The Cathedral of the Madeleine brings a lot of cultural richness to our state. Take, for example, its contribution to music.
This year, the cathedral will be hosting two concert series — the Eighth Annual Eccles Organ Festival and its own 12th Annual Concert Series. And the Men and Boys Choir of Westminster Cathedral in London will make a special appearance as a part of the cathedral's own concert series.
"It's just a real treat for Salt Lake City that they're coming to our community," said director of liturgy and music Gregory Glenn. "This choir school is phenomenal. Many people regard it as the best cathedral choir in England, and that's a pretty big statement, considering the quality of choral music that's heard in the many English cathedrals."
The series will also present the concert premiere of Alfonso Tenreiro's "Requiem." "It was commissioned by a Venezuelan family whose son was killed in a rock-climbing accident, and Alfonso Tenreiro is a Venezuelan composer who resides now in Utah," said Glen. "We did a portion of it last year for a service in the cathedral, but now we're going to do it in a concert performance, and we're going to do the entire work. It's a very profound setting of this ancient text that has been used for centuries at the death of loved ones."
Many of the other performances include annual events, such as the Christmas Carol Service, Benjamin Britten's "A Ceremony of Carols," the Founders Day Concert and Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater."
"I guess the unique thing about (the series) is that much of this music was written for use in the church for many, many centuries, and some of it can't be performed in services any more," said Glen. "This gives us an opportunity to explore this vast treasury of sacred music that's been written over the centuries and allows us to bring it to life in these concert performances. It's music new and old; it's both tradition and music that's just been written in the few years past, and that's exciting."
The other concert series hosted by the cathedral is the Eighth Annual Organ Festival, which will span 10 weeks, from Aug. 21-Oct. 21. "We have a series of five concerts that feature two artists that are international, two that are of national distinction, and then one local distinguished player," said Glen. "That has been our pattern for the last eight years. In a sense, it's somewhat unique that we're able to bring these various artists from around the country and around the world to Salt Lake to perform in this. I think it gives people — especially those who tend to hate organ music — it gives them an opportunity to hear the organ as, perhaps, they didn't think it was possible to be.
"I think most people's conception of the organ is what they hear in very bad funeral homes — kind of these whiny, very unexcited instruments. What the festival is really trying to do is to present the organ as a concert instrument."
The festival begins with Wayne Marshall of Manchester, England, who specializes in transcribing large orchestral works for the organ. James Higdon of the University of Kansas follows, with a program of mostly French music, which is his specialty.
Salt Lake's own Craig Jorgensen will bring his technical prowess gained from years of piano playing to what Glen described as "a very well-balanced program with some very demanding literature." Following Jorgensen, Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet Hakim of Paris will play one of her first concerts in the United States.
Cherry Rhodes of Los Angeles will finish out the season. "She's known for delivering incredible performances," noted Glen. "I think she is a consummate musician that is quite concerned about doing her absolute best."
E-mail: rcline@desnews.com