Saint Vincent Camerata will present its Easter concert at the Saint Vincent Archabbey Basilica at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 15.
The program will include the Easter cantata Rejoice in the Lamb by Benjamin Britten and the Solemn Vespers for a Confessor by W.A. Mozart.
Vocal soloists will be soprano Christine Mahady, Boston Conservatory; mezzo soprano Rachel Kisic, Duquesne University; tenor Jamie Flora, Pittsburgh Opera; and baritone Joshua Guenther, University of Maryland.
J. Christopher Pardini, organist and music director at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg, will accompany the 40-member choir in the cantata.
The Academy Chamber Orchestra, Dr. Warren Davidson, concertmaster, will join the Camerata for the Mozart Vespers.
Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door. This year the Camerata is also offering a new package ticket that includes tours of the Saint Vincent Gristmill, the McCarl Coverlet Gallery and the Saint Vincent Basilica, plus a served luncheon at the Fred Rogers Center and the Camerata concert, all for $25. Phone 724 805-2225 for reservations and information.
Founded in 1968, the Saint Vincent Camerata is dedicated to the study and performance of sacred music in liturgies and in concerts, with a special focus on the choral repertoire with orchestra. Under the direction of Father Stephen Concordia, O.S.B., since 2008, the Camerata has performed such choral masterpieces as Handel’s Messiah, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat, the Gloria of Vivaldi, the Coronation Mass of Mozart, the Faure Requiem, and the Chichester Psalms of Leonard Bernstein. Father Concordia, a Benedictine monk of Saint Vincent Archabbey, is also assistant professor of music at Saint Vincent College, where he teaches music theory and conducts summer workshops in Gregorian Chant. He is choirmaster of the Archabbey and director of the Saint Vincent Camerata Scholars, a 12-member a cappella choir, and of the Saint Vincent Schola Gregoriana. He holds degrees in piano and theoretical studies from the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, and diplomas in organ and Gregorian chant from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome.
