Chant Café

Assumption Day and the Extraordinary Music Workshop offered by the Dominican Fathers in Kraków coincided with a major Dominican celebration of the Polish province’s 800th anniversary. Today’s Mass, therefore, was the first of a triduum leading to the feast of the province’s founder, St. Jacek Odrowąż, better known in English-speaking countries as St. Hyacinth.

The Mass was offered in Polish, and the church was filled with the generally young participants in the EMW.

Here is a sample of some of the music sung today. I think even the hymns with recently composed melodies have an impressive depth.

• Już się anieli wiesielą (“Let angels rejoice”), a 15th-century hymn in a setting by present-day composer Paweł Bębanek
• Kyrie VIII
• Błogosławiona jesteś, Maryjo (“Blessed are you, O Mary”), a hymn written in 2004 by Fr. W. Kądziela
• the Our Father
• Bądźże pozdrowiona (“Hail, O living Host”), which augments a classic and familiar Christmas refrain with new verses to make it a Eucharistic hymn for any season

(A troped epistle from the 12th century, my translation. Source information is in volume 49 of Hymni inediti. Liturgische Hymne des Mittelalters.)

CANTORES IN ECCLESIA presents 

JAMES MACMILLAN

SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS & ONE EQUAL MUSIC 

with guest conductor DAVID HILL

 at St. Philip Neri Church 

7:30pm Wednesday, April 13, 2022

James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross (1994) is one of the most intense works of choral music written in the last generation. It is a large piece in seven movements, each reflecting on one of the dying statements of Christ as recorded in the gospels. MacMillan borrows freely from traditional sources such as Scottish funeral laments and the ceremonies of Holy Week, adding his own distinctive musical style and vast emotional

range. MacMillan’s One Equal Music (2016) was commissioned by John Morrill in memory of his wife, Frances. The text is taken from a prayer by John Donne. The Portland performance will be the North American premier of this new work.

Renowned for his fine musicianship, David Hill is widely respected as both a choral and orchestral conductor. His talent has been recognized by his appointments as Musical Director of The Bach Choir, Music Director of Leeds Philharmonic Society, Associate Guest conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum. He was Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from September 2007 to September 2017 and is a former Music Director of Southern Sinfonia.

Mr. Hill has had a long association with Cantores in Ecclesia, beginning in 1987, when the choir sang for Mass in Westminster Cathedral in London. He came to Portland the following year to give an organ recital and to conduct Charles Marie Widor’s Mass for Two Choirs and Two Organs. Since then, he has conducted Cantores in Ecclesia on several occasions over the years.

Read David’s full bio HERE.

About Cantores in Ecclesia: Blake Applegate, director

For over thirty years, Cantores in Ecclesia (singers in church) has specialized in Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony within the liturgical context of the Latin Mass of the Catholic Church.  Cantores in Ecclesia has sung for concerts and liturgies at home and abroad, including tours to Mexico, Spain, France, England and Italy, and has recorded compact discs, including three chant recordings for Oregon Catholic Press. The choir has been featured in print media and on the internet, including articles in BBC Music Magazine, Brainstorm and The Early Music Review, and has established itself as a leader in liturgical performance, winning loyal supporters at home and gold medals in international competition. This August marks the 23^st season of the choir’s William Byrd Festival (www.byrdfestival.org), an annual gathering of musicians and musicologists for two weeks of lectures, sung liturgies, recitals and concerts in honor of William Byrd, widely considered Renaissance England’s greatest composer.  Cantores in Ecclesia, Ltd., is a 501 (c) 3 organization.