Category Archives: Concerts at St. Mary’s

Concerts and other special musical events

Friday, 8 June 2012, 7:30 P.M.
David J. Hughes, organ

Sound Games : Ludus Tonalis
works by Bach and Hindemith

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Johann Sebastian Bach:
Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (BWV 654)
Trio super Allein Gott in der Höh sei her (BWV 664)
An Wasserflüssen Babylon (BWV 653)

Paul Hindemith:
Ludus Tonalis
transcription for organ by David Hughes

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Suggested donation is $15.
For further information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net.
A PDF flier is available here; click here for a printer-friendly version.

David J. Hughes is a composer, organist, and conductor whose work is shaped by a fascination with the rôle of plainchant in the sacred liturgy. He is Organist & Choirmaster at St. Mary Church in Norwalk, Connecticut, where he directs a professional choir for a weekly Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite (Missal of 1962), a volunteer choir for the Latin Mass according to the Roman Missal of 2002, and several children's choirs. Prior to his arrival at St. Mary's in 2006, he served for three years as Organist & Choirmaster at St. Catharine's Church in Pelham, New York. Mr. Hughes founded and directed for seven years the semiprofessional Sleepy Hollow Schola Cantorum, which sings for the Latin Mass (Missal of 1962) at Immaculate Conception Church in Sleepy Hollow, New York. He directed for several years the Midtown Schola, a lay group that sings at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, and for which he conducted weekly classes in Gregorian chant at St. Patrick's. He led the St. Mary's Student Schola to sing chant and Renaissance polyphony for the primary English-speaking Masses in August 2011 at World Youth Day in Madrid; the students also sang for Masses at the Cathedral of Toledo, Carmelite monasteries in Avila and Madrid, and for the Latin Masses sponsored by Juventutem.

Recent choral compositions include Pascha jucundissimum, a motet premiered on Easter Vigil 2012 at St. Mary's, and the Missa de Beata Maria, premiered on Candlemas 2011. Film scoring credits include Navis Pictures' St. Bernadette of Lourdes and several documentaries.

Mr. Hughes is a member of the board of the Church Music Association of America, and serves as a chant instructor and the director of new music at the CMAA's annual Summer Music Colloquium. He is director of music for the annual Roman Forum Summer Symposium at Lake Garda in the north of Italy.

Mr. Hughes' composition teachers have included Ruth Schonthal and John Halle, and he has studied organ with Paul Jacobs and Daniel Sullivan. A native of Stamford, Connecticut, Mr. Hughes is a graduate of Yale College.

St. Mary's is pleased to present a recital by Terrence B. Fay, trombone and tenor,

on Friday, 20 April 2012, at 7:30 p.m.

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Songs and Romances of Western Europe

Carl Nielsen: Romance

Henri Duparc: Three Songs
- Le Manoir de Rosemonde
- Sérénade florentine
- La vie antérieure

Robert Schumann: Three Romances

Johannes Brahms: Fünf Lieder (Op. 49)
- Am Sonntag Morgen
- An ein Veilchen
- Sehnsucht
- Wiegenlied
- Abenddämmerung

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Six Studies in English Folksong

Giacomo Puccini: Two arias from Tosca
- Recondita armonia
- E lucevan le stelle

* * *

with Alexis Zingale, piano

Suggested donation is $15.
For further information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net.

Terrence B. Fay has been singing professionally throughout Connecticut and New York for over a decade. He has been a soloist most recently with the choirs of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Stamford, Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, and the Marquand Chapel Choir at the Yale Divinity School. He has been a member of the choir of Christ Church, New Haven, the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, Stamford, and of the Grammy-award winning choir, Gaudeamus, while also performing frequently with MidAmerica Productions in New York City under the direction of John Rutter, among others. He is currently a member of the Schola Cantorum of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk.

Terrence also makes much of his living as a trombonist. He is currently the assistant principal trombonist of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and principal trombonist of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Wallingford and Waterbury Symphonies, Orchestra New England, and the Wisconsin and Moscow State Chamber Orchestras, among others. Terrence is currently on the faculty of the Educational Center for the Arts, the Neighborhood Music School, Choate Rosemary Hall, and the Universities of Bridgeport and New Haven.

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church is pleased to present its annual benefit concert in honor of St. Cecilia on Friday, 23 March 2012 at 7:30 p.m. The St. Mary's Schola Cantorum, under the direction of David Hughes, will sing a program of Lenten sacred music centered around the penitential text Media vita.

This concert, which is usually sung each year in mid-November, near to the feast of St. Cecilia, was postponed this year because of the magnificent repainting of the St. Mary's sanctuary this past fall.  (It is not inappropriate to relocate it to the month in which occurs the feast of St. Gregory the Great.)  It is the single annual fundraiser to support the work of the Schola Cantorum.

A reception will follow the concert. Suggested donation is $25 general admission, $15 for students & seniors; all proceeds go to support the work of the St. Cecilia Society throughout the year. For more information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net, or call the parish office at 203-866-5546.

A PDF flier is available here; click here for a printer-friendly version.

St. Mary's warmly invites you & your family
to its annual service of
Advent Lessons & Carols
Friday, 16 December 2011, 7:00 p.m.

The St. Mary's Choir
El Coro Hispano de Santa María
The St. Mary's Student Schola

* * *

David J. Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster
Welder Gomez, Spanish Choir Director
William V. Riccio, Jr., Assistant Organist
Robert Rudesill, Assistant Organist

* * *

Traditional carols from England, Spain & Germany;
motets of Victoria, Vaughan Williams & Vierne;
organ music of Bach, Karg-Elert & Langlais;
& Gregorian chants of Advent.

Seven readings from Sacred Scripture & the writings of the saints
on the Advent of Our Lord will be interspersed with
carols, chants, hymns & organ music of the season,
concluding with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
A festive reception will follow.

For further information:
203-866-5546 x115
music@stmarynorwalk.net

A PDF flier is available here.

Friday, 22 July 2011, 7:30 p.m.
St. Mary’s Student Schola
The Sisters of Life Schola
Concert at St. Mary’s, Norwalk

Virgin Great and Glorious (Basque melody)
Jesu dulcis memoria (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, c.1525-1594)
Jerusalem (Communio of Laetare Sunday) (plainsong, mode iv)
O Sacrum Convivium (Roberto Remondi, 1850-1928)
Verbum supernum (plainsong, mode viii)
Ave Verum Corpus (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Christus vincit (Carolingian plainsong, VIIIth century)
Salve Regina (simple tone) (plainsong, mode v)
Ave Maria (attrib. Victoria)
Alma Redemptoris Mater (simple tone) (plainsong, mode v)
Magnificat (plainsong & fauxbourdon, mode viii)
Ave Regina cælorum (simple tone) (plainsong, mode vi)
Ave Maris Stella (plainsong, mode i)
versets on Ave Maris Stella (Nicolas de Grigny, 1672-1703)
Regina cæli (simple tone) (plainsong, mode vi)
Alleluia. Assumpta est Maria (plainsong, mode v)
Rejoice, O Queen of Heaven (André Gouze, b. 1943)
Regina cæli (solemn tone) (plainsong, mode vi)

This concert is a benefit for the St. Mary’s Student Schola’s upcoming trip to sing for the main English-speaking Masses, as well as several Latin Masses, at World Youth Day this summer in Madrid. For more information, please visit www.chantwith.us.

St. Mary's is pleased to present a recital by Terrence B. Fay, trombone and tenor,

on Friday, 1 April 2011, at 7:30 p.m.

"...Of Biblical Proportions"
Hector Berlioz: Recitative and Prayer
George Frederich Handel: "Comfort Ye" (from Messiah)
Jan Koetsier: Partita über "Wachet auf"
Giacomo Puccini: Gratias agimus tibi (from Messa di Gloria)
Giuseppe Verdi: Ingemisco (from Requiem)
Gioachino Rossini: Cujus animam (from Stabat Mater)
Franz Liszt: Hosannah

with David J. Hughes, organ

Suggested donation is $15. For further information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net.

Terrence B. Fay has been singing professionally throughout Connecticut and New York for over a decade. He has been a soloist most recently with the choirs of St. John’s Lutheran Church, Stamford, Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, and the Marquand Chapel Choir at the Yale Divinity School. He has been a member of the choir of Christ Church, New Haven, the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, Stamford, and of the Grammy-award winning choir, Gaudeamus, while also performing frequently with MidAmerica Productions in New York City under the direction of John Rutter, among others. He is currently a member of the Schola Cantorum of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk.

Terrence also makes much of his living as a trombonist. He is currently the assistant principal trombonist of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and principal trombonist of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Wallingford and Waterbury Symphonies, Orchestra New England, and the Wisconsin and Moscow State Chamber Orchestras, among others. Terrence is currently on the faculty of the Educational Center for the Arts, the Neighborhood Music School, Choate Rosemary Hall, and the Universities of Bridgeport and New Haven.

St. Mary's is very pleased to present a recital by Joshua Copeland, baritone,
on Sunday, 6 March 2011, at 7:00 p.m.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs
Johannes Brahms: Vier ernste Gesänge
Charles Ives: "At the River", "Serenity"
John Adams: "Batter my heart, three person’d God" (Doctor Atomic)
Gustav Mahler: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen" (Rückert-Lieder)
Herbert Howells: "King David"

David Hughes, piano;
Fr. Richard Cipolla is the pianist for the Mahler.

Suggested donation is $15.  For further information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net.

Joshua Copeland, baritone, completed his Masters degree in voice at Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music and his Artist Diploma at Yale Opera.  A native of Knoxville, Tennessee, Joshua received a Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina.  Joshua is quickly developing as a specialist of Baroque music, particularly the works of Bach and Handel.  In June 2006 he was awarded second prize in the American Bach Soloists International Young Artists Competition, first prize in the 2008 American Bach Society biennial Young Artist Competition at the Bethlehem Bach Festival, and spent the summer of 2008 as an Adams Masterclass Fellow at the Carmel Bach Festival.  As a resident Britten/Pears Young Artist at the Aldeburgh Festival in both 2009 and 2010, Joshua has appeared in performances of Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Handel’s Saul.

An avid recitalist, Joshua gave his debut performance of Schubert’s monumental song cycle Winterreise in Yale’s Morse Recital Hall with pianist Ted Taylor. He has also taken part in a recital of Charles Ives songs at New York’s famed Weill Recital Hall, as well as recitals of English song and Wolf and Strauss Lieder as a Britten/Pears Young Artist.  In the realm of opera he has appeared as Die Fledermaus as Falke, as Ramiro in Ravel’s L’Heure Espagnole, and has performed with the Orchestra Sinfonico Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, reprising Falke in Fledermaus and Bill in Kiss me Kate.

Performances from recent seasons include the Mass in B Minor and the St John Passion with the American Bach Soloists; Bach Cantata 82 Ich habe genug with Seraphic Fire; Bach Magnificat and Christmas cantatas with Helmuth Rilling; a commercially-released recording of the Bach St John Passion conducted by Simon Carrington; Messiah at Carnegie Hall with the Masterwork Chorus; Mozart Vespers with Sir Neville Marriner; Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem at the ACDA National Convention;

Five Mystical Songs with the Mount Holyoke Orchestra; Handel La Resurrezione; Mozart and Faure Requiems; Prokofiev Lieutenant Kije; Barber Dover Beach; Mendelssohn Elijah; and the Brahms Requiem.  The upcoming season features performances of Christmas cantatas with the Bethlehem Bach Festival, Bach and Telemann cantatas with the American Bach Soloists, and the St John Passion with Chatham Baroque.

St. Mary's warmly invites you & your family
to its annual service of
Advent Lessons & Carols
Friday, 10 December 2010, 7:00 p.m.

The St. Mary's Choir
El Coro Hispano de Santa Maria
The St. Mary's Students' Scholas
The Anchor Academy Schola Cantorum

* * *

David J. Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster
Welder Gornez, Spanish Choir Director
William V. Riccio, Jr., Assistant Organist
Robert Rudesill, Assistant Organist

* * *

Traditional carols from England, Spain & Germany;
motets of Victoria, Vaughan Williams & Willcocks;
organ music of Walther, Widor & Messiaen (whose birthday it is!);
& Gregorian chants of Advent.

Seven readings from Sacred Scripture & the writings of the saints
on the Advent of Our Lord will be interspersed with
carols, chants, hymns & organ music of the season,
concluding with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.
A festive reception will follow.

For further information:
203-866-5546 x115
music@stmarynorwalk.net

A PDF flier is available here.

The St. Cecilia Society at St. Mary Church is pleased to present its annual benefit St. Cecilia's Day Concert on Friday, 19 November 2010 at 7:45 P.M. The St. Mary's Schola Cantorum, under the direction of David Hughes, will sing polyphony from the Códice del Convento del Carmen, Mexico City. The pieces sung from this notable manuscript, the original of which is now lost, will include works of Francisco López Capillas, Fernando Franco, Francisco Guerrero, and Juan de Lienas. It will be an exciting evening of some of the most beautiful sacred music of the Iberian and Latin-American Renaissance!

Vespers in the Extraordinary Form for the Feast of St. Elisabeth of Hungary will be sung at 7:00 P.M., with the concert immediately to follow.  A festive wine & cheese reception will conclude the evening. Suggested donation is $25 general admission, $15 for students & seniors; all proceeds go to support the work of the St. Cecilia Society throughout the year. For more information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net, or call the parish office at 203-866-5546.

A PDF flier is available here; click here for a printer-friendly version.

St. Mary's warmly invites you & your family
to a ceremony of
Advent Lessons & Carols
Friday, 11 December 2009, 7:00 p.m.

The St. Mary’s Choir
El Coro Hispano de Santa María
St. Mary’s Children’s Schola
Anchor Academy Schola Cantorum

* * *

David J. Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster
Welder Gómez, Spanish Choir director

Seven readings from Sacred Scripture and the writings of the saints on the Advent of Our Lord
will be interspersed with carols, chants, hymns, and organ music of the season.
A festive reception will follow.

For more information, please contact the St. Mary’s Music Office.

A PDF flier is available here.