Re-Choired Listening is a weekly radio program that brings you the best in choral music from St. Louis and around the world, hosted by Philip Barnes, Artistic Director of the St. Louis Chamber Chorus and educator at John Burroughs School.

March 9: Music of Benjamin Britten –Philip shares Britten’s late choral cycle “Sacred and Profane”, the much earlier “Rejoice in The Lamb”, and – for children’s voices – both his Missa Brevis and Psalm 150.

March 2: O Haupt Voll Blut Und Wunden Many Ways (rebroadcast)– An examination of the myriad ways one tune can be interpreted: the Lenten chorale O Haupt Voll Blut Und Wunden (O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded). It was originally a secular love song, but was ‘appropriated’ by Bach and others.

February 22: Music of Claudio Monteverdi (rebroadcast) – Philip shares selections from Monteverdi’s sacred works for St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and madrigals that were perhaps composed for the Gonzaga court in Mantua, Italy.

February 16: Tears – Philip continues his series of Blood, Sweat, and Tears with music associated with drops of salty water from the Renaissance, the 80s group Tears for Fears, and composers Gustav Holst and Roy Harris.

February 8: Sweat – Philip continues his series by featuring coronation music by Jean-François Le Sueur (i.e., French for ‘sweat’), as well as other pieces by musicians by the same name – including the R&B artist Keith Sweat

About Philip Barnes: A native of Great Britain, Philip Barnes was a boy chorister at an early age, and as an adult sang with the cathedral choirs of Bristol, Hereford, and Wells.

Since 1989, Mr. Barnes has led the Saint Louis Chamber Chorus as its artistic director. He has complemented this with positions singing & conducting for various congregations and is currently director of music at Third Baptist Church in Grand Center. Mr. Barnes combines his musical activities with teaching and is a member of the classics department at John Burroughs School, where he instructs classes in Greek and Latin.