Exquisite choral works, cultivated over seven centuries in sacred spaces with vaulted ceilings and pipe organs, will envelope you with the rich vibrations emitted by the grandiose King of Instruments, the organ.
A breathtaking musical journey promises to transport you from the depths of contrition to the heights of extasy. Experience a spiritual cleansing of the highest musical order! At the three-month mark of broken new year’s resolutions, spring presents the opportunity to expunge our souls from guilt. The sacred music of Lent and Eucharist offer musical audiences a rich auditory backdrop to express penitence and to beg for grace. In this concert, you will experience a powerful emotional voyage from grief to glory.
We perform five pieces that give gravity to a journey that starts with remorse and ends with the blissful energy of Vivaldi’s Gloria. In the British sacred tradition, forgiveness from sins is sought both in Farrant’s 16th century a cappella motet, Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy's Sake and in Attwood’s 19th century psalm, Turn my Face from my Sins. In Howells’ 20th Century anthem, Like as the Hart Desireth the Waterbrooks, distress is expressed for war wreaking havoc on nature’s purity. In continental Europe, sacrifice is invoked in both Mozarts’ 18th Century chant, Ave Verum Corpus and in Aquinas’s 14th Century hymn, O Salutaris Hostia. These pieces both announce eternal joy in heaven & the start of summer on earth, when, at the feast of Corpus Christi, Vivaldi’s Gloria is also sung.
After a five-piece musical journey of repentance, you will indulge in the happy pronouncement of Gloria. The pipe organ, masterfully commandeered by Matthew Steynor, will engulf you as the Chorale performs Vivaldi’s majestic twelve-section choral gem. By the end of the concert, your musical journey to overwhelming joy will be complete!