The Vatican’s Sacred Voices Bring Roman Polyphony to San Francisco

The Sacred Voices Choir of the Cardinal Domenico Bartolucci Foundation brought the sacred musical traditions of Rome and the Vatican to San Francisco's Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption on August 25, during its first California tour. The 40-member ensemble, created to preserve the legacy of former Sistine Chapel choirmaster and prolific composer Domenico Bartolucci, devoted much of its program to works by Giovanni Palestrina, whose 500th birth anniversary falls in 2026, and by Bartolucci. What most impressed the San Francisco Classical Voice reviewer was the choir's distinctive approach: rich, full-bodied, often operatic singing with generous vibrato, far removed from the cool, straight-toned style frequently associated with Renaissance polyphony. Among the evening's highlights was male soprano Gianluca Alonzi in Bartolucci's Quo abiit; the reviewer heard in him the legacy of Alessandro Moreschi, the last castrato and a former Sistine Chapel chorister. Tenor Francescantonio Bille and bass David Maria Gentile performed a dramatic dialogue between Christ and Peter. The program also included music by Valentino Miserachs Grau and Max Reger, while soprano Maria Tomassi performed the Ave Maria from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. The concert ultimately suggested that centuries-old Vatican sacred tradition and the emotional immediacy of opera need not stand apart: in the hands of these singers, Palestrina could sound vivid, forceful, and strikingly contemporary.