STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Caritas Chorale will present two free concerts featuring John Rutter’s “Mass of the Children” on Saturday and Sunday.

The concerts will feature soloists St. Thomas Episcopal Church music director and baritone Joel Bejot and soprano Tess Makena, who has appeared in numerous plays with The Liberty Theater Company and other theater companies in the valley.

R.L. Rowsey is the conductor.

R.L. Rowsey conducted a small contingent of Caritas Chorale performers during Sun Valley Opera and Broadway’s Holiday Concert.

The concerts will start at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 17, and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 18, at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church on Sun Valley Road in Ketchum.

Rutter, an English composer and conductor who grew up over the Globe pub in London, is considered a leading composer of 21st century chorale music. Rutter’s music has been a favorite of the Caritas Chorale for many years, with the Chorale performing such works as “Requiem.”

“Mass of the Children” is one of Rutter’s larger works. Written in 2002 and 2003, it was first performed at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in 2003. The text is taken from a Latin Missa Brevis—that is, a mass without a Credo section. A few texts from Thomas Ken’s poetry are interwoven to grow the work from morning to evening and everything in between.

“I had always wanted to write a work combining children’s choir with adult performers, not only because I find the sound of children’s voices irresistible but also because I wanted to repay a debt,” Rutter has said about his work. “As a boy soprano in my school choir, I had been thrilled whenever our choir took part in adult works with children’s choir parts … and years later I remembered this experience and wanted to write something that would give children a similar opportunity to perform alongside adult professionals.”