60th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
Featuring Ola Gjielo’s Sunrise Mass
June 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Our Lady of Victory Basilica
767 Ridge Road, Lackawanna, NY 14218
BCAS Anniversary Celebration
Buffalo Choral Arts Society celebrates our 60th anniversary season at Our Lady of Victory Basilica! This concert will feature the world premiere of “Songs for the People” by acclaimed composer Glenn McClure, a setting of the poem of the same title by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. The culmination of the concert and season will be an exciting multimedia presentation of Ola Gjeilo’s “Sunrise Mass,” paying homage to our beautiful City of Light. Come celebrate our past as we look toward our future!
The Program
Buffalo Choral Arts Society will premiere a commissioned work by acclaimed composer and New York state native Glenn McClure. In addition, we will perform world renowned composer Ola Gjeilo’s “Sunrise Mass,” which will be highlighted by a multimedia presentation highlighting the beauty of the Western New York community BCAS calls home.
Glenn McClure, Composer
"Songs for the People"
Glenn McClure is a composer, speaker, and scholar. Glenn has dedicated himself to building artistic collaborations with rural folks, scientists, scholars, and musicians. His music emerges from community conversations on the environment, disability, and racial equality. He has served on the faculties of the Eastman School of Music, SUNY Geneseo and Paul Smith’s College.
Ola Gjielo, Composer
Sunrise Mass
This spiritually-uplifting extended work, neither expressly sacred nor secular, uses ancient texts even though the titles of the movements are in English: I. The Spheres (Kyrie); II. Sunrise (Gloria); III. The City (Credo); IV. Identity & The Ground (Sanctus). The four movements develop from a sense of the cosmos to an affirmation of the earth, from the echo of The Spheres in the first movement to the final reassuring themes of Identity & The Ground.
Marcia A. Giambrone
Guest Conductor
Guest Conductor Marcia A. Giambrone will be a familiar presence at the podium for long-time BCAS patrons will be. After 36 seasons as Buffalo Choral Arts Society Conductor/Music Director, Ms. Giambrone retired in 2023. To share in our 60th Anniversary Celebration, she will once again take the podium to conduct (??????).