Concert one · Fall 2026
The program
Sound gathers in clear lines, then opens into rhythm, color, and swing.
En Masse begins with the clarity and resonance of sacred choral music before moving toward Will Todd’s jazz-inflected mass and a new work by Kenneth Martin. Fox Valley Jazz Big Band joins the singers as one musical language grows into another inside Marmion Abbey.
The musical arc
Tradition is not discarded. It becomes the ground from which a more expansive sound can emerge.
One ensemble. Many currents.
Sacred motets establish the program’s choral center: balanced lines, blended vowels, and a shared resonance shaped by the acoustic of Marmion Abbey.
As jazz enters, pulse and color begin to shift. The choir remains a collective instrument, but now it moves through syncopation, improvisatory energy, and collaboration with the Fox Valley Jazz Big Band.
The visual language reflects the program itself: individual marks gathered into one field, held together by rhythm, repetition, and forward motion.
Listening across traditions
A short guide to the musical conversation at the center of the program.
The mass as a living form.
The words of the mass have inspired composers for centuries. What changes is the musical world built around them.
In traditional sacred settings, the mass often unfolds through carefully balanced vocal lines and a unified choral sonority. Its familiar text gives composers a stable structure within which harmony, texture, and expression can continually be renewed.
Will Todd’s Jazz Missa Brevis places that historic text inside the language of jazz. Swing, syncopation, rich harmony, and rhythmic flexibility do not replace the sacred tradition; they reveal another way for communal music to breathe.
En Masse invites listeners to hear continuity and change at once: an old form, a new pulse, and many performers becoming one sound.
Join us at Marmion Abbey
Experience En Masse in concert.
Save by purchasing online in advance. Tickets will also be available at the door on the day of the concert.
- Students / Seniors
- $15
- Regular
- $18.50
- Students / Seniors
- $20
- Regular
- $24