Hudson Chorale, the area’s largest mixed voice chorus, will begin its 2016-2017 season with a concert program to be performed on both Friday, January 27 at 8:00 pm and Sunday, January 29 at 3:00 pm. Aptly entitled Variations on a Text, it explores how the same sacred verses were interpreted musically by composers from different eras (spanning the Renaissance to the present day), cultures, religions and countries. There is no better place to experience a concert of great sacred music than the magnificent and inspirational Queen of the Apostles Chapel at Maryknoll, 55 Ryder Road, Ossining, NY.

The program will include diverse and contrasting settings of three texts: the Ave Maria by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Javier Busto, Igor Stravinsky, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Giuseppe Verdi, John Rutter, and Franz Biebl; the Te Deum of Benjamin Britten and Franz Joseph Haydn; a version of O Magnum Mysterium by Francis Poulenc and another by Tomás Luis de Victoria; and, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus in Latin coupled with Herbert Howells’ Like As the Hart Desireth the Waterbrook, the same text in English. For the audience’s additional enjoyment, Hudson Chorale’s highly accomplished accompanist, pianist and organist, David Baranowski, will play two litanies composed for organ from the French Romantic Period: Jehan Alain’s Litanies and Marcel Dupré’s Cortège et Litanie. The concert will liken itself to a 12-course meal where no two flavors are alike, but all are delicious in their own unique ways.

This is Hudson Chorale’s second season under the direction of Ira Spaulding, the Chorale’s Music Director/Conductor. Maestro Spaulding has a 36-year career of performing, conducting and teaching conducting master classes in more than 60 countries all over the world, and currently holds the position of Professor of Vocal and Choral Music at City College of New York. Hudson Chorale is pleased to be the beneficiary of his experience and artistic vision.

Following the concert, the audience is invited to an informal reception to meet and chat with the conductor, accompanist and chorus members while enjoying some delicious refreshments, a long-standing Hudson Chorale tradition. Ticket Prices: Advance Sale-$25; Door-$30; Students-$10. Advanced Sale tickets can be purchased on-line at www.HudsonChorale.org by calling 1-800-838-3006. Handicap parking is available at the venue. For additional chorus or event information, visit the chorus website or call (914) 462-3212.