Choral Arts in New England

Your choral legacy: Make Choral Arts in a tax-deductible gift to Choral Arts New England and the Patterson Foundation as part of New England your planned giving! Encouraging Choral Excellence through Alfred Nash Patterson Grants September 2018 Boston Singers’ Gwyneth Walker Resource 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient Helping singers throughout New England r. Gwyneth Walker is a ll chorus members are singers. Everyone who D revered New England participates in a choral performance knows A composer whose the beauty of human voices meaningfully joined in works have been song—and likely knows, too, how hard it can be widely performed to achieve that high level of accomplishment. As throughout the singers themselves, choristers take special pleasure country. Her career, in singing with accomplished soloists, who often spanning a lifetime bring a performance to new heights. of composing, has Boston is home to a unique organization devoted given the choral world to supporting and enriching the lives of all sing- many beloved pieces, ers. Boston Singers’ Resource (BSR) provides in- ranging from long- formation about singing, connections to teachers form works for SATB and performing organizations, workshops, net- chorus and orchestra to shorter pieces, some for working opportunities, and auditions that intro- women’s voices or children’s choirs. Walker is one of duce outstanding soloists to directors of choruses, the most frequently performed modern composers of church choirs, opera and theater companies, and concerts listed in the Choral Arts New England cal- others who might employ their talents. endar, with her compositions being explicitly named Anyone can go to www.bostonsingersresource.org on 37 different programs since 2012. and find useful articles on singing and vocal health, Born in 1947, Walker grew up in New Canaan, interviews with choral and vocal musicians, and Connecticut and is a graduate of Brown University directories of teachers and coaches as well as and the Hartt School of Music. She holds B.A., youth and child vocal programs. M.M., and D.M.A. degrees in music composition. In high school (Abbot Academy/Phillips Academy BSR also offers memberships ($45 per year, $35 Andover) and in college, she performed in vocal for students, and $75 for organizations): mem- octets for which she created all of the choral ar- bers get daily notices of auditions, classes, jobs rangements. In 1982, she relinquished a faculty and other news. Members can also participate in position at Oberlin College Conservatory to pursue workshops and BSR’s twice-yearly auditions. a career as a full-time composer. BSR open Auditions give any member a chance The music of Gwyneth Walker is beloved by to be heard by multiple organizations, as well as performers and audiences for its energy, beauty, get feedback from a panel of local vocal experts. reverence, drama, and humor. Walker’s catalog Select auditions allow organizations to hear some includes over 350 commissioned works for orches- of the top singers from the open auditions. tra, chamber ensembles, chorus, and solo voice. Choruses looking to hire high-quality soloists A special interest has been dramatic works that can attend the auditions and listen for themselves combine music with readings, acting, and move- (free for member organizations), and they can ment. Her work appeals to modern sensibilities (continued on back) (continued on next page) Gwyneth Walker (cont’d) The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented yet is also traditional and accessible. on November 4 at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass.—about halfway between Walker’s “My pieces always have melody and form and a current bases in Vermont and Connecticut—in a rhythm that’s right there for you,” she says. ceremony that will include performances of her For nearly 30 years, Walker lived on a dairy works by the Mt. Holyoke Glee Club and Mt. farm in Braintree, Vermont. She now divides her Holyoke Chamber Singers. time between her childhood hometown of New Choral Arts New England’s Lifetime Achievement Canaan, Connecticut and Randolph, Vermont. Award has been presented annually since 1994 to Over the decades, she has traveled to many individuals who have made exceptional contribu- states to work with instrumental and choral tions to choral singing and its culture within New ensembles, soloists, and educational institu- England. Past recipients include Jody Hill Simpson, tions as they rehearse and perform her music. A Joshua Jacobson, Ann Howard Jones, Gerald Mack, number of these visits have developed into ongo- E. Wayne Abercrombie, Sonja Dahlgren Pryor, John ing relationships. In 2018, Walker was named Oliver, Jameson Marvin, Richard Coffey, David Composer‐in‐Residence for the Great Lakes Hoose, Craig Smith, Robert De Cormier, Donald Teeters, Alice Parker and Lorna Cooke deVaron. Chamber Orchestra in Petoskey, Michigan. 2018 Alfred Nash composers Rick Beaudoin, Greg Brown, and Geoff Hudson, in celebration of YPC’s 20th Anniversary. Patterson Grants Island Community Chorus, Vineyard Haven, Mass., his year, Choral Arts New England will for a performance in April/May 2019 of a composition by Thomas Lavoy setting the words of Martha’s award 13 grants, for a total $14,150, selected T Vineyard native Nancy Luce (b. 1814), locally known from 51 proposals that were received. They will as “the chicken lady.” The work could be a compan- nd be presented at the 34 annual awards ceremony ion piece to Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb. on November 4, 2018, at Mount Holyoke College. Labyrinth Choir, Southboro, Mass., for photographic Andover Choral Society, Andover, Mass., for perfor- projections to enhance a concert in April/May 2019 mance and recording on May 4 of Florence Price’s that represents the seven continents of the world. Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight. Florence Price Manchester Choral Society, Manchester, N.H., for a (1887–1953), who graduated from New England performance on May 18 and 19 of William Grant Conservatory in 1906, was the first African-American Still’s Those Who Wait and Kirke Mechem’s Songs woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer. of the Slave. Cappella Clausura, Newtonville, Mass., to support Metropolitan Chorale, Brookline, Mass., to support performance on March 30 and 31 of three cantatas performance on May 4 of R. Murray Schafer’s A by Fanny Mendelssohn: Lobegesang, Hiob, and Medieval Bestiary and Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Oratorio on Words of the Bible. Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore, in col- Collegium Ancora, Providence, R.I., for performances laboration with Brookline Puppet Theater. at armories in Providence and East Greenwich on Rhode Island Civic Chorale and Orchestra, Cranston, July 1 and November 18 that commemorate the R.I., for a partnership with the choral music pro- centenary of the end of World War I. gram at Beacon Charter School in Woonsocket, CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists), Hartford, R.I., that includes a seminar, conductor clinic, and Ct., for performances in Connecticut and subsidized concert tickets to low-income students. Massachusetts on November 3, 4, and 11, of Craig Voce, Inc., Mystic, Ct., to defray costs of bringing a Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard. well-known choral composer to the Hartford area Da Camera Singers, Amherst, Mass., to support a for either a workshop or an “open rehearsal,” fol- commission project for young composers that in- lowed by performance of his/her works. cludes chorus workshopping of selected short compo- Zamir Chorale of Boston, Newton, Mass., for a new sitions, collaboration with established local compos- commission by Jonathan Leshnoff: Hegyon Libi, as ers, and a public performance in April/May 2019. part of the chorale’s 50th anniversary concert, hon- Hampshire Young People’s Chorus, Amherst, Mass., oring Zamir’s founder Joshua Jacobson, on June 4. to support commissioning of three works by local Choral Highlights of position Mass (in October, in Hartford—paired with the Brahms Requiem—and in May, in Keene the 2018–2019 Season N.H.), and excerpts of Mass in November by the he New England choral community is as vig- Heritage Chorale, as well as four performances of Torous as ever, and many great performances Chichester Psalms. are scheduled throughout the coming year. Listed Large-scale choral performances this season in- in this newsletter are just a few highlights for the clude Dvorak’s Stabat Mater (Boston Symphony season that starts in September 2018. Currently, Orchestra), Anotonio Estévez’s Cantata Criolla about 450 performances are listed on the Choral (Boston Symphony Orchestra), Mendelssohn’s Arts New England events calendar through June Symphony No. 2, “Lobgesang” (Greenwich 2019; that number will probably double by the end Choral Society, Hartford Symphony), and of the year. For complete, up-to-date listings, see Rachmaninoff’s The Bells (Commonwealth the online calendar at Chorale, Portland Symphony), as well as J.S. www.choralarts-newengland.org/Calendar Bach’s B Minor Mass (Back Bay Chorale), Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 (Boston Symphony The season includes several particularly note- Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra), worthy events. In November, CONCORA will and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Claflin Hll perform Considering Matthew Shepard, Craig Symphony, Wellesley Symphony, Pioneer Valley Hella Johnson’s moving response to the brutal Symphony, Mendelssohn Choir of Connecticut, murder of a University of Wyoming student due Chorus of Westerly). to his sexual orientation (later in November, the Kearsage Chorale will perform the final move- Requiems remain popular, with the regular per- ment of the work). In May, Andover Choral formances of Requiems by Mozart (6), Fauré (4), Society will perform (possibly premiere) a major Brahms (3), Verdi (2), and Duruflé (1), but there work by Florence Price (1887-1953), who was are also Requiems by Herbert Howell (Boston the first African-American woman to have a Cecilia) and Bob Chilcott (Salisbury Singers), composition played by a major orchestra.

Load more