(Editor’s Note: The following article features an interview with Matthew Robinson, musical director of the “Music Under the Dome Series.” Robinson passed away on August 21. The series is a testament to his love of music and his dedication to bringing music to the Church of Harrisburg as a way of promoting and encouraging the arts.)
The Cathedral of Saint Patrick in downtown Harrisburg is presenting a series of 13 evenings of different kinds of music that showcase the wide breadth of how God can be encountered through sound, all as Christ is present in the tabernacle within a beautiful house of faith.
“Music Under the Dome,” curated by series musical director Matthew Robinson, is designed to expand the awareness of how different kinds of music can evoke the presence of the sacred.
Ranging from traditional Catholic music to modern acoustic guitar, Celtic and jazz, the program aims to take listeners past the normal definition of where they can feel God through what they hear.
“The way that people experience different types of music, and that kind of visceral reaction they get, that’s just another way they’re seeing God and they’re becoming present with God,” said Robinson, a classical baritone and voice instructor who sings at the Cathedral and in many other capacities.
“It’s a really, really cool thing to get the different eclectic styles of music and how that’s different, how God can be present in everyone’s lives in their own personal way.”
The series begins on September 6 with Hummelstown-based acoustic guitarist Maria Wilson, who has opened for artists from yacht-rocker Michael McDonald to folk-rocker Dar Williams.
It includes a Celtic Christmas concert by Seasons, a local Harrisburg family band; gospel music dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; a night of Broadway music; a performance with one of the world’s best trumped ensembles with Tromba Mundi; and jazz piano with Bishop McDevitt alumnus Paul Bratcher, the director of jazz studies at Georgetown University.
“Bratcher is a good friend of mine,” Robinson says. “We have a hometown product of our Diocese and Harrisburg coming back.”
All that balances a series of traditional Catholic music performances with the Harrisburg Schola Cantorum along with the Concordia College (Minnesota) choir, one of America’s best collegiate choirs.
“Throughout my life, I always felt that my faith was deepened by experiencing different things and being around different things,” said Robinson. “The programming and music opens your eyes a little bit to different experiences, and how you can find God in those different experiences.”
Those experiences will happen in a holy place, which Robinson says will help people encounter holiness in sounds they normally wouldn’t consider of a higher level.
“Let God’s presence do its thing,” said Robinson. “You’ll see the performers, but in a space like this, it’s not a concert hall. You’re not in a Broadway theater. There won’t be any costumes.”
Four of the 13 concerts include students, furthering the program’s mission of music education both as the performer and as the listener.
“I feel I have a responsibility. I don’t forget how music impacted me and different experiences impacted me when I was a music student, when I was in middle school and high school,” said Robinson.
I will never forget some of the places that I was able to make music as a kid. Those experiences have been some of the larger impacts in my life and what led me into being a musician, and a church musician. I have a responsibility to make those experiences available to the students in the surrounding area.”
Additionally, Robinson said that organizers are putting together “A Night at the Opera” fundraising concert for Music Under the Dome on Saturday, October 4, in the banquet hall of Der Harrisburg Maennerchor, located behind the Cathedral next to Harrisburg Catholic Elementary School. Ticket information is still pending.
“It will feature singers from New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., singing some of the most beautiful operatic arias ever composed,” said Robinson.
“Our ability to do this, it’s because of the people, the Diocese, the community. It’s just outstanding. We just want to keep that ball rolling.”
The series offers an opportunity for the Cathedral to open its doors and a chance to encounter the faith in a new way to those who may not be Catholic or have fallen away from the faith.
“Maybe there becomes a seed that’s planted, or becomes a process of re-evangelization for someone who hasn’t been inside a church in a while,” said Robinson.
“I know two people personally that have told me that they were lapsed Catholics and fell away from the Church. They came to two separate concerts, and have since come back to the Church. One has even come back and joined their parish choir since then,” he said.
Such is the power of music, of showcasing how many genres, sounds and expressions can deliver the sacred to the human soul – particularly in such a powerful place as a cathedral.
“We can make music. We can welcome people into this space. And we have Christ sitting there with us as we’re doing this,” said Robinson.
“If people are away from the Church, they come back, or just spend some extra time with Him. We can listen to some beautiful music and spend time with our Lord.”
More information, including tickets for ticketed events, visit https://www.stpatrickcathedral.com/concertseries.
Music Under the Dome Concert Series
Cathedral of Saint Patrick, 212 State St, Harrisburg
- Celestial Strings with Maria Wilson, acoustic guitar: September 6, 7:30 p.m.
- Requiem Mass for the Faithful Departed with the Diocese of Harrisburg Schola Cantorum, November 5, 7 p.m.
- Collegiate Choral Showcase, November 23, 6 p.m.
- Gratia Plena, a Musical Devotion to Our Blessed Mother with the Diocese of Harrisburg Schola Cantorum, December 7, 4 p.m.
- A Celtic Christmas with Seasons, a Celtic family band, December 28, 4 p.m.
- Let Freedom Ring, A Musical Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, January 18, 4 p.m.
- The Concordia College Choir from Moorhead, Minnesota, March 10, 7 p.m. (Ticketed event)
- Via Crucis by Franz List with the Harrisburg Schola Cantorum, March 22, 4 p.m.
- Paul Bratcher & Friends jazz featuring Tim Warfield, April 26, 4 p.m. (Ticketed event)
- Broadway Under the Dome featuring local high school students, date and time TBD
- Tromba Mundi, America’s premier trumpet ensemble, May 8, 7 p.m. (Ticketed event)
- Francis Xavier Children’s Choir from Gettysburg, May 15, 7 p.m.
- Anima Christi, a Corpus Christi concert featuring musicians from the Diocese of Harrisburg, June 7, 4 p.m.
(Jay Sorgi is a freelance reporter for The Catholic Witness. Photos by Chris Heisey, The Catholic Witness.)
By Jay Sorgi, The Catholic Witness
