WESTFIELD — Steeple Concerts at St. Paul’s (Westfield) is excited to present Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis live in concert on Sunday, May 19 at 5 PM. Presented in celebration of this towering work’s 200th anniversary (1824-2024), Missa Solemnis will feature a distinguished quartet of vocal soloists, together with full chorus and orchestra. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is located at 414 East Broad Street in Westfield, NJ.
Missa Solemnis premiered onApril 7, 1824 in Saint Petersburg (Russia), just one month prior to the first performance of the more famous Ninth Symphony (Vienna, May 7, 1824). The Mass was commissioned in 1819 “to accompany the enthronement of [Beethoven’s]…patron, Archduke Rudolph, as the archbishop of Olmütz (now Olomouc, Czech Republic).” However, Beethoven, near deaf at the time, “became so engrossed in the creative challenge that he ran some three years late in finishing it.” Now considered one of his greatest achievements, the work was his self-proclaimed “best composition.” In fact, “[h]is favorite (and most famous) portrait shows him in the act of writing it.” (The Conversation, April 4, 2024) The Mass requires a first-rate set of soloists, orchestra, and chorus. To meet this demand, Steeple Concerts is honored to present lyric tenor (and Metropolitan Opera star) Ronald Naldi, soprano Lyssandra Stephenson, mezzo-soprano Martha Bartz, and bass-baritone Richard Zuch, with a 60-voice chorus and full symphony orchestra.
Conductor Mark Hyczko is the Director of Music both at St. Paul’s Church in Westfield and at Temple B‘nai Or in Morristown. He is also on the music faculty at Rutgers University (New Brunswick). From 2011 to 2021, he was Music Director and Conductor of the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra. He holds degrees from both Rutgers University and the Mannes College of Music (NYC).
Concert tickets, priced at $40 for adults and $20 for students, are available on the Steeple Concerts website at www.steepleconcerts.org and also at the door. Free parking is available in the St. Paul’s parking lot (off Euclid Avenue) or on St. Paul’s Street next to the church. A gala reception follows the event.
Steeple Concerts at St. Paul’s are sponsored by The Friends of Music at St. Paul’s, a 501c3 organization that promotes musical events in the Westfield area and beyond. Steeple Concerts are also made possible per funds from the Union County Office of Cultural & HeritageAffairs, a partner of the NJ Council on the Arts. For information on the upcoming 20242025 Steeple Concerts season, go to www.steepleconcerts.org.
