Tim Sharp’s “High Lonesome Mass” Premieres in Washington

Banjo-pickin’ may not be a familiar sound in church, but audiences will hear one — and a fiddle and mandolin — during a “High Lonesome Mass” to be performed in Longview.

Chor Anno, a 25-voice choir of experienced singers directed by retired local teacher Howard Meharg, will sing the work during the St. Stephen’s Celebration Concert at 3 p.m. Sunday.

The composer of “Come Away to the Skies: a High Lonesome Mass,” Dr. Tim Sharp, took traditional hymns such as “Do Lord Remember Me” and put them in the framework of the traditional Latin mass. The 20-minute-long work incorporates banjo, mandolin, guitar, violin and double-bass. Sharp himself will play banjo and Matt Mandrones,
former concertmaster of the Southwest Washington Symphony, will play fiddle.

Sharp, an expert in early American music, is director of the famed Tulsa Oratorio Choir and executive director of the American Choral Directors Association.

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