Sangre de Cristo Chorale to Perform Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer" in March

The Sangre de Cristo Chorale's "Petition" concert, featuring Felix Mendelssohn's "Hear My Prayer," opens this Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, 208 Grant Avenue, with performances at 4 p.m. on both March 14 and March 15.

The 52-voice ensemble is performing under Music Director George Case, with pianist Deborah Wagner accompanying. The concert arrives as the Chorale marks its 48th season, placing it among the longest continually performing independent chorales in New Mexico since its founding in 1978.

Adult tickets are $30, and students under 18 are admitted free. Tickets are available at sdcchorale.org.

The Chorale has built its programming around an expansive repertoire in recent seasons. An earlier concert, "Pilgrimage of Hope," centered on the New Mexico premiere of Dale Trumbore's "The Opposites Game," a work drawn from a poem by Brendan Constantine whose students reimagined Emily Dickinson's "My Life had stood... a Loaded Gun" by substituting the opposite of each word. That concert also featured additional pieces ranging from the early 1600s through contemporary compositions.

The Chorale's stated mission is "to entertain, educate, unite, and inspire singers and audiences by performing great choral music," a charge the organization has pursued continuously across nearly five decades of performances in northern New Mexico.