Write a commentThe Oswego Festival Chorus, Oswego State Singers, and Laker Chorale, under the direction of S.U.N.Y Oswego music professor Dr. Ben May, will present a choral concert entitled “Magnificat | My Soul Doth Magnify, A Concert Exploring the Centuries-old Tradition of Marian Choral Music” on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022 at 7:30 pm at St. Mary of the Assumption Church at 103 W. 7th St., Oswego.
The concert will feature English and Latin choral settings of traditional Marian texts by both contemporary and classical composers. Texts and songs about Mary, whom Christian tradition regards as the mother of Jesus, have been used for centuries in devotional and liturgical services by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. The Oswego choirs will present music that spans more than six hundred years, from the fifteenth century through the twenty-first. Included in the repertoire are three different versions of the ancient Magnificat (the 'Song of Mary' text taken from the gospel of Luke) by the German Baroque composer Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (the son of Johann Sebastian Bach), the British Romantic Charles Villiers Stanford, and the contemporary gospel composer Robert Ray. Works by Arvo Pärt, Michael Praetorius, Herbert Howells, Gioachino Rossini, Franz Liszt, Kathryn Rose, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Richard Terry will also be featured.
According to May, "The centuries-old tradition of Marian choral music has generated some of the most passionate and beautiful writing from some of Western Classical music's greatest composers. It has been a treat to prepare this stunning music for performance by our Oswego choirs, and I am greatly looking forward to hearing it sung in the incredible acoustics at St. Mary's church."
Admission to the concert is free but a free will offering will be accepted.
