Faure Requiem in Vienna, VA

The following was written by the music director at my parish. Local folks should try to make it – the concert should be outstanding.
Incidently – I’m singing the baritone solo on the “Libera Me.” I normally sing tenor, but there wasn’t a suitable solo and my voice is sufficiently beefy to sing baritone. Should be fun.

“MUSICAL TRADITION IN VIENNA”
Years ago, when the town of Vienna was first established, the original idea was to name it Ayr Hill. Someone with vision insisted that it be named Vienna, after the great musical city in Austria, in the hopes that good music would always flourish there. 252 years later, the tradition of great classical music flourishes here in Vienna, especially at St. Mark Catholic Church on Vale Road.
Beginning in 2002 under the direction of Minister of Music and Liturgy Nancy Novelly, an annual series of Major Composer concerts has drawn together the amazing wealth of parish musical talent to focus on the sacred works of one composer. These concerts take place on the Friday before Thanksgiving each year, roughly coinciding with the November 22 feast of St. Cecilia, Patron Saint of Music. They are part of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians’ program, “NPM Sing,” which encourages parish musical celebrations of her feast day.
A Festival Choir of 50-60 voices is assembled each September to begin rehearsals. Singers are drawn from the parish’s eight choirs, plus any interested parishioners who don’t have time for a regular choir commitment but who love to sing. Twice a week for two and a half months, the halls are filled with sounds of music which challenges the skills of singers and directors alike. The Festival Choir has presented concerts of the works of Mozart, Bach, Handel, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. This year’s concert, entitled “Faure in Vienna,” will present sacred works by Gabriel Faure (1845-1924), a French Catholic composer who devoted his life to service in the Catholic Church.
The program includes the breathtaking “Requiem” in its original 1893 version, with restrained orchestration: a handful of strings, which nevertheless add richness and warmth to the lush harmonies and SATTBB vocal writing. In addition, vocal solos and trios by sopranos Teresa Schultz and Michelle Kunz, Youth choir director Jackie Niedermaier and school music teacher Colleen Foarde, our Resurrection Choir, plus a stunning Barcarolle for solo piano performed by our Parish Council president Linda Carducci, and flute pieces by parish flautists Elisabeth Hays, Ann Brownell and Lynda Clark will round out the program. The St. Mark Handbell Choir will perform a contemporary piece commissioned especially for its director, resident organist Richard Weiand. In closing, Adult choir director John Schultz directs “Cantique de Jean Racine,” a beautifully simple prayer sung in French.
Those who present this concert each year are nourished musically and spiritually by the exercise of working on great music together. Those who attend are blessed and enriched by this gift of music. All of us pray that other communities might be inspired to institute such a program, if they don’t already have one.
All are invited to this year’s “Faure in Vienna” on Friday, November 17th at 7:30 pm in the main Church. Call 703-938-3293 for more information. Admission is free.