Chestnut Hill conductor Donald Meineke will lead an ensemble of vocal soloists in concert Sunday, Mother’s Day, May 11, in a program entitled “One Faith – Many Voices: Born of Mary.” The concert, at 4 p.m., will be performed in St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, located at 24th and Poplar Streets in Philadelphia.

 The program will feature music honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Composers from the tradition of Eastern Orthodoxy, such as Dmitry Bortniansky, Mykola Lysenko and Nazo Zakkak, will be paired with musicians from the Western Roman Catholic tradition, such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Franz Liszt, Francis Poulenc and Josef Rheinberger.

 The Ukrainian Catholic Church, of which St. Nicholas parish is a part, straddles the “great divide” between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, such as the Greek and Russian Churches. It was a part of the “Great Schism” of 1054, when the Roman and Greek Churches separated over disputes regarding the derivation and definition of the Holy Spirit. The Roman pontiff held sway over the Western Latin-speaking branch of Christendom while the patriarch of Constantinople (contemporary Istanbul in Turkey) led the Greek-speaking Eastern Christians. 

 Although there have been many attempts to heal the rift, none have been efficacious. However, during the 19th century, portions of certain Orthodox Churches re-established union with the papacy in Rome. Ukrainian Catholics, for instance, separated from the Orthodox Churches in Russia and Ukraine and returned to the Catholic (Universal) fold.

 Meineke has become one of the Philadelphia region’s most influential choral conductors. Alongside leading concerts such as this one, he is the artistic director of Choral Arts Philadelphia and the director of music at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Center City.  On Good Friday, April 18, Meineke led St. Mark’s Choir in a rendition of Tomas Luis de Victoria’s setting of the “Passion According to St. John.”

 Meinke conducted Choral Arts Philadelphia in “Cathedrals of Mexico: Grand Polyphony of Puebla and Mexico City” Saturday, March 15, at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity in Center City. Their next concert is scheduled for Saturday, May 17, at 3:30 p.m. at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, also in Center City. The program has been dubbed “Echoes of Heaven.” Visit www.ChoralArtsPhila.org.

 Tickets for “One Faith – Many Voices” are $15 at the door. Ticket sales support the parish’s special outreach to Ukrainian refugees living here in the United States as well as providing humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine.

 ‘The Month of Maying’

 Piffaro, Philadelphia Renaissance Band, will return to Chestnut Hill Saturday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill, 8855 Germantown Ave. in Chestnut Hill. The concert, entitled “Now Is the Month of Maying,” is a celebration of the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

 Piffaro has proclaimed: “Cast off your winter blues and get your toes tapping with bird songs, love songs, and ‘May dances’ from the Renaissance, performed on shawms, dulcians, sackbuts, recorders, krumhorns, plucked strings, and percussion of all shapes and sizes. Our final concert of the year promises to send you out into warmer weather with a smile on your face.”

 The concert’s playlist includes “Tanzen und Springen” by Hans Leo Hassler, “Voicy du gay printemps” by Claude Le Jeune, “Now Is the Month of Maying” by Thomas Morley, and “Sumer is icumen in,” one of those famous “Anonymous” numbers from the 13th century.

 The Chestnut Hill concert will be preceded by a performance Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Episcopal Cathedral Church of the Savior in University City, and Sunday, May 11, at 3 p.m. in Immanuel Highlands Episcopal Church in Wilmington.

Tickets start at $29, with young people and full-time students admitted free. For more information visit piffaro.org or call 215-235-8469.

 You can contact NOTEWORTHY at Michael-caruso@comcast.net.