CHICAGO: The American Federation Pueri Cantores Invitational Choral Evening Prayer Festival

It's time. Friday we begin our long awaited journey to Chicago. Fr. Lincoln will be accompanying us, and we are so very very excited. Along the way, we will meet some new friends in St. Louis, swim the pool, eat ice cream, pizza and play, and then journey on to Springfield, Illinois and wander around the new Lincoln Museum. Upon arrival in Chicago, we will check in at Concordia University, meet a few of the early arrival choir members, and then Fr. Dall will lead us on an adventure into Chicago to see the fireworks with the million plus crowd. It will be an exciting prep for our hard work on the music. Sunday and Monday, there are rehearsals and more rehearsals with the big choir and a bus tour of Chicago squeezed in between the hard work.

Monday night we sing the fruition of seven months of work...Choral Evening Prayer.

Paul French is our conductor, John Romeri of St. Louis' Arch-Diocesan choir will be our organist, and we will sing with those gathered at the National Pastoral Musician's conference. I will be live blogging when I can on Twitter---so follow our tweets at #SRYCinChicago. If I have time before we leave, I will toss a twitter feed up on the blog so you can see the live blogging straight from Chicago!!!

When we come home and after I've collapsed and recovered, I will post copious amounts of video and audio of the rehearsals and the service. Come with us on the net, even if you did not get to join us in person!

Cantate Domino!!!!!

Corpus Christi Celebration

Wow. What an amazing weekend. I have barely caught my breath, and I intend to post a narrative of all that we experienced and how much it meant to all of us, but right now, I'm going to just grab the basics and get them out there.

We would like to thank Jimmy Scoggins, Mary Woodward, Fr. Jeffrey Waldrep, Bishop Latino, Bishop Houck, and especially the parents of the Youth Choir for making this weekend such an amazing experience for us. We have a new enthusiasm for the sanctity of the Sacred Body and Blood of our Lord and a renewed commitment to excellence in Liturgy and Music because we were able to give of our gifts. Thank you so much!!!
So, now we get ready for Chicago. A small break, a breath or two of summer, and then the big drive and Evening Prayer! Pray for us, St. Cecilia, and all of you out there who have supported us and prayed with us and for us! Cantate Domino!

Chant Matters

We have been asked by the Bishop's office to help with the Corpus Christi 40 hour celebration on June 12-14th. This will be an exciting event, and I encourage EVERYONE to find a way to participate, either at your home parish, or at the Cathedral. We feel very privileged to be able to offer our chant skills for the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on June 13th. We will be singing unaccompanied chant from 12-12:30 PM at St. Peter's. Please join us as we worship & adore the Most Sacred Body of our Lord with our hearts, minds, and voices.

FOR CHOIR MEMBERS:

On Saturday, June 13th we will meet at St. Peter's at 11:30 AM in FRONT of the church. We will sing from 12:00-12:30 PM, and then meet back at St. R's at 4:15 PM for rehearsal for our Corpus Christi Vigil Mass.

We are singing the following for the Adoration on June 13th:
Lauda Sion Salvatorem--new and VERY difficult...rise to the challenge, reap big rewards (see "homework" section below)
Pange Lingua Gloriosi--the usual chant on Holy Thursday if you've been attending
Adoro Te Devote---we sang this on our Retreat last year...so you know it already

We are singing the following anthems at Mass at St. R's at 5:30 PM Saturday:
Panis Angelicus (Unis, possibly 2-part)
Adoro Te Devote

We are singing the following at St. Peter's during the Procession & Mass:
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
Pange Lingua Gloriosi
Ave Verum, by Mozart
Panis Angelicus, possibly