PERFORMANCES

Our next concert will be "Portraits of Passion: Musical Snapshots of the Holy Week Drama," directed by Keith Weber.

The concert takes place on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, at St. Philip Presbyterian Church, at 4807 San Felipe Rd. (just outside Loop 610). Concert time is 7:00 p.m. Tickets are available at (713) 622-4807 – or at the door – and cost $20 (only $15 for students and seniors).

Houston’s professional viol consort, the Z-Viols, will accompany the chorus. The noted musician and early-music specialist Mary Springfels, former director of the Newberry Consort of Chicago, leads the viols.

The concert presents Passion music of the great Renaissance composers. Passion anthems include those of William Byrd ("Ave Verum Corpus" Hail, True Body . . . sacrificed on the cross for Mankind), Orlando Gibbons ("O Lord, increase my faith" and "Hosanna to the Son of David"), Antonio Lotti ("Crucifixus"), Cristobal Morales ("Peccantem me quotidie" The fear of death frightens me), and William Croft (the "Burial Sentences" from the Book of Common Prayer 1662).