(Photo submitted)
HUNTINGTON – – Three vocalists from Gateway Regional High School joined area high school singers, the UMass Choirs, the UMASS Orchestra and professional vocalists in a performance of Mozart’s Coronation Mass under the direction of Dr. Tony Thornton. The concert followed a full day of rehearsal on October 27, and was held at the UMass Fine Arts Center.
Amelia Anderson, Athena Furioni and Marcel LaBrecque were selected by Mrs. Jerilyn Beauregard, Gateway’s Director of Vocal Music, to attend.
“It was SO much fun,” remarked Marcel LaBrecque. “I would definitely do this again.”
“Just getting to sing something different than you ordinarily would was amazing,” said Anderson. “And doing it with college and professional singers made it even better.”
This marks the first time that a full masterwork has been performed at this annual “Honor Choir” event, sponsored by the American Choral Directors Association.
It was an experience that was treasured by Athena Furioni. “It opened our horizon to a whole different level of singing and performance,” she said, noting that the entire piece is performed in Latin.
Mozart wrote the Mass in C major K. 317 in 1779, while serving as the court organist to Prince-Archbishop Colloredo in Salzburg. It is believed that the piece performed for an Easter service that year. In 1791, it was performed in Prague to mark the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, where it earned the more familiar “Coronation Mass” title.
The students wish to thank the chaperones who attended (Gail LaBrecque and Sandra Furioni) the entire day, and to Beauregard for nominating the students.
