Cantilena Performs With Bay Area Choirs at Grace Cathedral to Benefit Haiti Music School

Harker upper school female group Cantilena took part in a special concert at San Francisco’s historic Grace Cathedral on Oct. 2 to help rebuild and replenish the resources of The Holy Trinity Music School in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The school was destroyed in the 2010 earthquake that devastated much of the country.

The group was invited to perform at the concert by Ben Johns, the educational director for the world-renowned men’s choir Chanticleer. During the concert, Cantilena joined a group comprising 10 other choirs, which sang Mozart’s “Laudate Dominum,” from the composer’s “Vesperae solennes de confessore,” and “Wondrous Love” by Joseph Jennings.

Nace reported that the audience in attendance was “very enthusiastic” about the performance.

“Our visiting opera singers were astonished at the amazing show of strength and enthusiasm from all of [Harker’s] students,” said concert organizer Bruce Garnett. “(Soloist) Susan Graham remarked that she will never again hear ‘Laudate Dominum’ without remembering the experience of being surrounded by the future of music in this place.”