The esteemed New Hampshire Master Chorale presents spiritual music for a secular age in a two-concert series in Concord on November 22 and Plymouth on November 23.

The program features the premiere of “Until We Could,” Boston composer Oliver Caplan’s setting of a Richard Blanco’s poem that commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling legalizing same- sex marriage. Commissioned by the Master Chorale, the piece is the group’s eighth Caplan collaboration.

The program also includes:

 “The Beatitudes,” a setting by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt of the well-known “Blessed be…” texts from Jesus’ well-known Sermon on the Mount.

 The familiar text of “Magnificat,” set by 20th -century English composer Gerald Finzi. These words, from the Gospel of Luke, are usually seen as the Virgin Mary’s outpouring of humble joy and gratitude at being chosen to bear God’s son, but Mary’s son also contains a challenge to the political status quo that speaks to our own age.

 “Sacred Place,” a six-movement “ecological service” that composer Alex Berko has modeled after a Jewish service, with texts from writers who “view the Earth as sacred.”

 “Dyptich for Organ,” a two-movement work composed by Brenda Portman in 2024 and performed by Rob St. Cyr.

“Until We Could, the final selection on the program, is a powerful statement on why the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2015 was so crucial for those who had been denied that validation. It sets an intensely personal poem by Richard Blanco, an engineer-turned-poet living in Maine who is best-known for the poem on national unity he delivered at Barack Obama’s first inauguration.

Oliver Caplan says when he began composing “Until We Could” he thought of it as “a celebratory project” to commemorate the Supreme Court decision. But in recent months, it has taken on a more somber tone. “We are witnessing a painful rollback of gay rights – and civil rights more broadly,” Caplan says. “Now, more than ever, we must redouble our efforts for freedom and equality…and carry forward the simplest and most enduring truth: Love is love.”

The performance on Saturday, November 22, is at 7:30 p.m. in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, across from the Statehouse in Concord. The November 23 concert is at 4:00 p.m. at the Plymouth Congregational Church. Tickets are available through https://www.ticketleap.events/events/nhmc-4