Schola Cantorum of Santa Fe

            .                                                                                                                                                            The Schola Cantorum of Santa Fe, a capella sacred - music ensemble group, sang both Vespers and the Mass in Gregorian Chant on a recent Sunday evening at San Miguel Mission in Santa Fe. For more than 20 years the Schola Cantorum has been sharing the sounds of sacred music masterpieces in the chapels, missions, cathedrals and basilicas of New Mexico and Colorado. The Schola Cantorum was founded by Dr. Billy Turney in 1990. Dr. Turney was the principal organist and music director of the Saint Francis Cathedral in Santa Fe from 1990 to 2005. Turney studied Gregorian chant and polyphonic music of the Renaissance in Rome at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music and has the unique perspective of presenting sacred music pieces in their original context. In addition to singing the ordinaries of the Mass at San Miguel Mission, the ensemble sang Salve Regina at the offertory and Pange Lingua at communion.

Listening to Schola Cantorum reminded me that Gregorian chant has no accompaniment, no instrumentals; it is plainchant performed by a single voice or many voices. The rhythm is very free and there is much room for pitch improvisation. The language is Latin except for the Kyrie sung in ancient Greek. The Schola Cantorum exuded a secure and confident love of Gregorian chant. There was nothing either self conscious, packaged or artificial about their performance. Their Gregorian chants were not of the commercial cross-over kind recently popular. Instead they sang true to the liturgy. Their sound was simply put - sacred. As Schola Cantorum sang their Gregorian chants, I was moved to devotion and prayer to our Lord, Jesus Christ. I would encourage all Christian pilgrims to the Southwest to seek out a concert by Schola Cantorum of Santa Fe, particularly their Gregorian Chant Mass.


For Schola Cantorum of Santa Fe's schedule of events, click on

Schola Cantorum of Santa Fe, New Mexico - Sacred Music of the ...

schola-sf.org/‎

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