The Old Whaling Church in Edgartown resounded with music and applause over the weekend as the Island Community Chorus presented its spring concerts, opening with a powerful performance of Misa Criolla.
The Old Whaling Church in Edgartown resounded with music and applause over the weekend as the Island Community Chorus presented its spring concerts, opening with a powerful performance of Misa Criolla.
Written in Spanish by Argentinian composer Ariel Ramírez, the 1964 work holds a place in musical — and religious — history as the first Catholic mass composed in everyday language instead of Latin, after the Vatican loosened its liturgical rules in the early 1960s.
Further establishing it as a milestone, Mr. Ramírez explicitly framed his Misa Criolla (Creole Mass) with the rhythms and melodies of Argentinean music, setting each of its five sections to a different regional style.
The work was performed at the Vatican twice, once soon after it was written and again at the request of the late Pope Francis after he became the first Latin-American pope in 2013.
Bill Peek addresses the audience.
Bill Peek addresses the audience.
Island baritone David Behnke and guest tenor David Rivera Bozón, a Colombian singer currently attending the Boston University Opera Institute, soared as soloists with the massed voices of the 58-member chorus in the Saturday and Sunday concerts.
Director Bill Peek led the singers, with Molly Sturges on piano and a guest ensemble of guitarist Lucas Ostinato and percussionist Taurus Biskis, visiting percussionist Lisa Esperson and guest bassist Carion Chu.
The combination of so much musical power in one place brought a sense of Symphony Hall to the Old Whaling Church, where standing ovations and prolonged applause erupted more than once during the program.
Mr. Peek followed Misa Criolla with the Robert Burns poem My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose, set to a Scottish traditional song and featuring soprano Shea Fee and tenor Dorian Lopes.
Mr. Ostinato switched to piano and Mr. Biskis to his drum kit for a jazz-instrumental interlude, playing The Girl from Ipanema — the classic bossa nova by Brazilian composer Antônio Carlos Jobim — and drawing more cheers and applause from the audience.
The chorus got its chance to get jazzy on the gently-swinging They Say It’s Spring, from the repertoire of sassy-but-sophisticated mid-century singer Blossom Dearie, with soprano Becky Williams taking the solos.
Misa Criolla is the first Catholic mass composed in everyday language instead of Latin.
Misa Criolla is the first Catholic mass composed in everyday language instead of Latin.
Mr. Behnke and Mr. Bozón returned to the stage with one of the most famous duets in opera history, Au fond du temple saint from Georges Bizet’s 1863 work The Pearl Fishers.
Brimming with emotion, the duet reunites two old friends and onetime rivals who recall their love for each other, their passion for the same woman and their determination to preserve their friendship.
Sunday’s whaling church audience surged to its feet once again at the end of the Bizet, with cries of “Bravo” and “Bravi.”
The chorus wrapped up its spring program with a pair of contemporary choral works, Like Stars by Karen Marrolli and An Earth Song, by Marques L.A. Garrett with words from the Langston Hughes poem of the same name.
At both concerts, Mr. Peek told the audience that they were probably hearing Mr. Behnke’s last performances as a Martha’s Vineyard resident: He and his husband, actor and photographer Paul Doherty, are moving back to Connecticut after more than a dozen years of full-time Island life.
Mr. Peek also thanked bass Nis Kildegaard, who is ending his tenure as Island Community Chorus president, for his years of dedicated hard work.
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