Schola Cantorum sing around town

Billy Turney believes live music is best when performed in the venue for which it was created, which is why Schola Cantorum of Santa Fe sounds particularly good under the soaring, vaulted ceiling of Loretto Chapel.

After all, Loretto Chapel, 207 Old Santa Fe Trail, is a replica of the French Gothic Sainte Chapelle in Paris, completed in 1248. At that time, the ancient sacred music Schola performs was the norm rather than the rarity it is in modern Santa Fe, and churches were designed to amplify and enhance the sound.

But after performing in Loretto for about two decades, Schola found itself in search of a new venue this year when the chapel stopped hosting outside musical groups. As a result, Schola is all over the area this holiday season, performing at places as varied as the San Miguel Mission, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Santa Barbara Mission Church in Silé, the New Mexico History Museum, the Palace of the Governors, and even the Railyard.

Turney founded Schola in 1990 while serving as principal organist and director of music at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis (a hard place to sing, he says.) He had studied Gregorian chant and polyphonic music of the

Renaissance at the Pontifical Institute of

Sacred Music in Rome and wanted to bring the form alive in Santa Fe’s chapels, missions, cathedrals, and basilicas. Since then, the group has performed all over

Northern New Mexico and in Colorado,

Italy, and Ireland.

A decade ago, Schola had more than

20 members, all local residents. Today, it’s down to six (and one of those is out through December due to illness), but while Turney says he’s always open to audition interested local singers, what’s more important than size is having the right people in the ensemble who can cover all four of the major vocal ranges; soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. He says he has that.

The slimmed-down Schola ensemble fit nicely when it performed by candlelight in October in the chapel at Our Lady of Lourdes Shrine at Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. The Gothic chapel was built in 1889 by the same folks who built Loretto Chapel but on a tiny scale — it can seat only 110 people, creating an intimate, beautiful setting.

After first naming Our Lady of Lourdes as his favorite New Mexico venue, Turney quickly backtracks: “My favorite is wherever the people can hear it and enjoy it because that’s what makes the music right there,” he said. And that’s why Schola performed Christmas songs at the Railyard on Black Friday with plans to do the same this month at the history museum and Palace of the Governors (both on December 16.)

Still, Turney betrays a prejudice for venues with lots of hard surfaces, which are acoustically superior for unamplified voices like those of Schola. One of those is the chapel or santuario at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, which was built in the late 1700s but improved acoustically in a renovation that added hard slate floors.

“It’s so fun to sing there,” Tuney says. “You can do a lot musically, and there’s room for everyone.”

The church sanctuary can seat 670, and there’s ample free parking outside for what Turney calls Schola’s “gift to Santa Fe” concert at 2 p.m.

December 17. While the event is free, goodwill donations are appreciated.

In case you don’t like free, Schola’s ticketed Christmas in Santa Fe 2023 concert ($25-$30) will be special for another reason: Old meets old when the ensemble performs its ancient music in the oldest church in the United States: San Miguel Mission. That concert is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13.

San Miguel is a traditional adobe church with thick walls and timbered ceiling; with room for just 120 people, it’s the intimate setting Schola likes.

“People say they like the acoustics, but it’s actually a really hard place to sing,” Turney says. However, because Schola has performed there so many times over the years, “we got the hang of it,” he promises.

— Judy Robinson/for The New Mexican

Schola Christmas in Santa Fe 2023

6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13

San Miguel Mission, 401 Old Santa Fe Trail $30 with discounts available

Schola Christmas Music Concert

2 p.m. Dec. 17

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 417 Agua Fria Street Free (goodwill donations appreciated)

View the rest of Schola’s holiday schedule at schola-sf.org/