Notre Dame choir to perform concert on May 12 at cathedral

The University of Notre Dame Liturgical Choir poses in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the university’s northern Indiana campus. The choir will perform a concert at 6:30 p.m. on May 12 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, 1347 N. Meridian St., in Indianapolis. (Photo courtesy of the University of Notre Dame)

By Sean Gallagher

The University of Notre Dame Liturgical Choir has held a prominent place in Catholic music in the United States for years through its recordings, annual concert tours and the weekly broadcast on CatholicTV of the Sunday Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Notre Dame’s campus at which it sings.

The talents of the Liturgical Choir will be on display for Catholics in central and southern Indiana during a concert it will perform at 6:30 p.m. on May 12 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral, 1347 N. Meridian St., in Indianapolis.

Andrew McShane, the choir’s director, will lead the choir in singing a number of pieces by composers spanning several centuries of the Catholic and broader Christian musical traditions. The concert will feature works by Thomas Tallis, Benjamin Britten, Gerald Finzi, Maurice Durufle, John Rutter and others.

Mary Catherine Levri, the choir’s assistant director, and other student directors will conduct some pieces at the concert.

McShane said that the annual concert tours and individual concerts like the one on May 12 in the cathedral are an important part of the choir’s ministry.

“It makes what we do at Notre Dame available to a broader group of people,” he said. “And it builds the community of the choir.”

More than 50 members of the choir, made up of Notre Dame students ages 18 to 22, will sing at the concert. McShane said they look forward to the various concerts they perform in addition to the weekly Sunday morning Mass they participate in at Notre Dame.

“The students love to do concerts because we always sing in the back [at Mass],” he said. “It’s a great place to sing, but they want to give concerts, too. It’s a highlight to be able to stand up in front of appreciative audiences and sing concerts as well.”

McShane also said that he hopes that, through concerts like the upcoming one at the cathedral, the Liturgical Choir will encourage Catholic musicians to learn pieces that they may have felt were out of their reach in the past.

“The possibilities are endless,” he said. “Catholic musicians should all be striving for higher standards and greater music in the Church.”

The May 12 concert is free, but donations are accepted and the choir’s recordings will be sold afterward. McShane said that proceeds from the concert, including sales of the choir’s recordings, will be used to support a concert trip the choir hopes to take to Paris next year.
 

(For more information on the University of Notre Dame Liturgical Choir, log on to www.litchoir.nd.edu.) †