The Choir of Corpus Christi Church

(Choir, left to right) Marion Beckenstein, Margery Daley, Phyllis Jo Kubey, Scott Fraser, Phillip Gleason, Robert Kuehn, James Bingham, Thomas Baker, Paul Solem, Michael Brown (Directing) Louise Basbas

The Choir of Corpus Christi Church enjoys international recognition for its performance of the best tradition of liturgical music. It traces its origins to the 1930s when it was a mostly amateur choir of men and boys drawn from the ranks of the ordinary parishioners attending this Upper West Side Manhattan church. Currently comprising a small group of excellent professional singers, the choir provides the musical complement to the Roman Catholic liturgy at Corpus Christi Church every Sunday and holy day throughout the year. Its varied repertoire includes Gregorian chant, Renaissance polyphony, Baroque and early classical music. Under the direction of Louise Basbas since 1975, the The Choir of Corpus Christi Church fulfills a special role in the contemporary world of liturgical music.

The choir has recently been featured in two CDs:

• PANGE LINGUA, a recording of a broad array of compositions ranging from medieval chant, Renaissance motets, and Baroque polyphony to contemporary music commissioned especially for Corpus Christi Church by such American composers as Harvey Burgett and the late Louise Talma.
• A Festival of Lessons and Carols, a recording of compositions chosen to illustrate the readings for the service of Lessons (i.e., readings from the Bible) and Carols introduced into the Church of England in 1880. The CD comprises sixteenth- and seventeenth-century polyphony and three new works based on ancient materials. Within these parameters, the selections enhance the characteristics of the excellent professional ensemble and the two distinctive pipe organs, heard in an acoustically bright space.