As we celebrate All Saints this Sunday at the 9:00 am service, the St. Michael’s Singers are honored to sing two excerpts from Gabriel Fauré’s gorgeous Requiem, Op. 48. The opening movement, which combines the Introit with the Kyrie, starts dramatically and powerfully with huge fluctuations in dynamics. During communion, the “In paradisum,” sung in Latin, translates to “May the angels lead you into paradise” as the sopranos soar over a sparkling, crystalline organ part. The whole choir joins in to sing (translated from Latin), “May the chorus of angels receive you and… may you have eternal rest.”

At the 11:00 am service, meanwhile our Saints & Singers Choir will present the traditional spiritual, “Saints bound for heaven,” in an arrangement by our very own Brian Fairbanks. We’ll also get into the spirit of things with the lively opening hymn “O when the saints go marching in.”