“To Everything a Season” Choral Celebration
Image courtesy of Bryan Kotlar.
By Bryan Kotlar
Last week, the Benjamin T. Rome School of Performing Arts’ music department hosted a concert in the St. Vincent de Paul Chapel on campus. Inspired by Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, the concert consisted of a beautiful evening of sacred music featuring the university’s chamber choir and repertory chorus.
The chamber choir is an auditioned group of 26 undergraduate and graduate students. Under the direction of Dr. Peter Kadeli, the Head of Sacred Music and Director of Choral activities, the group has performed across the DMV and recorded numerous projects. In May, the chamber choir will be performing in Carnegie Hall. This is an incredible opportunity for the choir to perform at the world’s most famous concert venue that has become synonymous with excellence over the decades.
Dr. Kadeli joined the CUA community in 2024 with him currently leading the graduate choral conducting and sacred music programs for the national university of the Catholic Church in the United States. He is the Associate Conductor for The Washington Chorus, the two-time Grammy Award-winning symphonic chorus widely recognized as a cultural leader in the nation’s capital.
The repertory chorus is composed of DMV professional choral singers. This is a great opportunity for the graduate student conductors to lead a choir, as Dr. Kadeli mentioned during the concert. They opened the program and featured four beautiful pieces by their three graduate student conductors.
Elizabeth Rexine opened the concert with Francis Poulenc’s “Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence.” The text for the first motet, “Timor et tremor” ( translated “great fear and trembling”), combines verses from psalms 54 and 30.
This was followed by the traditional spiritual “Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord!” and Margaret Burk’s “I Lift Up My Eyes” under the direction of Kathleen Goodrich. “Daniel, Daniel, Servant of the Lord!” featured two soloists: David Evans (tenor) and David Breen (bass). “I Lift Up My Eyes” featured Samuel Hoefner on organ. These contrasting songs masterfully demonstrate Goodrich’s flexibility between pieces and artistic styles.
The repertory chorus concluded their set with Johannes Brahms’ “Schaffe in mir, Gott, ein rein Herz” under the direction of Marcelo Santa Cruz. The prayer for spiritual purification and renewal translates to “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”
The chamber choir then performed four pieces. Thomas Morley’s “Fire! Fire!” opened their set, followed by “Weep, O Mine Eyes” by John Bennet. These two renowned late-16th-century English madrigals compliment each other. “Fire! Fire!” embodies a lighthearted, rhythmic, and energetic character while “Weep, O Mine Eyes” features word painting that mimics tears.
These madrigals were followed by Ysaÿe Barnwell’s “Wanting Memories,” “¡Ayúdame! (Venezuelan Plea for Life)” by Carlos Cordero featuring Elizabeth Rexine on percussion, and Jake Runestad’s “The Peace of Wild Things.” “Wanting Memories” is Barnwell’s poignant reflection of her dedication to education, community music-making, and addressing social injustice through the power of music. “¡Ayúdame! (Venezuelan Plea for Life)” is a powerful, haunting choral piece written in 2019 that acts as an urgent, artistic protest against the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. The end of the piece featured overlapping cries for help by the choir’s 26 members. In addition to this, “The Peace of Wild Things” explores finding refuge from modern anxiety through nature.
To triumphantly close the concert, the repertory chorus and chamber choir sang the traditional spiritual “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit” together, under the direction of Dr. Kadeli. It featured solos from Elizabeth Pakaluk, Leif Angove, Madelyn Kobbermann, Elle Williams, Miguel Villalobos, Marcelo Santa Cruz, and Katie Vitale. The ending message reflected how feeling God’s presence brings strength during earthly suffering and joy in worship.
For more beautiful music, be sure to join the music department in their spring concert on May 1 in Hartke Theatre. The concert will celebrate the 250th anniversary of The United States of America and feature the university chorus as well as the chamber choir. The concert begins at 7:30 pm and is free and open to the public.
