St. Cecilia’s Choir presents ‘Lacrimosa’ –‘Through Tears’ Lenten Choral presentation to enter Holy Week

St Cecilia Choir

ST Cecilia Choir Lenten programme 2023

Good Shepherd Convent Lenten Programme in 2024

The Choir of Good Shepherd Convent during the Lenten Programme in 2024

‘Lacrimosa’– (Through Tears) would create a fitting musical ambiance for the Holy Week, reminding Christ’s defiant entry into Jerusalem, His Last Supper, betrayal and torture crucifixion, death and burial and the resurrection

As Christians around the world enter the Holy Week of Jesus Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, a group of choirs lead by St. Cecilia’s Choir of St. Joseph’s College, Colombo, are staging  ‘Lacrimosa’ an awe-inspiring choral presentation  at 6.30 pm on April 15 at St. Joseph’s College Chapel.   

Joined by the choirs of Good Shepherd Convent, Colombo 13, and Old Joes Choir, the 21st Annual Lenten Choral Presentation titled, ‘Lacrimosa’– (Through Tears) would create a fitting musical ambiance for the Holy Week, reminding Christ’s defiant entry into Jerusalem, His Last Supper, betrayal and torture, the Way of the Cross, Mary’s Anguish, crucifixion, death and burial and the resurrection. 

The chief guest of the evening of choral music that journeys through the sorrow and hope of the Passion of Christ is Very Rev. Fr. Ivan Perera, former General Manager, Catholic Schools at Archdiocese of Colombo.

The programme includes some of the world renowned choral presentations -- Lauda Jerusalem, Holy City, Ave Verum (William Byrd), Gethsemane, Oba Pamanie, Viyagula Ma Mariye, the Old Rugged Cross, Softly and Tenderly, Mozart’s Lacrimosa, Sanctus, Lux Aeterna, Regina Coeli and Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.

The title ‘Lacrimosa’ was inspired by the Dies Irae sequence in the Catholic Requiem Mass and a text comes from the Latin 18th and 19th stanzas of the sequence. The evening of choral presentation of St Cecilia’s choir is trained by renowned choir master and singer Francis D’Almeida. Training the choirs, Mr. Almeida has been grooming several generations of singers from St Joseph’s College in addition to several other schools including Good Shepherd Convent Colombo 13, Buddhist Ladies’ College , Carey College, Ave Maria Convent, Negombo, and many more. Expert in Latin and Gregorian singing,  Almeida has rendered an enormous service training St Cecilia Choir for outstanding choral presentation not only for the Easter but for Christmas as well.

‘Lacrimosa’ an awe-inspiring choral presentation  at 6.30 pm on April 15 at St. Joseph’s College Chapel