Lititz Moravian Collegium Musicum
Lancaster County’s newest, yet oldest, symphony orchestra, the Lititz Moravian Collegium Musicum, returns from its COVID hiatus to perform a concert of early music on Sunday, February 27 at 7 p.m. The event will take place in the sanctuary of the church to take advantage of the "air scrubber" and opportunity for greater social distancing. This ensemble of select instrumentalists from central Pennsylvania and beyond will once again provide a rare glimpse into a distinctive facet of musical life and culture in early Lititz. The Collegium will be joined by Millersville University's Chorale, the school's most select choral ensemble, to perform major choral works of John Antes, Johann Gottlieb Nauman, and Johannes Herbst.
The concert will include works newly edited by Dr. Jeffrey Gemmell that were selected from the Lititz Collegium Musicum Collection representing a wide variety of genres and styles including works for full orchestra, chamber winds, duets, trios, and quartets. There will be ample opportunities for audience participation to sing hymns, and a Museum and Archives Moment will feature a show-and-tell of string instruments currently on display that were constructed by John Antes. Antes was the first American Moravian Missionary to travel and work in Egypt, one of the earliest American-born chamber music composers, and the maker of perhaps the earliest surviving bowed string instruments made in this country.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 per student (cash, please) to be sold at the door beginning at 6 p.m. on the evening of the concert. The Lititz Moravian Mission Gift Shop will be open before and after the event, and the Archives and Museum will welcome visitors after the concert. Donations/memorial contributions for the concert are welcome and should be sent to the Lititz Moravian Church Office (checks may be made payable to "LMCM" and identified as such on the front of the envelope.) For more information, refer to the church's website at www.lititzmoravian.org or Facebook Lititz Moravian Museum.