August 10 will bring a truly important event for fans of sacred music and the Catholic fine arts in the Midwest. The critically acclaimed vocal ensemble His Majesty’s Men present their summer concert on Saturday, August 10, at 7:30 pm in Chicago’s historic St. John Cantius Church. His Majesty’s Men is an international ensemble: its five members hail from Great Britain, Chicago, and the U.S. East Coast.
Since their founding in 2016, their summer concert has increasingly been recognized as a highlight in Chicago’s musical calendar. Chicago Tribune critic Alan Artner noted the ensemble’s “purity of tone and impeccably smooth delivery … their subtlety of color could not be bettered,” while Chicago classical radio WFMT recently named them to their list of “11 new local ensembles that you should know.”
This year, the Men will premiere their first commission, from Polish-American composer Mark Nowakowski, a Chicago native who teaches and composes in Ohio. He has had performances and commissions from groups like the Kronos Quartet, Three Notch’d Road, and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, among many others, and his 2017 NAXOS Release “Blood, Forgotten” was critically acclaimed in Gramophone magazine. He will be present in Chicago for His Majesty’s Men’s performance of his new, powerful work “Usquequo, Domine?,” which he describes thus: “It is easy to fall into despair at the sight of growing confusion, the fragmentation of reason, and the loss of faith and wonder in an increasingly cynical culture. But we plead to our Creator for deliverance and strength.”
Other works in the program are by early polyphonists Dufay, Byrd, and Whyte, as well as modern works by Ivan Moody, Howard Skempton, and Chris Hutchings.
For a limited time, you can use the offer code hmm2019 to receive a one-third (ten-dollar) discount on concert tickets!
There will be a reception following the concert where you can meet the performers and composer.
Tickets are on sale now and available here: https://bpt.me/4252788
The performers:
Richard Childress, countertenor
Matthew Dean, tenor
Nathaniel Adams, tenor
Joe Labozetta, baritone
Michael Hawes, bass
