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ON A MUSICAL NOTE… from the desk of Peter J. Morabito, Director of Pastoral Music |
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May 18: Trinity Sunday This weekend we celebrate one of the fundamental mysteries of the Christian era, the idea that “God is One and God is Three.” Our readings indicate from the time of Moses to our present day, that people have sought a concrete manner by which to visualize our God. Moses used the name “Adonai,” or “Lord” to refer to the Holy One of his experience. We also remember the words from the burning bush on Mt. Sinai, “I AM WHO AM,” or, as some have translated it, “TO BE,” an indication of the very “being” of God, a God who lives in the world outside us, the community around us, and, indeed, within our very souls, as well. Our Gospel reading is one of the most familiar Scripture passages of all time, John 3:16, or “God so loved the world,” etc. Jesus’ words to his disciple Nicodemus have become one of the watchwords of our Christian faith, that all who believe in Christ have the promise of eternal life—life in abundance, life without bounds, immeasurable life! Our songs reflect the Trinitarian theme of our celebrations: We’ll open with “How Wonderful the Three-in-One,” based on a shaped-note tune called “Prospect,” from the collection known as Southern Harmony. Bernadette Farrell’s hauntingly beautiful “God Beyond All Names” will be sung at the presentation of gifts. At communion time, we’ll sing Dan Schutte’s popular “Here I Am, Lord,” whose verses take on, one at a time, each person of the Trinity by sign and symbol, and we’ll close with a favorite chestnut, “Holy God, We Praise Thy Name,” which is a setting of the Latin hymn Te Deum, and known in Germany as “Grosser Gott, wir loben Dich.” The Saint Ann Chorale will reprise a piece they sang way back on Thanksgiving morning, a contemporary Christian tune called “Blessed Be Your Name.” |
COME JOIN IN THE SONG...
MUSIC MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES AT SAINT ANN CHURCH
Have you ever considered joining the Music Ministry at Saint Ann? Have people around you at Mass suggested that you should join the choir or the guitar group? Or, do you feel your own person muse calling you to share your gifts with your brothers and sisters here at Saint Ann? Please consider joining one of these special communities-within-the community. The music and fun are only the beginning: Spiritual nourishment and a loving musical family are two of the many other rewards you will receive.
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The Saint Ann Chorale (adult choir) rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 9:30 and sings each Sunday at the 9:30 Mass, from September through mid-June.• Our Guitar Group rehearses on Wednesday evenings and sings on the fourth Sunday of each month at the 11:30 Mass.
For more information call our Director of Pastoral Music, Peter J Morabito at 522-5007.
CALLING ALL INSTRUMENTALISTS...
We are trying to put together a listing of all Instrumentalists in the parish (winds, strings, percussion etc.) of high school age or older who are interested in using their talents at mass. For more information call our Director of Music, Peter J Morabito at 522-5007
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PETER J. MORABITO,
PETER J. MORABITO, Saint Ann Parish’s Director of Pastoral Music, came to our parish in the fall of 1984. Originally from Butler, Pennsylvania, he came to Cincinnati to pursue his degrees in music at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He earned his Bachelor of Music (in Composition) in 1980 and his Master of Music (in Choral Conducting) in 1984, about three weeks after coming to Saint Ann. He studied Composition with F. Scott Huston, Alan Sapp, and Norman Dinerstein; his Choral studies were under the baton of Elmer Thomas, Earl Rivers, and John Leman. He and his wife, Teresa, have been married since 1985, and they are the proud parents of three sons. Mr. Morabito oversees the musical program of Saint Ann, accompanies the major liturgies of the Church year, and directs the Saint Ann Chorale, our thirty-plus-voice parish choir. He also teaches Liturgical Music class to the first through fourth grades in our school.
Known throughout the area as liturgical musician, conductor, accompanist, composer, and vocalist, he has served as assistant director of the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, in which he was also a singing member for several years; director of the ecumenical choir of the Northwest Carolfest; accompanist and conductor of the Cincinnati Choral Society; accompanist for Finneytown, Summit Country Day School, Loveland, Winton Woods, and Moeller High Schools; accompanist and assistant conductor of the Cincinnati Boychoir, and a member of the cantorial choir of Rockdale Temple. He also served as Co-Director of “Crosstown Harmony,” a sixty-voice choir made up of choir members from Saint Ann Church, Nativity Parish, and the Cincinnati Northwestern Chorale Summer Chorus which made a musical tour of Italy in the summer of 2001. His compositions have been performed by the Athenaeum Chorale (Mt. St. Mary Seminary), Cincinnati Camerata, Northwest Carolfest Choir, Cincinnati Boychoir, and various church choirs throughout greater Cincinnati. In fact, much of the service music which we sing here at Saint Ann has been composed by Mr. Morabito, including three complete settings of the Mass, "Mass in Honor of Mary Magdalene," "Mass in Honor of Maximillian Kolbe," and "Mass in Honor of the Victims of War," and many other pieces of liturgical and other sacred music. His choral work, “This Is My Song,” has been published by the Kjos Publishing Corporation, in a treble-voice version, and a mixed-choir edition is planned for the near future.
In the summer of 1992, Mr. Morabito founded the Colerain Summer Chorus, which eventually blossomed into the Cincinnati Northwestern Chorale, a community choir which rehearses here at Saint Ann, and performs three concerts during the year, one in the summer (70-80 voices!) and two during the regular concert season with an ensemble of around thirty-five singers.
