By FRAN MORELAND JOHNS
Members of Calvary Presbyterian Church’s choir are on a two-week tour of Europe, taking the high-level musicianship of the Fillmore Street church to historic sites in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The choir joined singers from other choirs in commemorating the 80th anniversary of D-Day in the Normandy region of northwestern France. On Monday night they performed Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem, written just after the end of World War II, at the Abbey of Saint-Étienne, the burial place of William the Conqueror, in Caen, France. Earlier they toured Omaha Beach and the hedgerows of Pointe du Hoc and sang America the Beautiful at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.
“It felt sacred in all the right ways,” said Calvary pastor Marcie Glass.
Under the leadership of Calvary’s music director, Michael Conley, the choir will perform on Wednesday in Beauvais, France, and then on to Ghent and Antwerp, Belgium, over the weekend. They will conclude with a concert on June 25 in Amsterdam.
This is not the Calvary choir’s first European tour. Three decades ago, longtime music director Alden Gilchrist led the choir on a similar tour.
Filed under: Music