FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Frances X. Gates (718.346.6108/718.852.6812)

CANTORES MINORES RETURNS TO AMERICA

To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Warsaw Archdiocesan Cathedral Men and Boys Choir, better known as Cantores Minores, returns to the United States of America for the fifth time, under the direction of their founder and present conductor Joseph A. Herter. Previous choir tours have taken place in 1994, ‘96, ‘98 and 2001. This year’s tour, however, is unique in that it will be the first American nationwide, coast-to-coast concert tour that the Polish choir has taken. The month-long tour begins on the West Coast in Lake Arrowhead, California on July 23 and ends on the East Coast in New York City with an afternoon performance at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 23.

The boys and men from the St. John Cathedral have a wide repertoire of mostly sacred music. Their selections for singing the Mass ordinary include the following:

Kyrie from Gregorian Mass IV Cunctipotens Genitor Deus
Gloria from Messe brève (en ut majeur) no. 7 ...... Charles Gounod (1818-1893)
Credo from Missa ‘Adeste Fideles’ ........................ Vittorio Giannini (1902-1966)
Sanctus from Messe a trios voix ................................. Cèsar Franck (1822-1890)
Agnus Dei from Missa di Gloria (1880) ................. Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)

Their Polish repertoire includes the entire gamut of musical styles and periods, starting with the medieval hymn Bogurodzica, and extending onward through the Baroque with Grzegorz G. Gorczycki, the Romantic period with Frederic Chopin and his pupil Karol Mikuli as well as Stanis?aw Moniuszko, the Post-Romantic period with Ignacy Jan Paderewski and his student Zygmunt Stojowski, and ending with the Contemporary Henryk Miko?aj Górecki.

A special attraction of the concert program is Stojowski’s Romanze, op. 20 for Violin and Piano played by Micha? Osmycki and accompanied by Michael Oczko. Joining forces with the choir in Detroit is tenor David Troiano who will sing Stojowski’s Euphonies as part of the concert given in Bolton Landing, New York. The song cycle performance, which was dedicated to the great coloratura soprano Marcella Kochanska Sembrich, takes place in a concert sponsored by the Marcella Sembrich Memorial Association, commemorating this year’s 75th anniversary of the great diva’s death.

The choir’s performances are free of charge; however, free will donations are welcome. In the New York city area, Cantores Minores of the Warsaw Cathedral/Basilica of St. John will appear at:

Middle Collegiate Church – Musical Prelude on Sunday, August 22 at 11:15 a. m.
Second Ave. at E. 7th St. (East Village), New York, NY

St. Stanislaus Bishop & Martyr Church – Mass and Concert on Sunday, August 22 at 12 Noon
101 E. 7th St. near 1st Ave. (East Village), New York, NY

St. Charles Borromeo Church – Mass and Concert on Sunday, August 22 at 7:00 p. m.
21 Sidney Pl. (Joralemon St.), Brooklyn Heights, NY

Cathedral of St. Patrick – Concert on Monday, August 23 at 1:30 p. m.
Fifth Ave. and E. 50th St., New York, NY

For more information about the New York City appearances or those further afield, please call or e-mail Frances X. Gates at (718)346-6108/(718)852-6812, HYPERLINK "mailto:fxgates2@aol.com" fxgates2@aol.com / HYPERLINK "mailto:fxgates@cs.com" fxgates@cs.com or Barbara R. Blyskal (718)720-6089, HYPERLINK "mailto:ebblyskal2@aol.com" ebblyskal2@aol.com .