The Debut Recording of Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas

The début recording of Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas (Misa de las Américas) will be released shortly and can be preordered here. It is performed by the Benedict XVI Institute’s Choir and Orchestra and directed by renowned international conductor Richard Sparks. William P. Mahrt wrote about the Mass here following its liturgical performance at a Pontifical Mass in Washington DC:

“This stunning composition set the tone for the whole liturgy, where music ranged from traditional Gregorian chants sung by a schola of either men or women, to elaboration upon the chants, to settings incorporating the traditional Mexican melodies in music of transcendent liturgical expression. La Rocca uses his skill as a composer to create music that is harmonic but innovative. This music is modern but comprehensible, classical but not archaic.”

The work extends the genre of the Missa solemnis: a sublime setting of a Traditional Latin Mass for choir and orchestra, weaving together a rich modern tapestry with serene Gregorian chants, folk melodies from 18th-century regions of México, and florid praises in Nahuatl, the language spoken by Our Lady of Guadalupe to San Juan Diego in 1531. Benedict XVI Choir’s début recording sung in Latin, Spanish, and Nahuatl, will be released on Capella Records on September 23, 2022.