St. Francis Choir hosted a unique opportunity for Triangle singers, musicians, and lovers of choral music - a weekend-long Choral Festival led by Donald Nally, Chorus Master of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  The Festival began with a Friday afternoon choral conducting masterclass and continued that evening and the next day with rehearsals of a repertoire of sacred music by more than 100 area singers representing 7 different churches/choral organizations.  The culmination of the weekend was a Festival Concert on Saturday afternoon by the massed choir, conducted by Donald Nally, and accompanied by Scott Baker. 

View pictures of the event below.  To see the Concert Program, click here.  To view a video of a rehearsal of Kyrie from William Byrd's Mass for Four Voices, click the "play" button below.

Due to copyright laws, only music which is in the public domain is contained in the audio files on this web site.  These audio selections do not reflect the diverse repertoire of the St. Francis Music Ministry.  

Guest conductor, Yuri Yamamoto, addresses the choir during the Conducting Masterclass on Friday.	Donald has some suggestions for Yuri during the Conducting Masterclass.
Whatever Donald said made Yuri laugh.	Our own Jim White also participated in the Conducting Masterclass.
Donald worked with both Jim and Yuri on posture and hand and arm movements.	Barbara and Bobbie set up the catered dinner Friday evening.
Friday evening dinner in the MPR.	Don, Karen, Robin, Pat, and Kelli
Rebecca and Ken	Ginny and Melody
Jim and some of our guests.	One of our guests sits with Bob, Carolyn, and John
Mary Jo and Pat	Katherine and Jim
Don, Francie, and Scott	Kim, Linda, Marylyn, and Lynn
Sally, Linda, and Marc	Helen and Flint
Jeff converses with some of our guests.	A few families took advantage of the delicious Italian dinner and dined together.
Tim and Jim	Donald entertains the kids while Jim watches
More of our guests sit with Mary Kay	Dinner's over - get ye to rehearsal!
Donald and Jim	The choir gathers for Friday evening rehearsal.
Full choir rehearsal on Friday evening.	Everyone pays attention while Donald speaks.
Donald addresses the choir on Friday evening.	Donald conducting Friday evening.
Donald and Rex chat before rehearsal Saturday morning.	The ladies got to sit in front Saturday morning.
Donald conducts Saturday morning.	The altos and Donald really work hard!
Francie's beautiful and delicious cake served at the potluck lunch on Saturday.	The potluck lunch was a huge success with our guests.
The room was beautifully decorated.	The food was DELICIOUS!
We had 2 serving lines.	Donald prepares for Saturday afternoon rehearsal.
The men returned to the front rows Saturday afternoon.	The choir gathers in their mixture of robes for the Saturday afternoon concert.
Jim introduces Donald to the audience.	At the end of the concert, Donald and the choir accept a standing ovation.
Donald also joined us for Sunday morning worship.	Scott works with hands and feet!