In early May, the world pandemic forced the cancellation of the annual Sacred Music Symposium in Los Angeles. Having lost their outlet to perform their carefully practiced repertoire, some of the singers came together to form the Brébeuf Virtual Choir.
The new choir launched its YouTube channel with this contemporary version of “Ave Maria” by Kevin Allen. The work draws from some of the greatest traditional elements of sacred music and packages them together with some very trendy 20th-century vocal elements. When not composing works of sacred music or operas, Allen serves as choirmaster of the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Chicago.
The Brébeuf Virtual Choir is made up of just 18 singers, but their sound is enormous. Even though they are singing from isolation, their voice parts combine flawlessly for this performance. For the recording, it sounds like they added just a little bit of reverb to give the impression of singing in church.
This group is still relatively new, but they were active over the summer, producing six great recordings of sacred music. Visit their YouTube Channel to hear more.
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And today we celebrate...