If Mozart were alive today he might slide on some Ray-Bans© and come to Cappella Gloriana's next concert combining the Austrian master's works with California mission music from the same period. Mozart was 13 years old in 1769 when the first California Mission was founded at San Diego.
San Diego's professional chamber choir joins the worldwide celebration of Mozart's 250th year with “Mozart and California: Side by Side” on Friday, June 16, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Paul's Cathedral, Fifth and Nutmeg streets, San Diego. Tickets at $20 are available at the door.
On the program are Mozart's Missa Brevis in F major, K. 192 and Regina Caeli, K. 296 along with Misa de Cataluña (attributed to Padre Narciso Duran), one of the earliest pieces of music composed in California. Stephen Sturk conducts, and the choir will be accompanied by strings and organ.
It's the third major concert for Cappella Gloriana in 2006. In February the choir debuted on the music series at First United Methodist Church of San Diego, and in March the ensemble celebrated its tenth anniversary with a “greatest hits” concert and champagne reception in Encinitas.
Co-founded in 1996 by Sturk and Virginia Sublett, Cappella Gloriana performs and records the finest choral music of six centuries, creating concert programs and CDs that combine early choral masterworks with innovative contemporary pieces.
A 2005 Bravo awardee and a recipient of a Performing Ensembles grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Cappella Gloriana has toured Germany twice, recorded two commercial CDs and in 2006 hosts its first-ever competition for new choral works for chamber choir by young composers from the Americas. In November Cappella Gloriana performs winning works from that competition.
Named for an allegorical title of Elizabeth I of England, Cappella Gloriana is an Ensemble-in-Residence at St. Paul's Cathedral, San Diego, where Sturk is Composer-in-Residence.
The choir drew praise from newspapers in Thueringia, Germany, for its second concert tour there in August 2005.
The German newspapers said:
“The chamber chorus . . . impresses with a homogeneous, radiant sound.”
“. . . the choir demonstrated dynamic range . . . and a sense of internal suspense sung with perfect intonation and tight clusters.”
“The twelve-voice ensemble under the direction of Stephen Sturk demonstrated their mastery with sure intonation of the most difficult sound combinations, softest pianos and dissonant clusters.”
“an extraordinary evening of church music”
For more information or press photos, please call Classical Performing Artists Management, San Diego, at 619-291-3055.