Please join us for Oratorio di San Francesco by Adriano Ariani. We believe this work will move you, and us, musically and spiritually, to realize something powerful. Join us in supporting an incredible year of music and community making, our 75th.
Ariani was a colleague of Arturo Toscanini, and his tenure at the Brooklyn Academy of Music prompted a renaissance of Italian Opera there. With a Libretto in Latin by Father Sixtus Lagorio, the oratorio was written to honor the 50th anniversary of the St. Anthony of Padua Church in Manhattan and the founding of the Society of St. Francis in the United States. It features four soloists: St. Francis,sung by Blake Friedman, Historicus, sung by Syndney Outlaw, St. Clare, sung by Samantha Long, and the Voice of Temptation, sung by Hannah Spierman, on October 25, 2026. Read more about the soloists here.
Purchase advance tickets below for $35. Tickets at the door ar $40.
Canterbury is excited to announce the first concert of our 75th season, Oratorio di San Francesco. We are proud to be the only ensemble to revive this monumental musical masterpiece since its first performances in NYC by the Met Opera in the 1916-1917 season.
The timing is significant since it marks not only our 75th anniversary, but the 800th Anniversary of St. Francis’ death, a year of special commemoration around the world.
Canterbury Choral Society’s mission since our founding in 1952 has been to perform the finest music, with appropriate orchestral accompaniment, in a sacred space. That space, our home since our founding, has been Church of the Heavenly Rest. In addition to the chorus, which numbers between 50 and 75 singers, every performance includes an orchestra and soloists.