Many of you, who attended the Scala Foundation conference in Princeton last spring will remember fondly that Paul Jernberg composed music especially for the sung prayer on that occasion – the Liturgy of the Hours. I am pleased to let you know of a recent YouTube release of a glorious new sung Mass composed by Paul, which was filmed and recorded last October 21st at St. John’s Parish in Clinton, MA: here is the link in You Tube, here is the video:
The film title is taken from the Beatitudes: Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. The format is similar to our previous film The Fire of Your Love, although almost all of the music is newly composed for this special Liturgy, a “Mass for Persecuted Christians”.
Paul told me: ‘The impetus to compose this music came from my conversations with Fr. Benedict Kiely, founding director of Nasarean.org, who spends much of his time in the Middle East and who seeks to raise awareness and support for those whose plight there has been almost completely neglected by the Western media. But I also found much inspiration for these compositions in reading and reflecting upon Michael O’Brien’s epic novel Island of the World, based on true accounts from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the mid-20th century.’
This coming Scala Conference will again have the sung Liturgy of the Hours, led by local choir director and composer Peter Carter (who incidentally assisted Paul in the recording of his Mass).
For more information on Paul and his music contact:
Magnificat Institute of Sacred Music, 315 Main Street, Suite 5, Lander, WY 82520
(307) 206-5240; magnificatinstitute.org; pauljernberg.com