A Mother’s Day Bouquet

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Shrine’s famous display of 12,000 roses on Mother’s Day. This year the amount is “plussed” with the added plus of a concert by the Basilica Choir and Orchestra! Enjoy an afternoon in celebration of our moms, as well as the Mary, Mother of God. Hear a series of different settings of the beloved “Ave Maria” text as well as John Rutter’s magnificent setting of Mary’s own song, “Magnificat”.

The concert will include Glenn Osborne’s arrangement of Giulio Caccini’s Ave Maria for SATB choir, strings and solo instrument

Choral Vespers featuring Charles Stanford

Stanford-1921The Liturgy of the Hours is the means of sanctifying the day, and though primarily practiced by religious communities and clergy, it may be prayed by anyone and has an office appropriate for any part of the day. By the sixth century, the eight offices of the day were established as Matins, Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. After the Second Vatican Council, Prime was abolished and Lauds as Morning Prayer and Vespers as Evening Prayer became the primary celebrations of the Liturgy of the Hours.

The structure of the Liturgy of the Hours includes hymns, psalms, canticles and a reading from Scripture. Over the course of four weeks, all 150 psalms will be recited during the celebration of Morning and Evening prayer. In Laudis Canticum, the document that promulgated the revised book of the Liturgy of the Hours, Pope Paul VI remarks, “The very celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, especially when a community is gathered for this purpose, expresses the genuine nature of the praying Church, and stands as a wonderful sign of that Church.”

This Sunday afternoon we have the opportunity to celebrate Evening Prayer here at the Cathedral in a service where most all of the music was composed by Charles Villiers Stanford. Stanford was an Irish composer born in 1852 in Dublin. In 1882 at the age of 29, he was one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. In 1887, he also became Professor of Music at Cambridge. His students included Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Ireland, and Herbert Howells. Stanford died on March of 1924 and is buried in Westminster Abbey near the graves of Henry Purcell and John Blow.

I hope you will come this afternoon to experience both the music of Charles Stanford and the beauty of the Liturgy of the Hours.

Glenn

Bulletin Notes for the Cathedral of Mary, Our Queen, April 26, 2015

Premier of Watch! Take Care!

The first performance of my composition Watch! Take Care! Your Hearts Prepare! will take place during Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Advent at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe. The Basilica Choir under the direction of William Picher will sing the piece at both the 9:30 and 11:30am Masses. The piece is a setting of a text by John Dalles for unaccompanied SATB choir.

Tis the Season – Sunday Matinee

Christmas-Concert-Web-Banner
Join us for a beautiful, fun and festive evening with your favorite Christmas classics and heart-warming renditions of music you’ll love. From bells ringing and lights gleaming to the warmth of a manger bed, start your season with this annual Christmas tradition for the whole family.

There will be three performances of this concert:

  • Saturday, December 6 at 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
  • Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m.

Tickets for the concerts will be $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children under 12. Children under 3 are free.

The concert will be in the St. Luke’s Sanctuary. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime and concert goers are encouraged to come early as all seats are general admission. Any tickets not claimed at Will Call five minutes before the start of the performance will be released.

Tis the Season – Saturday Evening

Christmas-Concert-Web-Banner
Join us for a beautiful, fun and festive evening with your favorite Christmas classics and heart-warming renditions of music you’ll love. From bells ringing and lights gleaming to the warmth of a manger bed, start your season with this annual Christmas tradition for the whole family.

There will be three performances of this concert:

  • Saturday, December 6 at 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
  • Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m.

Tickets for the concerts will be $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children under 12. Children under 3 are free.

The concert will be in the St. Luke’s Sanctuary. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime and concert goers are encouraged to come early as all seats are general admission. Any tickets not claimed at Will Call five minutes before the start of the performance will be released.

Tis the Season

Christmas-Concert-Web-Banner
Join us for a beautiful, fun and festive evening with your favorite Christmas classics and heart-warming renditions of music you’ll love. From bells ringing and lights gleaming to the warmth of a manger bed, start your season with this annual Christmas tradition for the whole family.

There will be three performances of this concert:

  • Saturday, December 6 at 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
  • Sunday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m.

Tickets for the concerts will be $10.00 for adults and $5.00 for children under 12. Children under 3 are free.

The concert will be in the St. Luke’s Sanctuary. Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime and concert goers are encouraged to come early as all seats are general admission. Any tickets not claimed at Will Call five minutes before the start of the performance will be released.

Christmas 2014 with the Basilica Choir

The annual celebration of Advent and Christmas music, featuring seasonal favorites for choir and orchestra as well as John Rutter’s thrilling “Gloria”. And don’t forget the sing-along! This is the Basilica’s most popular concert, so come early for the best seats. Preceeding the concert at 5:30pm will be an open house at the Basilica Gift Shop and Museum with light refreshments.