Ola Gjeilo’s remarkable Sunrise Mass will be presented on Sunday morning, March 19, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. at the Wellesley Hills Congregational Church as part of the regular worship service. The Chancel Choir of the Hills Church will be accompanied by a chamber orchestra; John Finney, Director of Music for the Hills Church, will conduct.

Ola Gjeilo (pronounced “yay-lo”) was born in Norway in 1978, and moved to New York in 2001 to begin his composition studies at the Julliard School, from which he graduated with a Master’s Degree in 2006, after two years at the Royal College of Music in London. Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass (subtitled Symphonic Mass for SSAATTBB Chorus and String Orchestra) is one of his most engaging and communicative works. The familiar texts of the Ordinary of the Mass are set by Gjeilo in most unusual ways, the eight-part chorus often producing waves of beautiful sound which swell and diminish; sections of the text are declaimed by the chorus over exuberantly active playing from the string orchestra. The final words of the Mass, Dona nobis pacem (“grant us peace”) are sung by the chorus in long-held chords, creating an atmosphere of utter serenity.

The service on Sunday morning, March 19th is free and open to the public, as are all services at the Hills Church.

For more information, the church office can be reached at 781-235-4424.