Pope Benedict XVI Schola

Tonight is the final rehearsal before our concert this Saturday. (E-mail for details.)

In the concert program, I'm inviting interested choristers to contact me or visit this page for more information about the schola.

We're looking for singers in all voice parts. Members must be able to read music, and they must have the musicianship to blend with a small ensemble.

We sing primarily the music of the Roman Catholic Church—Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, and some later works—but members of all faiths are welcome.

If you don't know how to read Gregorian chant, don't worry—we'll teach you, and learning square notation is easier than you might think.

The B16 Schola is preparing its first concert: 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010, at Holy Ghost Church near downtown Knoxville.

We hope to see you there! (For details, e-mail me.)

Choral sets will include works from Byrd to Bruckner, with a fairly heavy emphasis on the Renaissance period. Our friend Charles Walden will perform two organ sets in between.

There’s no charge for the concert, but we will take up a free-will offering. Donations will benefit Holy Ghost, which has been so welcoming to us, and the schola’s music budget.

Here are specifics for the choral music (subject to slight changes):

Set 1

• Oremus pro pontifice (chant)
• Hassler: Dixit Maria
• Bruckner: Locus Iste
• Jesu dulcis memoria (chant)
• Monteverdi: O bone Jesu
• Ubi caritas (chant)

Set 2 (all English)

• Purcell: Thou knowest, Lord
• Morley: Magnificat
• Byrd: Lord, hear my prayer instantly
• Farrant: Lord, for thy tender mercy's sake
• Stainer: God so loved the world

Set 3

• Crux fidelis (chant, performed in English)
• Mozart: Ave verum corpus
• Palestrina: Jesu rex admirabilis
• Salve regina (chant)
•  
• Vivaldi: In memoria aeterna, from Beatus Vir