Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Announcing Palestrina500: A Year-Long Festival with Twelve Extraordinary Events in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Peter Kwasniewski

In the year 2025, Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Parish in Grand Rapids, Michigan will be hosting Palestrina500, a year-long festival celebrating the life and legacy of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–94) in his quincentennial year. This festival consists of 12 monthly events, during which visiting choirs from around the world will perform an hour-long choral meditation featuring Palestrina and other composers’ works, followed by the “main event”: a sung Mass featuring one of the maestro’s myriad full Mass ordinaries and two of his motets.

Featured choirs include:

  • the Tallis Scholars
  • The Gesualdo Six
  • The London Oratory Schola
  • The Theatre of Early Music
  • Schola Antiqua and His Majesty’s Men
as well as other collegiate and domestic ensembles. This is a precious opportunity to hear this divine music in its “right and just” context: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

Sacred Heart Parish has launched an online fundraising campaign, which can be found at palestrina500.org. Please consider supporting this colossal festival, whose aim is not only to honor our rich Catholic musical patrimony, but more importantly, to give God His due worship and to evangelize through beauty.

Here is the promo video: 

New Liturgical Movement is very excited about this amazing and ambitious project and will offer updates and announcements as the festival proceeds.

Congratulations to Sacred Heart, their music director and program, and all who are working behind the scenes and contributing to Palestrina500. It will surely be an inspiration for the whole Church, and, Deo volente, a model for other initiatives in honor of the undisputed prince of liturgical polyphony.

Posted Wednesday, October 11, 2023 Comments (2)

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