St. Francis in the Americas---A Caribbean Mass

Bangkok Music Society. Bangkok, Thailand. March 12, 2011. A serious mistake made by many amateur music groups, is to perform difficult works which are beyond their capacity. Happily, in selecting American composer Glenn McClure’s theatre piece “A Caribbean Mass,” the Bangkok Music Society was able to bring together The Bangkok Music Society Choir, the MBS Percussion Ensemble, the Urban Bones Dance Company, as well as two vocal soloists and a pianist, to perform a delightful musical theatre piece loosely based on the Latin mass, but set to Latin America rhythms and instrumentation. It was a fun evening listening to the traditional Kyrie, Credo, Gloria, Agnus Dei and Sanctus, creatively set to the music of samba, calypso and salsa groove, and sung by a capable chorus and soloists, accompanied by interpretive modern dancing, with bongo drums, xylophones and other percussion instruments providing the rhythm.