Chamber Singers at Presidio for Holy Week
The Westmont Chamber Singers perform music composed in Spain and colonial Mexico during the 16th and 17th centuries Sunday, March 28, at 3 p.m., at the Santa Barbara Presidio Chapel, 123 E. Canon Perdido St. The concert is free, however a donation of $10 is suggested.
The performance features a musical setting of the Passion, the story of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion by Spaniard Luis Coronado, composer at the Mexico City Cathedral from 1643 to 1648. Director Grey Brothers, Westmont associate professor of music, recently edited this work from a manuscript he found in the archives of the cathedral. Needless to say, it’s been rarely heard in this century.
“During the 16th and 17th centuries, responsorial settings of the Passion, in which chant was punctuated by choral music, became popular among Spanish composers, some of whom assumed posts in Latin American cathedrals,” Brothers says. “While at Mexico City, Coronado wrote responsorial settings of the Passion taken from all four Gospels.”
The four Gospel accounts of Christ’s Passion are traditionally sung during Holy Week, the last week of Lent, the season of the church year before Easter. March 28 is Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week 2010.
The ensemble will perform several works by Spanish composers, including Coronado’s “Passio secundum Joannem (Passion according to John).”
Brothers teaches music history, world music, church music and voice at Westmont, where he also directs the Westmont Chamber Singers and the Men’s Chorale. He has a doctorate in musicology from UC Santa Barbara.
Brothers, a tenor, has appeared as soloist with Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura choral ensembles, has sung lead roles in local stage productions and has performed as a choral artist at the Oregon Bach Festival and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. A long-time church musician, he has served for more than 20 years as minister of choral and congregational music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara.