Fox Chamber Singers blend classical and jazz in ‘En Masse’ concert

The Fox Chamber Singers will present “En Masse” on Sunday, Nov 8. The concert will be at 2 p.m. at Marmion Abbey Church, 850 Butterfield Road in Aurora.

“En Masse” begins with the clarity and resonance of sacred choral music before moving toward Will Todd’s jazz-inflected “Jazz Missa Brevis” mass and “Love’s Insistent Voice,” a new work by Fox Chamber Singers' composer-in-residence Kenneth Martin.

A jazz sextet from the Fox Valley Jazz Big Band joins the Fox Chamber Singers as one musical language grows into another inside Marmion Abbey Church.

The words of the mass have inspired composers for centuries. What changes is the musical world built around them.

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.

Tickets are $19.50 or $16 for students or seniors. For tickets, go to foxchambersingers.org.