Concert - Bach meets the French

Last year, Pathway Methodist Church began a Bach Concert series with an all-Bach concert.  This year we will be continuing with the music of Bach on our concert, but we will feature music from the French composers, Gabriel Faure and Maurice Duruflé.  We will be performing Faure's "Cantique de Jean Racine" and Duruflé's "Requiem."  The chorus for the concert will be the local Southwest Michigan Chorale assisted by members of Chorllenium.

The Southwest Michigan Chorale is a touring choir comprised of singers from the area including the choir at Pathway Methodist Church in St. Joseph.  This group has had tremendously successful choral tours to Ireland (2017), Budapest, Vienna, Prague (2019) and Italy (2022).  This summer the chorale will be participating in the Paris Choral Festival in early July with a culminating concert featuring a mass choir of 300 singers including a performance of the Duruflé “Requiem” at La Madeleine Cathedral under the direction of Craig Jessop (conductor emeritus of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir).  Chorllenium is the anchor chorus for the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra made up of local professional singers, music teachers, and area musicians.

For the concert on June 23, the first half will feature instrumental music of Bach by the chamber orchestra including the first movement of the "Concerto for two violins" featuring Fangbo and Grace Yuan.  This part will also include a few other choral pieces the choir will be singing on the tour. The second half will feature the “Requiem” by Maurice Duruflé with the chamber orchestra and organ. This work is considered one of the most beautiful and important choral works of the 20th century. 

"We are delighted to present this work here in St. Joseph and then perform it in the historic Madeleine in Paris with Craig Jessop.  We are also honored to sing the pieces we will perform at a memorial service at the American Cemetery in Normandy on July 4th," said Jim Kraus, one of the co-directors of the Southwest Michigan Chorale.

A free-will offering will be taken to help offset costs for the Paris Choral Festival in July 2024.