Hockenberry — *Van den Bergh 139 – The Iris Nebula – photography by David Hockenberry*

I. Destroying and Becoming

birth cry bursting bright,
painting iris petals across 
night canvas - witness me 
beating, helium heart 
alive with ecstatic glee 

something bright, stark as
the lightness of spring - 
feel the soft rains
and breathe deep -
still this moment, that breath
between heartbeats caught
frozen in time - jacklit deer
standing on the edge of
destroying and becoming.

witness me beating, 
hold me close. 
let's make something
beautiful.

II. Please Leave a Message After the Tone

Have you counted all impossibilities? 
Spoken names for everyone you’ve loved 
and ever known? Hung sapphire hopes 
and ruby revelations against the sky?

This is how the love echoes forever - 
embers stoked by the breath of each dawn. 
Soon enough, all there is left is what we leave, 
hands painted on cave walls, 2AM voicemails -
 
this is how we’ll speak mysteries back to life. 
Whisper children's names like forehead kisses - 
hang syllables in the air like love letters, soft 
fairy lights blinking our bedrooms aglow.

Remember this on the moonless nights, 
darkness a static hymn you could drown in - 
it was never goodbye. It’s perpetual reunion. 
The love burns forever, and names whispered 
spiral outward, streetlights pointing home.

III. Drawing Down the Moon

come to me, show your blade 
and I'll teach where to cut. 
when you've wrapped your hands 
around those sharpest edges, 
forgotten corners all honed 
to a gleaming athame - 
come to me. 
I will teach the terrors 
of becoming.

sing the rites, glory burning notes 
sweet on your lips, wild honeydew, 
but know these songs aren't new. 
they rest in hidden corners, listen 
and they'll come - laughter sets 
the melody, heartbreak keeps 
pace. come to me singing, 
teach me all your verses - 
you'll learn our words in time.       

come to me in the morning, 
tell me what you whispered 
to the long stillness of night. 
you've followed the burning lamps, 
bled out your colors along the way - 
come to me with clothes torn, 
gather up the loosened strands - 
I will teach you how to weave.

come to me smeared in ashes, 
show me the soot under your nails - 
when you've burned all your shame 
in effigy - come to me, fires burning. 
share your warmth, feel it bend 
through your skin, earth to sky - 
come to me like radiant, transient 
glowing coal - stretching eternal, 
come to me singing, 
torn clothes smoldering, 
come when the words find you - 
we've lit the way, teased the notes - 
find me in the morning, 
come to us newly born.

IV. The Litany of Lullabies

We've counted the stars, connected the dots, 
vast manageries caged inside our night skies - 
campfire stories carved out into eponym prizes 
in the war against forgetting, an eternity wrought.

Astral arms outstretched wide, flashlight eyes 
spotlighting steps through our evening dances - 
twisting through time into branching chances, 
heartbreaks chosen, blistering joy in disguise -

let it be a blanket, a gentle warmth unfolding out - 
let thunderstorms rumble through, step into the rain, 
let the wind tear through, rattling the windowpanes - 
until perfect stillness. Let it be certainty after doubt.

Name all the seas, number dreams, count the stars, 
mourn. Be lonely. Hold tomorrow steady in your chest, 
let it be a lullaby. Sleep soundly while the sun dips west - 
let night roar to life with each joy you’ve named ours.

V. The Horsehead Nebula

(Instrumental movement)

VI. How to Burn Down Ballrooms

We've set a fiery clock ticking, counting out the time, 
our stars dancing forever. Fingertip drums tapping 
stellar meter, whispers, a warm yearning that fills 
these yawning stretches between kindly suns. 
We've painted kaleidoscope murals for you, 
frozen fireworks in the sky, did you see? 
Candlelight flames for you to read by, 
we've written all of the reasons why 
in holy words you'll come to know. 
They will come, steady and slow, 
the stark certainty of I love you, 
the dull ache of I miss you, 
the leitmotifs, variations 
of yes, I choose you - 
let's dance, forever, 
we're burning up 
from love, yes - 
let us burn - 
yes, yes 
yes

VII. The Witness

The light which never dies, 
chorus lifting up into the rafters, 
reaper and sower of miracles and 
steadfast witness to all hereafters -

for you I gift countless hopes, 
blessings undying, colliding to 
forge the stellar iron coursing 
through your heart.

Old as time, young like sunshine, steady as the moon; 
hole punched through a canvas, light spills through - 
I've painted tapestries for you, arms aflame with 
heavenly fire to hold you through these ages.

The wreath upon the noble crown, 
laughter that shatters despair, 
steady as the draw of dawn - 
I’ve seen all tender beginnings, 
I'll remember you when 
all else is gone.

Audio accompanying each section was recorded during the premiere performance of Observatory at Main Line Unitarian Church on June 7th, 2026.
An enormous thank you to all of the performers:

Conductor and MLUC Music Director, David Brown

Main Line Unitarian Church Choir

Soprano

Melissa Graf-Evans
Renee Hammoud
Beth Johnson
Beth Rittenhouse
Kate Saylor
Wendy Schmid
Kaitlyn Waterson *
Dana Wiley
Teresa Zink

Alto

Tina Adams
Jean-Marie Baldwin
Leslie Bass
Jane Heintzelman
India Jacobs
Jane Lamotte
Susan Ricci
Kaitlyn Tierney *
Jenette Wheeler
Anna Zink

Tenor

Bob Batt
Phie Jacobs
Wolfgang Jaeger
Adrianne Klein
Brenten Megee *
Mike Piccioni
Richard Short
Michael Zink

Bass

Gene Ramsbottom
James Schmid
Tom Sitzler *
Nathan Surles
Mike Walters
Brian Warren
Lilia Weber

* section leader/soloist

Music Sunday Orchestra

Flute
Carolyn Giardini

Clarinet
Nadine Silverman

Trumpet
Gavin Ard

Trombone
Carr Everbach

** concertmaster
* principal/soloist

Percussion
Vladimir Puskovitch
Nik Pothos

Piano
Jodie Brown

Organ
Greg Fiorentino

Violin I
June Bender**
Nina Zubaidi
Amanda Bewley

Violin II
Emily McDonald*
Olivia Flickinger
David Hockenberry

Viola
Renee Warnick*
Alex Kruchoski
AJ Stacy

Cello
Michael Newman*
Melissa Brun

Double Bass
Justin Lee

Special thanks to Sam Levine for audio/visual recording and mastering