The sound of 101 trained voices lifted to meet the acoustical splendors of the Whaling Church is one of those pleasures that come along only twice each year — during the Christmas holidays and over a weekend each spring. Last Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, hundreds of Vineyarders took advantage of this offering.

The 14th Island Community Chorus Spring Concert of Great Choral Masterpieces opened for a fan base whose thoughts had to be along the lines of, “What will [musical director] Peter Boak choose for his singers this year?” Mr. Boak himself states in the program that the chorus, even with the flux of members coming and going, has increased in excellence and expanded its repertoire. “Over the past several years, they have grown, not only in numbers, but in their music-making capabilities.”

The spring concert, accompanied by superb pianist Garrett Brown, rolled out the following eight eclectic pieces:

First, The Heavens Are Telling, from The Creation by Franz Joseph Haydn, with the three archangels performed by soprano Jennie Friedman, tenor Ken Romero, and bass Glenn Carpenter. This lush score in its entirely took Haydn three years to complete because, in his words, “I intend it to last a long time.” Considering he composed it in the 18th century, his wish has come true.

Next was Tempus Est Iocundum and O Fortuna from Carmina Burana, by Carl Orff, solo bass performed by Glenn Carpenter. Mr. Boak told his audience that the songs from Carmina Burana were derived from secular poems written in the 13th century, and subsequently discovered in a Munich monastery in the 1800s. Scholars believe that the lusty lyrics (translated from the German) such as, “My virginity makes me frisky, my simplicity holds me back,” hint at the yearnings of young men bound for monastic life, as they contemplate all that they must renounce.

How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling-place from A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms is meant to be a comfort for the living, as expressed by Brahms’s private title for the piece, A Mass For Humanity.

The Sealed Angel by the still-living Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, with a flute solo by Beth Johnson, is a gorgeous and fascinating piece based on a centuries-old dispute between reformist Eastern Orthodox leaders and the more orthodox of the Orthodox, the former stealing and sealing with wax the icons of the latter, the latter taking their revenge by stealing and unsealing the icons.

Behold, God The Lord, from the end of the oratorio, Elijah is by Felix Mendelssohn, for whom Mr. Boak bears a particular soft spot. Translated from the German into English, the chorus takes us on a journey regarding Elijah’s encounter with his Higher Power.

Then, Lacrymosa from Requiem K.626 by Mozart. Mr. Boak lets us in on a little secret, that Mozart wrote this seventh part of his legendary Requiem from beyond the grave. The composer knew he was soon to die, and transmitted his last wishes to a student who was able to see the Requiem through to the maestro’s predetermined end.

Cantique de Jean Racine by Gabriel Faure was written when the composer was 19 years of age, and represented the only arrangement on the program not extracted from a larger piece.

The choir’s finale was, as all finales should be, a richly draining experience. The Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni presents dueling choirs — the Community Chorus spread before us and, up in the balconied rear, vocalists from the West Tisbury Church, with Linda Berg on organ and also directing. Mr. Boak explained how in the full staged opera, the sacred choir, performing in Latin, is heard behind the wings as if from a distance. The larger chorale group, singing in Italian, is represented by the crowds in the village square, very much front and center of the audience.

Mr. Boak said with his customary levity, “Cavalleria Rusticana is about love, betrayal and death: the usual opera stuff.”

Mr. Boak wished us farewell in advance of the last feast for the musical senses: “We’ve had a blast learning all this music.”

As the chorus filed out after the Easter Hymn, the audience members were reminded of how many singers are known to them in the real world, this one from the post office, that one from town meetings, another from the neighborhood, another a family relation. The sequel to the performance is running into each one individually and complimenting him or her on the work, i.e. the 12 Mondays of practice leading up to the master class weekend.

As Herb Ward of the board of directors writes in the program, “We enjoy singing as much as you enjoy coming to hear us sing.”

The next recital is scheduled for a single night in the summer, July 3, at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs.

And then there’s always Christmas, but who can think that far ahead?