The Grinnell Singers Release Recording of Zelenka Mass

The Grinnell Singers have released a CD of Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Missa Omnium Sanctorum, recorded with the Lyra Baroque Orchestra. This collaboration between the Grinnell Singers and the Twin Cities–based professional period-instrument orchestra represents the fourth time that the two ensembles have combined forces since their first concert together in 2015.

The album includes solos from Grinnell faculty members Suzanne Lommler, mezzo-soprano; and Nicholas Miguel, baritone; as well as celebrated Twin Cities soprano Linh Kauffman and University of Northern Iowa faculty member and tenor Jeffrey Brich. 

The Czech composer Zelenka (1679–1745) has been increasingly recognized in recent decades as one of the baroque era’s most distinctive and original composers. “Zelenka’s mass offers colorful, surprising harmonies and contrapuntal brilliance that rivals that of J.S. Bach,” says John Rommereim, director of the Grinnell Singers and Blanche Johnson Professor of Music. 

Copies of the CD can be purchased through the Pioneer Bookshop. You can also listen to an excerpt of Missa Omnium Sanctorum. The CD is also available on Spotify.