The St. Timothy Choir will perform a song for peace at the Salzburg Music Festival in Austria

St. Timothy’s Catholic Church Choir of The Villages and members of the Central Florida Lyric Opera will perform the original composition “Requiem for World Peace” as part of the Salzburg Music Festival in Austria.

The composition is dedicated to all those affected by war around the world, especially those in Ukraine and Russia.

The performances scheduled for August 23 and 24 will mark the world premiere of this new composition and will take place at St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) and St. Peter’s Church (Peterskiche), both in Vienna. The composition was written by two popular musicians from The Villages, Bill Doherty and Angie Rose. Doherty is music director of St. Timothy’s Catholic Church, general manager of the Central Florida Lyric Opera Company, and a member of the board of directors of the Opera Club of the Villages. He is also a founding member of the Harold Schwartz Music Scholarship, which raised and then distributed nearly $600,000 in music scholarships to high school students in the Tri-County area. Rose has been a staple of The Villages for nearly a decade and has been seen performing on The Sharon stage and with The Studio Theater in Tierra del Sol, as well as various other local venues. She is an associate worship leader at the New Covenant United Methodist Church.

This musical ensemble first appeared abroad in 2012 at the Vatican for a mass with Pope Benedict XVI. Later that year, Doherty was commissioned to compose his first requiem mass. The world premiere of the Requiem Mass was originally scheduled for Rome, Italy, but on March 19, 2014, the St. Timothy Choir and members of the Central Florida Lyric Opera presented the world. premiere of the original composition near the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem, Israel. Following this performance, the group was invited to return to Italy in 2016 to present the European premiere at the Basilica of Saint Ignatius in Rome, in concert with full orchestra and by special invitation to sing for the closing mass of the extraordinary jubilee year. of Mercy with Pope Francis.

This year’s choir trip to Austria also includes performances of Mozart’s Coronation Mass at Salzburg Cathedral where they will also sing for Sunday High Mass the following day. Other activities include tours of Mozart’s House and Mozart Museum, Vienna Opera, Parliament, City Hall, and Burgtheater, among others. The group will also visit the many sites in and around Salzburg where the musical “Sound of Music” was filmed in the 1960s.

St. Timothy’s Choir has been in existence for over 22 years. The choir is made up of men and women from around the world now living in The Villages. For the past thirteen years the choir has been under the direction of Maestro Doherty who is also the general manager of the Central Florida Lyric Opera Company and a member of the board of directors of the Opera Club of the Villages. Throughout the year, the St. Timothy’s Choir sings at 9 am Mass every Sunday and on other special occasions at the church. The choir holds up to six formal concerts each year for the parish and has also sung at various other churches and events in Central Florida. This is their fourth pilgrimage abroad.