STEUBENVILLE, OHIO—Participants in Franciscan University of Steubenville’s Sacred Music Program will perform a sacred music concert on Friday, October 21, at 7:15 p.m. in Christ the King Chapel. The concert is entitled “Gaude, Ecclesia!Celebrating the Church: Militant, Suffering, and Triumphant.” It will explore selected writings of Pope Emeritis Benedict XVI through musical works by Monteverdi, Handel, Mozart, and others, with a special emphasis on Mozart, the former pope’s favorite composer.

Dr. Jessica Ewell, associate professor of voice and coordinator of the Sacred Music Program, organized the concert along with colleagues Dr. Vincent Rone, Schola Cantorum Franciscana director, adjunct professor of Sacred Music, and music director for Archangel Gabriel Parish in Pittsburgh; Professor Eliza Symington, adjunct professor of music; and Professor Brendan Lowery, adjunct professor of sacred music.

The concert will include three performances of the Schola Cantorum Franciscana and a student quartet with sopranos Claire Mattingly and Hannah Mergen, tenor Owen Comeau, and bass Samuel Shadle singing Mozart’s Requiem. Ewell will perform Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate, and accompanied by the Schola, his Laudate Dominum. A student women’s ensemble with sopranos Jehanne Vogel, Claire Mattingly, Kimberly Nicolosi, Jennifer Forrester, Hannah Mergen, and alto Therese Lock will also perform several pieces.

This concert is free of charge and open to the public. It will be held during the 2022 Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI Foundation’s Annual Conference at Franciscan University.