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December 7, 2008

Using the beauty of the arts to draw people to God

By Michelle Martin

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Audiences at Chiesa Nuova will hear no homilies or talks aimed at persuading them to come to church. Instead, the performances staged in the converted coachhouse consist only of beautiful music and other artistic endeavors, beautifully performed.

“We believe that beauty brings people to God because beauty is one of the attributes of God,” said Franciscan Father Robert Hutmacher, who founded Chiesa Nuova in 1995. “Our whole mission is to bring people to God through music and the performing arts.”

The ministry moved into the renovated coachhouse at 230 S. Laflin in 1998 and has held dozens of performances there.

“It’s really like having a performance in our living room,” said Hutmacher, likening it to the tradition of European salons and chamber music. “We call it art in your face.”

But the size of the venue — which can seat about 30 — does limit the kinds of performances that can be held there. Larger groups perform elsewhere, he said, including St. Peter’s in the Loop and other area churches.

One such performance was Nov. 23 at St. Michael Church in Wheaton. “Music for the End of Time” featured the Stonegate Brass Quintet, Christopher Orf on organ and Robert Hutmacher, an accomplished musician and composer, on harp and organ.

While that concert was timed to coincide with the feast of Christ the King, other music performed by Chiesa Nuova is not necessarily Christian in origin.

A Dec. 7 recital at the Laflin building features the Bulbul Ensemble, which offers traditional instrumental music from the Arabic, Sephardic, Egyptian, Levantine, Turkish and Armenian repertoire. That reflects the Franciscan’s emphasis on openness to dialogue with Islam and eastern religions, Hutmacher said.

“Chiesa Nuova,” which means “New Church” in Italian, is named for an actual church in Assisi where Hutmacher has lived, worked and studied off and on over the years.

He started Chiesa Nuova as a low-key organization, attracting a following with little in the way of promotion or publicity.

“We let God do all the work,” he said.

But this year, Chiesa Nuova is entering a new phase, asking for more public notice and considering looking for a larger performance space.

Two large concerts are planned for June, performances of “The Dialogue of Francis and Clare,” an oratorio composed by Hutmacher that premiered in Assisi in 2004, Hutmacher said, so that is foremost in his mind now.

For more information about Chiesa Nuova, visit www.chiesanuova.org.