St. Benedict Cathedral to host Midwest Choir Festival

Special to The Message

St. Benedict Cathedral is honored to host a Choral Evensong at 6:30 p.m. July 9. The service will be sung by the Midwest Choir Festival, a gathering of church musicians and choir members from across the country who have come together to expand their experiences in worship, choral music and fellowship. The children and youth are mostly members of choirs affiliated with RSCM America, an ecumenical organization promoting excellence in church music with an emphasis on training both adults and youth for full participation in leading worship. Attendees at this inaugural Midwest Choir festival come from twenty different churches across North America from Seattle to the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.

The Music Director and conductor for the week is Melanie Malinka from the Cathedral Choir School of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Madeleine Choir School is a Roman Catholic School in the Cathedral tradition, which inspires young people to become engaged scholars, effective communicators, dedicated liturgical musicians and responsible world citizens who seek to build a civilization of justice, mercy and love.

The service of Choral Evensong has its roots in the ancient monastic canonical hours of daily prayer liturgies. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, this form was modified in the Book of Common Prayer in the Anglican Church. It is part of the ceaseless worship of the church offered to God each day and night in every part of the world.

For more information, please contact Jeremy Korba at (812) 589-3886 or via email at [email protected].