Dear Friends, We are approaching the most important event of our season: our 30th Anniversary Virtual Gala on November 17th. This will be an amazing trip down memory lane and looking toward the future. You will not want to miss it! And, starting today, we are “using” Bach’s B Minor Mass as countdown music! The ultimate countdown music, surely! For the next 12 days we will feature the entire work from our performance of 2014, a little bit every day. The morning of the Gala, November 17, you will hear the “Agnus Dei,” sung so poignantly by Silvie Jensen. And the final movement, “Dona nobis” will conclude the Gala that evening. We look forward to sharing this exceptional 12-day journey with you!

The opening Kyrie section of the Mass is in the traditional three parts, each one a separate movement. Today we hear the first movement. It begins with four massive introductory measures which serve two functions. As the beginning of the Kyrie section (“Lord, have mercy”) they appear as an intense, collective plea for mercy from all humankind. As an introduction to the entire Mass they represent a universal acknowledgement of the existence of a cosmic deity. These four measures are followed by an extraordinary choral fugue, long and formal in its construction, expressive, intense and spiritually elevated in its emotion. An amazing beginning of our journey! – Dennis Keene

Join us for our 30th Anniversary Season.
VIRTUAL EVENTS. REAL INSPIRATION.

BACH "Kyrie" from Mass in B Minor

Voices of Ascension
Dennis Keene, Artistic Director

Recorded live in concert on February 27, 2014, at Church of the Ascension
The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.