Early spring is also Lent. For years I celebrated Lent, and especially Holy Week, with the Suspicious Cheese Lords. We would provide music for a Tenebrae service at a church—including, over the years, the Church of the Epiphany, St. Matthew’s Cathedral, and the Franciscan Monastery—generally the Tallis Lamentations. We would also host a Tenebrae service at the Georgetown University chapel.
What great music. Over the years, we debuted members’ original compositions, sang Allegri’s Miserere, Byrd’s “Ave Verum Corpus,” Pärt’s “De profundis” (my directorial debut), and dozens of other works, including my introduction to Gregorian chant.
This year, with Mæstro di Capella under their belts, the group is branching into radio gigs, including a live performance on XM radio a week ago and a coming episode of Millennium of Music. Should be good listening. I wish I could be there to sing.