A concert by the Custody of the Holy Land Choir brought to a close the June concert series of the Magnificat Institute.
Everyone recognized it for the frank success it was. After the gentle fragrance of the Jasmine Choir and the warm, powerful voice of the organ, it was the turn of the Kittens, the Bears, the Tigers and the Sharks* to demonstrate their talents. The Custody Choir promised us a rainbow of songs and that is indeed what they delivered, the varied colors of their repertoire transporting us through time and place, from 17th century French songs to 20th century Arabic ones, by way of Italy and Germany in the 17th and 19th centuries.
The musicians and singers of the Magnificat Institute perform throughout the year at Saint Saviour’s, demonstrating their progress as they go along. We asked ourselves if this is really the same choir we heard last time. They say that music can carry you away, and this choir carried us from enchantment to enchantment.
A number of soloists were featured at this closing concert: Janet Inoue, who is also the choir’s vocal coach, Sandrine Amer and Teddy Abdallah. Most of the singers in the choir are student-musicians at the Magnificat Institute, directed by their choir mistress Hania Soudah-Sabbarah, a gifted teacher who, along with Father Armando Pierucci, has every reason to be proud of her pupils. In the full hall, and in the presence of the Custos, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custodial Vicar, Father Artemio Vitores, the choir sang an emotional farewell to two of their number whom life has called to move on elsewhere. The same song was also a love song to this faithful audience who encourages their efforts. God put the rainbow in the heavens as a sign of the covenant He made with mankind. The Holy Land Choir offered a rainbow as a sign that music is God’s gift to bring people together.
We’re already impatient to hear them again.
Happy Summer Vacation to all the Institute’s pupils and their public.
MAB
* Kittens, Bears, Tigers and Sharks are the names of the different levels of the instrumental classes.
Everyone recognized it for the frank success it was. After the gentle fragrance of the Jasmine Choir and the warm, powerful voice of the organ, it was the turn of the Kittens, the Bears, the Tigers and the Sharks* to demonstrate their talents. The Custody Choir promised us a rainbow of songs and that is indeed what they delivered, the varied colors of their repertoire transporting us through time and place, from 17th century French songs to 20th century Arabic ones, by way of Italy and Germany in the 17th and 19th centuries.
The musicians and singers of the Magnificat Institute perform throughout the year at Saint Saviour’s, demonstrating their progress as they go along. We asked ourselves if this is really the same choir we heard last time. They say that music can carry you away, and this choir carried us from enchantment to enchantment.
A number of soloists were featured at this closing concert: Janet Inoue, who is also the choir’s vocal coach, Sandrine Amer and Teddy Abdallah. Most of the singers in the choir are student-musicians at the Magnificat Institute, directed by their choir mistress Hania Soudah-Sabbarah, a gifted teacher who, along with Father Armando Pierucci, has every reason to be proud of her pupils. In the full hall, and in the presence of the Custos, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custodial Vicar, Father Artemio Vitores, the choir sang an emotional farewell to two of their number whom life has called to move on elsewhere. The same song was also a love song to this faithful audience who encourages their efforts. God put the rainbow in the heavens as a sign of the covenant He made with mankind. The Holy Land Choir offered a rainbow as a sign that music is God’s gift to bring people together.
We’re already impatient to hear them again.
Happy Summer Vacation to all the Institute’s pupils and their public.
MAB
* Kittens, Bears, Tigers and Sharks are the names of the different levels of the instrumental classes.