From ‘Ave Maria’ to ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ and ‘Ode to Joy,” a Santa Monica concert raising funds to help fire victims offers a sacred collaboration of celebrated musicians and singers

By Linda Chase

If 19th-century Austrian composer Franz Schubert got into a time machine that took him to June 13 and deposited him on California Avenue in Santa Monica, he might hear a familiar tune.

As he walked by the St. Monica Catholic Church, he’d notice soprano Golda Zahra singing music from a song cycle he wrote based on Sir Walter Scott’s poem “Lady of the Lake,” which was inspired by the legends of King Arthur.

But Schubert would scratch his head because instead of the original German words, he’d be hearing Latin. That’s because his song was appropriated by the Catholic Church.

Schubert’s song beg

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