“At first a program of Bach and Mozart looks pretty heavy.  In some ways it might be, but it’s listener friendly.  Bach was one of the most devout composers we know and he really shows it in the Cantata 150.

It doesn’t take a musical scholar of any kind to hear that the composer really believes what he is writing about.  We can hear that his faith is woven into every phrase of the music.  The notes and words are almost perfectly matched.  Without getting into a lot of detail, we find that when Bach talks about ‘joy,’ the music sounds like kids playing out  in the yard.  Most importantly for us, the choir gets to do a lot.  Many of the cantatas start with an orchestra movement and one big chorus.  Then the choir shuts up, sits down, and listens to various soloists, sometimes four or more, do their thing.  At the end, the choir sings a hymn and it’s all over.  This cantata has only one solo and five choir movements.  As one of the singers said while paging through the music before the first rehearsal, ‘Wow!  We get to do stuff!’

The Mozart mass has a lot going for it.  It is sunny, optimistic, and wonderfully lyrical.  Just before writing it, Mozart had been out job hunting for about a year and a half in Paris and Mannheim to no avail.  He wrote the mass (probably at breakneck speed) for the Salzburg Cathedral. Masses in Salzburg had pretty strict limitations.  They had to be short, couldn’t use violas, but needed trumpets and tympani for the ‘bigger’ holidays.  Even with these constraints, Mozart wrote sixteen or seventeen little jewels.  Like the Bach, this piece is a wonderful wedding of notes and words.

We are honored to have the kids from Western Michigan University join us as soloists.  For relatively young singers they bring a wide range of experience to their work.  When we auditioned them in November we were both impressed and charmed.  At this level, beauty of voice is a given, but outstanding musicianship sometimes isn’t.  They were obviously well prepared for the competition.  It is a pleasure to be working with them.

It’s going to be a great evening of music in a spectacular church.  Please join us.”