I just thought I would share the fact that my Senior music recital is less than two months away now! I am very excited for it, it really encapsulates so much of my college experience. It is longer than most as well, but i wanted it that way. All my pieces are vocal, with two each in German, French, and Italian, and multiple in English and Latin. I will be singing twelve songs for voice and piano that I have learned in my voice lessons over the course of the past 4 years, as well as 8 other pieces. Four will be Gregorian chants from the season of Lent, and 3 Renaissance polyphony pieces (2 by Palestrina, one by Guerrero) and one homophonic choral piece by William Croft. So total, i have 20 selections in my recital, which will be about an hour and a half with an intermission. I could not imagine having done a senior recital without singing chant and polyphony, especially considering the place i will be singing in, which is probably the best part of it all. Below are some pictures of the Sanctuary of St. Malachy's Parish in Philadelphia, probably the oldest Irish Catholic church in the city. It is mainly a poor black congregation that attends there now. The Sanctuary is absolutely gorgeous as you can see and the whole church just begs to have chant and polyphony sung in it, the acoustics were built for it. The rest of the Church is not enormous, which makes it ideal for my recital, so it is a little more intimate. I very much look forward to singing for all my family and friends, but primarily for God, in such a magnificent place of Catholic worship that probably has not heard such music in its walls for many years. My recital is planned for February 9th, and will be recorded by a friend from my parish, Mater Ecclesiae.
