MUSIC FROM ST IGNATIUS LOYOLA ~ VOLUME IV

DURUFLE: REQUIEM
Version for CHORUS and ORGAN
SUITE FOR ORGAN, OP.5

CHOIR OF ST IGNATIUS LOYOLA, NY
Kaaren Erickson soprano
Arthur Fiacco cello
Nancianne Parrella organ 

KENT TRITLE director

Nancianne Parrella plays the N.P. Mander Pipe Organ

$14.95  ~  MS1141

"[Tritle provides] a very satisfying performance of the demanding Suite..." American Record Guide - September/October 2006

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The Church of St. Ignatius Loyola is a vibrant and active Roman Catholic parish. Its extensive music program aims to celebrate the diverse musical heritage of the Christian tradition, and includes both professional and volunteer participation. The professional Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola is heard regularly at parish liturgical celebrations and has drawn critical acclaim in the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series for its blended sound and stylistic flexibility. The 60-voice volunteer Parish Community Choir participates in a broad spectrum of parish liturgical and concert life. Adding to the program are an active Folk Mass group and the liturgical Children’s Chorus. Founded in 1851 and entrusted to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in 1866, the present landmark structure was dedicated in 1898; the N.P. Mander pipe organ heard on this recording was inaugurated April 27, 1993.

Kent Tritle is one New York City’s leading choral conductors and organists. He is founder and music director of Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, the acclaimed series of concerts at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. As Director of Music Ministries there, he has brought the Choir of St. Ignatius Loyola to critical acclaim, and from 1991-1993 oversaw the design and installation of the church’s magnificent N.P. Mander Pipe Organ. Kent Tritle is also Organist of the New York Philharmonic and Graduate Faculty at The Juilliard School. As a popular figure in the music world, he has been a featured personality on ABC World News Tonight, National Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio, as well as in The New York Times and numerous other radio and print appearances and interviews.

Kaaren Erickson, soprano, was beloved for her thrilling performances of opera, oratorio and art song throughout the world. After her highly acclaimed Metropolitan Opera debut as Susanna in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, she went on to sing nearly 100 performances there of music by Strauss, Poulenc, Wagner, Glass, Corigliano, Verdi and Mozart. An artist of astonishing versatility, she recorded Handel’s Messiah with Robert Shaw and Wagner’s Parsifal with James Levine. At St. Ignatius Loyola, where she was a friend of the music program, Kaaren Erickson was soprano soloist for the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and A Cappella Extravaganza with Kent Tritle conducting.

Arthur Fiacco has performed at the Lincoln Center, Ravinia and Caramoor Festivals as well as with the Mark Morris Dance Company, Meredith Monk, and Patti Lupone. He premiered the Paul Moravec’s Pulitzer-nominated Montserrat on the Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series, and is featured on its recording of the Duruflé Requiem. Noted as a "distinguished chamber musician" of "impressive virtuosity" (Consort magazine) his recordings of the symphonies of Mozart in Hummel’s quartet reductions have garnered praise as "definitive" and "first-rate" (The New York Times). As a member of The Hanoverian Ensemble, Gramophone notes that his "vibrant period-instrument skills animate" and Fanfare hails his "benchmark interpretations." Arthur has recorded on the MSR Classics, Columbia, RCA, Sony, EMI, AMDG, ECM and Newport Classics labels.

Nancianne Parrella is Associate Organist of the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, where she is featured frequently on the highly acclaimed Sacred Music in a Sacred Space concert series, playing and recording the Duruflé Requiem and giving the New York premiere of Stephan Paulus' Concerto for Organ, Orchestra and Choir. The American Organist hailed her recent AMDG CD Jubilations as "sweeping, dramatic, and awe inspiring." Ms. Parrella is also accompanist and assistant director of the famed Westminster Choir, directed by conductor laureate Joseph Flummerfelt, and accompanist of the Westminster Symphonic Choir. She has performed throughout the U.S. and in Europe and Asia, and has collaborated with Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawalisch, Zdenek Macal, Neeme Jarvi, and the late Robert Shaw.