Massimo Scapin

Join me tomorrow at 12:30 PM at Saint John Cantius Church as I conduct the Cantate Domino Choir, our women’s choir, and chamber orchestra in a rarely performed yet deeply captivating program of sacred music.

You can hear the Te Deum by Antonio Sacchini, composed in Venice in 1769 during his tenure at the Ospedaletto, one of the city’s famed orphanage-conservatories for girls. Though celebrated primarily for his operas, Sacchini brings extraordinary grace, lyricism, and clarity to this sacred work, written for female voices and shaped by the refined musical culture of eighteenth-century Venice. Featuring Stephanie Culica and Elisabeth Burmeister, sopranos, and Beena David, alto.

The program will also include the Mass in A major, Op. 126 by Josef Rheinberger, a work of serene beauty and luminous simplicity. Rather than dense polyphony, Rheinberger favors a predominantly homophonic texture enriched by delicate imitative passages. The chamber orchestra provides a warm harmonic foundation, allowing the vocal lines to shine with clarity, balance, and expressive depth.

I look forward to welcoming you and sharing this afternoon of beauty and prayer together.

Watch live here:

Sunday Mass Live Stream - Pentacost Sunday - (2002 Missal) May 24th 12:30PM Broadcast live from St. John Cantius Church (https://www.cantius.org) in Chicago, Illinois. Want to contact us? Email us at [email protected] All times ...

Join me this Sunday at 12:30 PM at Saint John Cantius Church as I conduct the radiant sacred music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart — masterpieces from his Salzburg years that remain among the finest expressions of Classical sacred music.

The program includes Veni Sancte Spiritus, a work deeply rooted in the Salzburg church tradition. Influenced by Leopold Mozart, Johann Ernst Eberlin, and Michael Haydn, it features striking contrasts between soloists and chorus, enriched by vivid orchestral colors, including winds and timpani.

We will also perform Misericordias Domini, K. 222, composed in Munich in 1775 for the Elector of Bavaria. Though compact in form, the motet combines elegant polyphony with expressive harmonic richness, revealing Mozart’s extraordinary ability to unite structural clarity with emotional depth.

The centerpiece of the afternoon will be the beloved Coronation Mass in C major, K. 317. Written in 1779 shortly after Mozart became court organist in Salzburg, the Mass radiates brilliance, grandeur, and joy. Later associated with royal coronations because of its ceremonial splendor, it remains one of Mozart’s most luminous sacred works.

I would be honored to share this music with you.

Sunday Mass Live Stream - Sixth Sunday of Easter - (1962 Missal) May 10th 12:30PM Broadcast live from St. John Cantius Church (https://www.cantius.org) in Chicago, Illinois. Want to contact us? Email us at [email protected] All times ...