Valerie Bernhardt, Soprano; Mary Clare McAlee, Mezzo-soprano; Scott Kennebeck, Tenor; and Gustavo Ahualli, Baritone at the Sunday, June 1 performance of Verdi's Requiem at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart.

“Without a doubt this will be the biggest musical undertaking the Cathedral Music Ministry has ever had,” declares John Miller, Director of Music at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.

Miller and the Cathedral Basilica Choir leave later this month on a 12-day pilgrimage, highlighted by a performance in Rome of Verdi’s Requiem.

Preparations began last September when the Cathedral Basilica Choir and its St. Louis counterpart were asked by a concert agency in Rome to join forces in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. The combined choir includes 120 persons.

Citing the Requiem’s 90 minutes length and 218 page score, Miller stresses the performance is “extremely demanding.” In addition to the stamina and concentration required, Miller points out, Verdi’s masterpiece has notes which “frequent both sides of spectrum.” Verdi, he explains, is known mainly for his operatic works. The Requiem, he adds, is “consistent in this style while remaining faithful to the text of the old Latin rite.”

With the exception of breaks for the Christmas and Easter seasons, the Cathedral Basilica Choir has been preparing for the June 27-July 8 pilgrimage since September.

The Choir gave its first performance of the Requiem June 1 at the Cathedral Basilica. On June 15 another performance took place at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica. Miller described everyone involved as “thrilled” about the upcoming musical experience.

The St. Louis conductor will wield the baton for the combined choirs. Miller and Jennifer Pascual are the organists. Pascual is the Associate Director of Music at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. The soloists are all cantors in their respective Cathedral parishes.

The Requiem will be performed July 1 at St. Ignatius Church in Rome.

Other highlights of the pilgrimage include singing at the Pallium Mass in Rome June 29. The choirs also expect an audience with Pope John Paul II on July 2.

Also in Austria, the combined choir will perform at St. Stephen Cathedral in Vienna. It will be a significant venue for Miller since it is the church where his grandparents were married.

In Salzburg, the choir will present Mozart Mass in C Major at a Sunday morning Mass with the Salzburg Cathedral Choir. That, says Miller, will be a“ thrill” because Salzburg is where Mozart worked and lived.

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