LENOX, Mass. — The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present its season-ending performance on Sunday, May 17, at 3:00 pm at Trinity Church, 88 Walker St. in Lenox. 

 

Cantilena and a full orchestra will be performing Handel's Utrecht Jubilate and Paul Maelor's Stabat Mater. The program will close with the Psalms 86 and 148 for chorus and strings by Gustav Holst. 

 

According to a press release:

 

The Cantilena Chamber Choir, now in its 22nd season, is comprised of singers of the highest caliber who possess vocal training, excellent sight-reading skills, and considerable choral experience. In the past two decades, it has been able to bring to Berkshire audiences some of the most challenging and rarely heard works in the choral repertoire, from early chant to large choral works with full orchestras, such as the Bach Magnificat, Handel Coronation Anthems, and performances of the Monteverdi 1610 Vespers. The Choir's critically acclaimed showing of Le Passion de Jeanne D'Arc with the original 1928 score for choir, organ, and orchestra was performed live at Trinity Church and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Its accolades include a multi-year Cultural Portfolio grant award and a covid relief award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for its annual Martin Luther King program, three Choral Arts New England Alfred Nash Patterson awards 

 

Handel composed the Utrecht Jubilate for the solemn thanksgiving service celebrating the Peace of Utrecht in July 1713, which premiered at St Paul's Cathedral in London. It was his first major sacred work on English texts and is scored for choir, oboes, trumpets, and continuo.

 

Welsh composer Paul Mealor is among a new generation of composers who have moved away from unresolved dissonance in favor of melody and listener communication. He rose to prominence in England when his motet Ubi Caritas was commissioned by Prince William in 2011 for his marriage to Catherine Middleton. The Stabat Mater for choir, strings, piano, and soprano is "movingly serene and beautiful."

 

General Admission is $35, $25 for Seniors, and free for children under 18 with ID at Cantilenachoir.org. Trinity Church is at 88 Walker Street in Lenox.