As the nation reopens from a year of lockdowns, more choruses are announcing that they will be returning to live performances. Of course, during the pandemic, vocal music was considered the most deadly form of spreading the Covid-19 virus.

Musica Sacra, a 60-member chorus founded in 1965, joyfully returns for its 56th season, live and in person. This year, the chorus will also collaborate with the CCM Chorale in Patricia Corbett Theater on the UC campus.

After a year of virtual programming, this season will be emotional, said director Brett Scott.

“The selections across this season present a range of emotions that may echo what many experienced in the past year,” Scott said. “From the terrifying trumpets at the opening of our first selection, the Lord Nelson Mass, to the poignant chorales of the Christmas Oratorio that are contrasted with grand, exuberant chorus movements, to the exquisitely tender consolation that envelops you throughout the German Requiem, each of these masterworks speaks to the heart of the human experience. They are audience-pleasing works in the best sense of the word and we are thrilled that our audiences will be able to experience them with us this year.”

On October 4, they’ll perform Haydn’s dramatic and emotional Lord Nelson Mass and Selected Psalm Settings by Nunes Garcia as part of the Cathedral Concert Series at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, Covington at 3pm.

On December 12, at their traditional Christmas Concert, they will perform the beloved and uplifting Christmas Oratorio of J.S. Bach, Cantatas 1 and 3, and Silent Night, by Franz Gruber, which is a Musica Sacra tradition. The concert will take place at St. Catharine of Siena in Cincinnati at 3 p.m.

 On April 21, they will perform the majestic Ein deutsches Requiem (German Requiem) by Brahms with the CCM Chorale in Patricia Corbett Theater on the campus of CCM at 8 p.m.

Musica Sacra is an ecumenical choral ensemble devoted to performing sacred masterworks in the spaces for which they were intended, at no charge to the public. The choir was founded in 1965 by the late Helmut Roehrig, and is currently led by Music Director L. Brett Scott, Associate Professor of Ensembles and Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM).

In the 2020-21 season, Musica Sacra recorded two live performances that each streamed for a limited time for free. In November they presented a special performance of Gabriel Faure’s Requiem, and his Cantique de Jean Racine, and in March they presented Durufle’s Requiem.  Both performances were recorded live with orchestra, while masked and socially distanced, at St. Boniface Church in Cincinnati.