   |
  |
|
|
|
Under the direction of choirmaster Daniel Grimm (’76), the Thomas Aquinas College Choir performed its annual Advent Concert on December 1st. Those assembled in St. Joseph Commons were treated to a festive offering of sacred music by two of the great masters of composition, Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. “I wondered, for a second or two, if we were doing too much sacred music for our concerts,” Mr. Grimm reflected. “Yet, we are always supposed to be praising God, whatever we do, and these days the more explicit, the better to counteract so much apathy and blasphemy. Too often, Church music sounds like second-rate secular music. So why not, in at least one place, have concerts of first-rate sacred music?” To set the tone for the evening, the choir began by chanting the Introit of the third Mass of Christmas Day, Puer Natus Est Nobis (A Child is Born to Us). A rendition of Bach’s Cantata No. 142, Uns ist ein Kind geboren followed, featuring solo performances by sophomores Simon Noster (bass) and David Kaiser (tenor) and freshman Jacob Mason (baritone). In addition to showcasing choir and soloists, the Cantata is scored for two flutes, two oboes, strings, and bass continuo. For this performance, the continuo was played by cello, string bass, and a harpsichord graciously loaned to the College by The Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara and played by sophomore Joel Morehouse. The concert concluded with Vivaldi’s Gloria in D with solos by sopranos Thérèse Grimm (’04), sophomore Rosalind Grimm, and senior Bailey Fator, and alto Maria Forshaw, a senior. Students who comprise the College’s chamber orchestra that accompanied the choir were joined by several local musicians, including an oboist who teaches at the California Institute of the Arts, a violinist who directs the Ojai Youth Symphony, and a trumpeter who supervises the music program at Nordhoff High School in Ojai. Mr. Grimm commented on the choir’s work saying, “Here at the College we aim to form good tastes as well as clear thinking. That is done best, in music as in other aspects of education, by focusing on the great works which are universally acknowledged as masterpieces. It just so happens,” he continued, “that the music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods is also ideally suited for young singers. Their bright, clear, young voices sound wonderful in this literature.” More fine music was heard inside St. Bernardine of Siena Library on December 6th when students presented an informal recital—-a Schubertiade—for the Advent season. The first part of this year’s program consisted of vocal and instrumental pieces by composers such as Handel and Praetorius. It concluded with freshman Paula Matthews on flute and junior Thomas Duffy on piano, performing the first movement of Poulenc’s Sonata for Flute and Piano. During the second half of the Schubertiade, a new vocal ensemble, Chrysostomos, under the direction of junior John Pakaluk, delighted the audience with familiar Christmas songs ranging from traditional American works such as I Wonder as I Wander, to Tomas Luis de Victoria’s O Magnum Mysterium. Musicians and vocalists alike were grateful for the use of both St. Joseph Commons and St. Bernardine of Siena Library during the Advent Season. As student musical programs, professional recitals, and formal lectures continue to draw more visitors to the campus, the College community looks forward to having an auditorium—complete with proper acoustics—to give these important cultural and academic events a more fitting home.
-- Qtrly Newsletter, Winter 2007 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home | About
| Curriculum
| Campus Life
| News | Admission
|
