Category Archives: Concerts at St. Mary’s

Concerts and other special musical events

Advent Lessons & Carols, 13 December 2013, 7:00 p.m.

St. Mary's warmly invites you & your family
to its annual service of
Advent Lessons & Carols
Friday, 13 December 2013, 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
Charles A. Weaver, Student Schola Assistant Director

* * *

Traditional carols from England, Spain & Germany;
organ music of Buxtehude & Bach;
& 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.

Annual concert in honor of St. Cecilia, 3 November 2013

Sunday, 3 November 2013, 4:00 P.M.

The St. Mary's Schola Cantorum
David J. Hughes, director

CANTANTIBUS ORGANIS CÆCILIA DOMINO
in honor of the patroness of music & musicians

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church is pleased to present its annual benefit concert in honor of St. Cecilia on Sunday, 3 November 2013 at 4:00 p.m. The St. Mary's Schola Cantorum, under the direction of David Hughes, will sing a program of sacred music written specifically in honor of St. Cecilia.

A festive reception will follow the concert. General admission is $25, and $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.

Recital by David J. Hughes, 26 May 2013

Sunday, 26 May 2013, 4:00 P.M.
David J. Hughes, organ

Dances & Fugues
works by Bruhns, Buxtehude, Bach

* * *

General Admission: $15 / Students: $10.
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 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. 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 pontifical Masses at the Cathedral of Toledo, Extraordinary Form Missae cantatae at the Carmelite monasteries in Avila and Madrid, and for the Latin Masses sponsored by Juventutem.

Active as a composer, and fascinated by the rôle that plainchant can play in the inspiration of new compositions, Mr. Hughes has written extensively for choir and organ. Recent premieres include Pascha jucundissimum and the Missa de Beata Maria. 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 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. Performances and workshops this season include appearances throughout the United States and in Italy and Estonia.

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.

 

Recital by Paul M. Weber, 12 April 2013

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church, Norwalk, is pleased to present a recital by

Paul M. Weber, organ

on Friday, 12 April 2013, at 7:30 p.m.

* * *

Music of Bach, Rheinberger, and Duruflé

* * *

Bach: Tocatta in D minor (BWV 538)
Rheinberger: Sonata No. 16 in G# minor (Op. 175)
Duruflé: Suite (Op. 5)

Paul Weber is an organist, conductor, and composer residing in the Pittsburgh area and is on the faculty of Franciscan University of Steubenville (OH) where he founded the Program in Sacred Music and directs the university ensembles. As a concert organist he has been heard throughout the United States and in Europe, including the national conventions of the Organ Historical Society, the American Guild of Organists and the Church Music Association of America. Dr. Weber also holds prizes from national and international competitions, including the Erfurt (Germany) International Organ Competition and the Arthur Poister National Organ Competition. As a conductor, he has directed the Schola Cantorum Franciscana throughout the Pittsburgh area and leads the Franciscan University Chorale and Franciscan Chamber Orchestra in yearly concerts. A graduate of Lawrence University (BM) and Yale University (MM, MMA, DMA), his teachers include Miriam Duncan, Wolfgang Ruebsam, Martin Jean, Thomas Murray and William Porter (improvisation).

* * *

General admission $15 / Students $10
For further information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net.

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

Recital by Charles & Elizabeth Weaver, 8 March 2013

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church, Norwalk, is pleased to present a recital by

Elizabeth Baber Weaver, soprano
&
Charles Weaver, lute

on Friday, 8 March 2013, at 7:30 p.m.

* * *

SACRED SONG 1500-1650

Josquin, Lassus, Monteverdi, and more

* * *

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church, Norwalk, is pleased to present a recital by Elizabeth Baber Weaver and Charles Weaver on Friday, 8 March 2013, at 7:30 p.m.? The program of music for voice and lute includes Lassus? Timor et tremor, and will culminate in Monteverdi?s masterful Pianto della Madonna.

General admission is $15, students $10. For further information, please visit stmarynorwalk.net/recitals, e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net, or call 203-866-5546 x115.

Elizabeth Baber Weaver (soprano) and Charles Weaver (lute) made their debut as a duo at the 2004 Baltimore Shakespeare Festival with an innovative narrative program of songs from the plays of Shakespeare. The following year, their artist recital of 16th-century Spanish song at the Washington Early Music Festival met with a rave review from the Washington Post, which praised their ?impeccable performances? and ?imagination in programming.? They have since presented programs of Renaissance song in venues around the country, and have collaborated with ensembles such as New York Polyphony and Parthenia, a Consort of Viols. They are both faculty members of the New York Continuo Collective.

Elizabeth Baber Weaver has been praised by the Washington Post for her ?angelic brightness and dedication,? and the New York Times called her singing ?truly lovely.? Recent solo engagements include appearances with Hesperus, Parthenia, and Ex Umbris; the revival of The Play of Daniel at the Cloisters; chansons and airs de cour with Guido?s Ear at the Connecticut Early Music Festival; and ?A Vivaldi Festival!? with Voices of Ascension. Elizabeth is a member of the Grammy-nominated ensemble Pomerium. She has also performed and recorded as a guest artist with the acclaimed quartet New York Polyphony. Elizabeth is a native of Lexington, Kentucky, studied voice at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and now lives in New York City.

Charles Weaver specializes in sixteenth and seventeenth-century music, and performs frequently on the lute and related historical plucked-string instruments: both as a soloist, and in concert with groups such as Early Music New York, Piffaro: The Renaissance Band, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the Folger Consort. The New York Times has noted his ?agile lute and Baroque guitar accompaniments.? He is on the faculty of the New York Continuo Collective, an ongoing workshop in how medieval music theory and the study of rhetoric inform the performance of seventeenth-century vocal music. He has also worked as a vocal coach at the Western Wind Workshop in Ensemble Singing, the Queens College Baroque Opera Workshop, and the Yale Baroque Opera Program. He was formerly director of the Holy Innocents? Schola and a member of the St Agnes Schola in New York. He now sings with the St. Mary?s Schola Cantorum.

* * *

General admission $15 / Students $10
For further information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net.

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

Advent Lessons & Carols, 14 December 2012, 7:00 p.m.

St. Mary's warmly invites you & your family
to its annual service of
Advent Lessons & Carols
Friday, 14 December 2012, 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
Charles A. Weaver, Student Schola Assistant Director

* * *

Traditional carols from England, Spain & Germany;
motets of Victoria, Salazar & Vaughan Williams;
organ music of Bach & Messiaen;
& 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.

Annual concert in honor of St. Cecilia, 9 November 2012

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church is pleased to present its annual benefit concert in honor of St. Cecilia on Friday, 9 November 2012 at 7:30 p.m. The St. Mary's Schola Cantorum, under the direction of David Hughes, will sing a program of sacred music centered around the theme of dedication: the dedication of a church (as for the day's feast, that of the Dedication of the Basilica of S. Giovanni in Laterano in Rome), and dedication in prayer.  The program:

Crecquillon: Vidit Jacob scalam
Dufay: Nuper rosarum flores
Victoria: Urbs beata Jerusalem
Ockeghem: Missa Au travail suis
Guerrero: O Gloriosa Dei Genitrix
Mouton: Ave Maria ... Virgo serena
Tye: Salve Regina

A festive 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.

Recital by Terrence B. Fay and Alexis Zingale, 12 October 2012

St. Mary’s, Norwalk is pleased to present a recital by
Terrence B. Fay, trombone and tenor
&
Alexis Zingale, piano

on Friday, 12 October 2012, at 7:30 p.m.

* * *

At the End of the Century

Ralph Vaughan Williams: Two Songs
1.The Vagabond
2. Silent Noon

Lars-Erik Larsson: Trombone Concertino (Op. 45/7)

Gerald Finzi: Oh Fair To See (Op. 13b)
1. I say, "I'll seek her"
2. Oh fair to see
3. As I lay in the early sun
4. Only the wanderer
5. To Joy
6. Harvest
7. Since we Loved

Juraj Filas: Sonata "At the end of the century"

Giacomo Puccini: Two arias from Turandot
1. Non piangere, Liu
2. Nessun Dorma

* * *
General admission $15 / Students $10
For further information, please e-mail music@stmarynorwalk.net.

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

* * *

Terrence B. Fay began studying trombone at the age of ten. He is an active soloist, performing as a soloist with the Wallingford Symphony, as well as in numerous recitals throughout the area. He is an active orchestral musician as a member of the New Haven Symphony and principal trombonist of the Eastern Connecticut and New Britain Symphony Orchestras, while also performing with such groups as the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Orchestra New England, Moscow State and Wisconsin Chamber Orchestras, and the Waterbury and New Britain Symphonies, among others.

A native of Long Island, NY, Mr. Fay received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School, spending one of his undergraduate years at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he received Commendation in the Drummond Sharpe Prize from Philip Jones CBE. He received his Master of Music degree with honors and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music, where he was the inaugural recipient of the John Swallow Prize.

Mr. Fay is also an accomplished vocalist, having sung professionally for well 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, Trinity Episcopal Church, Torrington, 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. In 2011, he performed as a member of the Collegiate Chorale at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland in performances with Bryn Terfel and Barbara Frittoli, and the Bard Festival with the American Symphony Orchestra. He is currently a member of the Schola Cantorum of St. Mary’s Church, Norwalk.

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.

* * *

Alexis Zingale began her piano studies at the age of four and presented her first solo recital program at age nine. Ms. Zingale has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada as soloist and collaborator, and is now one of the most actively sought-after collaborators in New England. Her collaborative repertoire includes over 300 sonatas, concert pieces, art songs, arias and orchestral transcriptions. Ms. Zingale studied with Edward Auer, Russell Hirshfield and Patricia Lutnes, and she has had significant coaching with Vladimir Feltsman. Her collaborative studies have been with George Taylor, Wendy Sharp, Dan Stepner, Oleh Krysa, Jean Barr, and Jody Rowitsch. She has performed in masterclasses with such artists as Boris Berman, Peter Frankl, Claude Frank, Angela Cheng and John Perry, and in collaborative masterclasses with such artists as Graham Johnson, Melvin Chen, and the Lydian String Quartet.

Her recent performance experiences vary from finalist at the Hugo Kauder International Music Competition for Piano and the Sorel Medallion in Collaborative Piano, accompanying entrants to the Naumberg International and Young Concert Artists International competitions, to solo and collaborative performance on the University of Maryland New Music Maryland series, and numerous performances on Neighborhood Music Schools Bach's Lunch and Faculty Fridays series. Notable venues for her performances include the Miller Theatre in New York City, Ed Landreth Hall at Texas Christian University, Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music, and Sprague Hall, Woolsey Hall and Battell Chapel in New Haven.

Ms. Zingale has performed as soloist and collaborator with the Wallingford Symphony Orchestra, the Hamden Symphony Orchestra, and the Brevard Music Center Festival Orchestra, and with the Brevard Music Center faculty chamber ensemble. Ms. Zingale has given international and local premieres of new works by young composers. She performed on harpsichord with acclaimed new music ensemble Alarm Will Sound, and reed organ with the New Haven Oratorio Choir. Ms. Zingale has recorded for Peer Music Classical and the Charles Ives Society, and her performances have been broadcast on Connecticut Public Radio.

She is currently a piano faculty member and staff accompanist at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT.

Recital by David J. Hughes, 8 June 2012

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

Sound Games : Ludus Tonalis
works by Bach and Hindemith

* * *

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

* * *

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.

Recital by Terrence B. Fay, 20 April 2012

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.

* * *

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.