Capella Records to Release Frank La Rocca's MASS OF THE AMERICAS in September

Cappella Records will release Frank La Rocca's Mass of the Americas (Misa de las Américas), performed by the Benedict XVI Institute's Choir and Orchestra, directed by renowned international conductor Richard Sparks on September 23, 2022.

The work extends the genre of the Missa solemnis: a sublime setting of a Traditional Latin Mass for choir and orchestra. Listeners will discover a new masterwork: a rich modern tapestry with serene Gregorian chants, folk melodies from 18th-century regions of México, and florid praises in Nahuatl, the language spoken by Our Lady of Guadalupe to San Juan Diego in 1531.

Benedict XVI Choir's début recording is sung by some of America's finest singers, many GRAMMY®-nominated. Sung in Latin, Spanish, and Nahuatl.

William P. Mahrt, editor of the Sacred Music journal, ends his extensive essay with "Variety, ingenuity, sheer compositional skill, and liturgical suitability have made these compositions in The Mass of the Americas destined to be classics."

Mass of the Americas is one of three planned releases on Cappella Records produced by multi- GRAMMY® Award winner Blanton Alspaugh and the engineering team at Soundmirror. Soundmirror's outstanding orchestral, solo, opera, and chamber recordings have earned more than 100 GRAMMY® nominations and awards, with releases on every major classical label.

Mass of the Americas is released on a Hybrid SACD in 2.0 stereo and 5.0 surround sound (DSM192K/24bit), recorded in DSD and downloadable to audio servers and devices. The accompanying booklet provides an extensive essay on the work, the full texts used in the composition, composer notes, full translations, and beautiful photography. Cappella Records is distributed by Naxos USA.

FRANK LA ROCCA, COMPOSER

"The net impressions are of luminous sacred introspection, transcendental effect, and breathtaking beauty," wrote Lindsay Koob, reviewer for American Record Guide, about Frank La Rocca's debut CD, IN THIS PLACE. La Rocca's career has traced a path from the severity of an academic modernist style, through a period of sunny minimalist concert works to finding his voice in sacred choral works and music for the Roman Catholic Mass. Of La Rocca's "O Sacrum Convivium," composer and organist Richard Clark wrote, "...anchored in tradition, it speaks with the authority of the ages yet with the innovation of modernity. Imbued with the Spirit, it is timeless"... continue at cappellarecords.com

BENEDICT XVI CHOIR AND ORCHESTRA

Mass of the Americas was the first musical work commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute for Sacred Music and Divine Worship. In 2018 His Excellency Salvatore J. Cordileone, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco, noted the exact coincidence of two feasts in that year: The Immaculate Conception and the celebration of the Guadalupana, the festive observance of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This inspired him to hold a liturgical observance uniting the two traditions, honoring Our Lady under both titles. For the occasion he commissioned composer Frank La Rocca to create music for a Mass incorporating, in the manner of Renaissance paraphrase Masses, traditional Mexican melodies, especially "La Guadalupana." He asked La Rocca to craft with music what the Franciscan friars of the Mission Era had crafted with church architecture: at once keeping with Catholic sacred traditions and reflecting contributions of local culture... continue at cappellarecords.com

RICHARD SPARKS, CONDUCTOR

Richard Sparks is the principal conductor of the Benedict XVI Choir and has a distinguished career in both professional and academic worlds. He founded Seattle Pro Musica in 1973 and in seven seasons conducted over 70 different programs with three ensembles. And in 1993 he founded Choral Arts Northwest, which he led for 11 years, making three CDs on the Gothic label. Both ensembles are still thriving... continue at cappellarecords.com

Cappella Records is the label operated by the vocal ensemble Cappella Romana. Founded in Portland, Oregon, in 1991, the company combines passion with scholarship in its exploration of early and contemporary music of the Christian East and West, both on its own and in collaboration with peer artists and ensembles all over the world. Its name refers to the medieval Greek concept of the Roman oikoumene (inhabited world), which embraced Rome and Western Europe as well as the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople ("New Rome") and its Slavic commonwealth. Cappella Records has released over 25 titles, including the recent Billboard chart-topping Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia, and Benedict Sheehan's GRAMMY®-nominated Divine Liturgy in English. cappellarecords.com

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