LATROBE, PA – Saint Vincent College’s Music at Midday series will continue on Friday, March 26, with soprano Charlene Canty and harpsichordist J. Christopher Pardini performing sacred music in anticipation of Holy Week.

The virtual performance will begin at noon and will be streamed live on the Saint Vincent College Facebook page (www.facebook.com/SaintVincentCollege) from the Verostko Center for the Arts in the Dale P. Latimer Library on the Saint Vincent campus.

Charlene Canty Acclaimed for her sumptuous voice and beautiful tone, Canty is an accomplished classical singer who has performed major roles in Don Giovanni, Norma, Porgy & Bess, Le Nozze di Figaro and La Bohème. Equally at home on the concert stage, she has also been featured as a soloist in an array of choral works, from Bach’s Passions to the Requiems of Verdi and Brahms.

An avid interpreter of contemporary music, she most recently collaborated with Resonance Works/Pittsburgh, performing the World Premiere of Gitanjali #35 for soprano and chamber ensemble by Jorge Sosa and also with The Edgewood Symphony Orchestra performing the role of “Sky” in Pittsburgh Festival Opera’s production of A Gathering of Sons. Her recent collaborative recording, Laudato Si: In the Spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, was released by Navonna Records.

Canty has also been featured in recital for Pittsburgh’s “Music in a Great Space” concert series with oboist Scott Bell and has performed with various organizations including Pittsburgh Opera, the Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Bach Choir of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Camerata. She is currently a soprano soloist and section leader at Mt. Lebanon United Lutheran Church.

She graduated with honors from the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance. She also holds a master of music degree, with honors, from Duquesne University.

Canty will be accompanied by J. Christopher Pardini. A native of New Jersey, he serves as director of music and liturgy at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral Parish in Greensburg, cathedral organist for the Diocese of Greensburg and lecturer in Saint Vincent College’s Music Department.

Prior to his appointment in Greensburg, Pardini was organist and director of music at Shadyside Presbyterian Church, where he led one of the nation’s leading sacred music programs. Before coming to Pittsburgh, he served as senior organist at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, presiding over the 17,000-pipe Hazel Wright Organ for the Hour of Power telecast. While at the Crystal Cathedral, he performed weekly to an estimated 20 million television viewers around the world.

Pardini is also an active composer of liturgical music. His work has been published by G.I.A. (Chicago), Fred Bock Music (Los Angeles) and Morningstar Music (St. Louis). His “New Century Mass” was awarded second place in the National Pastoral Musician’s New Mass Competition in 2010.

Pardini resides in Greensburg with his wife, Amy, daughter, Mia, and son, Luca. He is an Oblate of Saint Benedict, associated with Saint Vincent Archabbey.

The latest installment of Music at Midday will coincide with the newest exhibition in the Verostko Center for the Arts, “Were You There? Artists Interpret the Way of the Cross.” Assembled from Saint Vincent’s vast art and rare book collections, the exhibit features the work of artists and authors who have identified connections between the passion and death of Christ and societal injustices.

Saint Vincent College’s Music at Midday series is sponsored by the Saint Vincent College Concert Series and the Verostko Center for the Arts.

For more information, contact Andrew Julo, curator of the Verostko Center for the Arts, at andrew.julo@stvincent.edu.

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PHOTO 1: Charlene Canty

PHOTO 2: J. Christopher Pardini

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