Saint John’s Abbey
College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University
Saint John’s Preparatory School
Saint Benedict’s Monastery Sesquicentennial
Benedictines in Central Minnesota — 150 Years

Saint John’s Abbey, The CSB/SJU Music Department, and

 The Amadeus Chamber Symphony

present

In celebration of

Saint John’s – Inspiring Lives for 150 Years. 

Friday, September 29, 2006, 8:00 p.m. 

Abbey Church

Saint John’s University

For the past 10 years CSB/SJU Chamber Choir and the Amadeus Chamber Symphony have presented a special Homecoming Concert. This year’s performance is part of an 18 month-long series of events to celebrate the arrival of the Benedictine monks and sisters in Central Minnesota 150 years ago and their contribution to the religious and cultural life of this area.

Performers representing Saint John’s Abbey (Monastic Schola), the CSB/SJU Music Department (Brass Ensemble, Campus Singers, Chamber Choir, Men’s Chorus), musicians from the Saint John’s Preparatory School, The Saint John’s Boys’ Choir and the Amadeus Chamber Symphony will collaborate in this festive concert.

Hear the Introit and Gloria of Minnesota composer Paul Fetler’s exciting choral/orchestral work Missa de Angelis, commissioned by Saint John’s in 1980 to celebrate the 1500^th anniversary of the birth of Saint Benedict. Thrill to a Fanfare for Brass, composed for the same occasion by Fr. Jerome Coller, OSB, long-time member of Saint John’s Abbey, and Music for Brass by Giovanni Gabrieli. Enjoy the festive Te Deum by Michael Haydn, Robert Washburn’s beautiful Elegy for Chamber Orchestra, and in this, the 250^th anniversary of his birth, Mozart’s Inter Natus Mulierum, an Offertory for the Feast of John the Baptist, patron saint of Saint John’s Abbey and University, which Mozart wrote for the Austrian Benedictine Abbey of Seeon and which was performed at the Benedictine Abbey of Melk in Austria earlier this year to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the exchange program with the Saint John’s Preparatory School.  Several hymns for all to sing will round out the program.

The centerpiece of the evening will be Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ, String Orchestra and Timpani in g-minor, featuring CSB/SJU organ professor Dr. Kim Kasling as the organ soloist. Poulenc’s concerto is one of the most exciting organ works ever composed, and this performance is a special tribute to the two monastic communities and their dedication to the arts.

Over 200 performers will collaborate in the concert; the audience will be invited to join them in singing the “Old Hundredth” in an arrangement for congregation, choir and full orchestra by Ralph Vaughn Williams, and the all time favorite “All Creatures of our God and King” (Lasst uns erfreuen).

The performance is under the direction of conductors David Arnott, Br. Paul Richards, Axel Theimer, Phillip Welter and Dale White.

Admission              
General Admission: $10.00
Senior Citizens/Students/Children: $8.00
CSB/SJU and OSB free with ID (NO TICKET NEEDED)

Tickets available
Stephen B. Humphrey Theater Box Office
Benedicta Arts Center Box Office
Phone orders: 320-363-3577 or 320-363-5777

Mail orders: make checks payable to

Saint John’s University
Fine Arts Programming Box Office
Stephen B. Humphrey Theater
Saint John’s University
Collegeville, MN 56321

***Tickets may also be purchased at www.csbsju.edu/finearts. Discounts are not available online.

Phone and mail orders with payment accepted. MasterCard, Visa and Discover card charges accepted.  No refunds.