Three Bs of the Greater Middletown Chorale

Submitted by Deirdre Roberts and Joyce Kirkpatrick

One defining feature of a fine choral group lies in the ensemble’s ability to shift convincingly from the stylistic differences of one composer’s music to that of another. The Greater Middletown Chorale flourishes with varied programming.

Joseph D’Eugenio (pictured), now in his fifteenth year as artistic director of the GMC, has selected an ambitious program containing pieces by Bernstein, Britten, and Brahms for the group’s concert at 7:00 p.m. on May 12^th at the Bethany Covenant Church in Berlin, CT.

With customary enthusiasm, Mr. D’Eugenio offers: “One of the exciting parts about the GMC is that the singers are open to performing established choral repertoire by known composers and premiering new works by contemporary composers. This chorale distinguishes itself by varied programming. In this concert we have large ensemble pieces such as the Chichester Psalms by Bernstein and Nänie by Johannes Brahms, but we also have Rejoice in the Lamb by Britten. This is performed by a chamber group of just sixteen singers, joined by a boy soprano and a harpist. Also, there is a trio comprised of a soprano, cello and piano performing the gorgeous pair of Op. 91 songs by Brahms. This kind of programming is stimulating for the ensemble and audience alike. ”

Concert to Feature Story of a Military Veteran

I stopped in on a rehearsal of the Greater Middletown Chorale (GMC), one of their last before their upcoming concert on November 20th. Matt McCaffery, the Chorale President, explained that the singers are very dedicated to the Chorale, and that it is a much needed creative outlet for many people. In the videos below, McCaffery and Director Joe D'Eugenio share their enthusiasm about their upcoming concert. They talk about how the concert will incorporate elements of poetry and storytelling. The concert will have three excerpts from a special production in the works and coming in 2013 - Letter from Italy, 1944: War's End, which highlights the story of the service and life of a military veteran.

Greater Middletown Chorale presents

I've Got Some Singing To Do!

featuring excerpts from:

Letter From Italy, a special work in progress

Sunday, November 20, 2011 at 4:00 pm.

First Church of Christ, Congregational, 170 Court Street, Middletown, CT

More information from the chorale:

The November 20th concert features New England music by New England composers, with the title piece, “I’ve Got Some Singing To Do” authored and set to music by Gwyneth Walker, a Connecticut native. Robert Frost’s poetry is also featured in the piece “Frostiana: Seven Country Songs.” These are put to music by Connecticut native and friend of the poet, Randall Thompson. The Chorale will also perform several new pieces, including a new commissioned work by Hartt School Graduate Colin Britt. This lineup will be performed at the First Congregational Church of Middletown on Sunday, November 20^th at 4:00PM.

Proud to call the city of Middletown its headquarters, the Chorale is lending its voice to the newly created event on New Year’s Eve, “Middnight on Main,” featuring entertainment, games and more on Main Street. For more information, visit www.middnight.org.

The Greater Middletown Chorale is a private, non-profit organization funded with the support of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism, Middletown Commission on the Arts, Aetna Foundation, Bissell Foundation, Chevron Humankind Grants, Middlesex County Community Foundation and Pfizer Foundation.

Seventy singers strong, the Chorale is an auditioned, mixed-voice chorus, focused on developing a talented group of singers and committed to excellence in performing choral masterworks and other outstanding music for all generations of listeners. The Chorale is always seeking talented new singers of all voice parts throughout the year. Those interested should send an email via the web site, www.gmchorale.org, where there is always ticket and concert information too. The Chorale’s Facebook page is at http://www.facebook.com/greatermiddletownchorale

Tickets are available below or through the GMC website by pressing the yellow "Get Tickets" button

I've Got Some Singing To Do! Sunday, November 20, 2011 at 4:00 pm. First Church of Christ, Congregational; Middletown, CT

online

General Admission: $30 each
Senior Admission: $25 each
Student Admission: (Age 10 to College): $15 each
Children 10 and Under: Free

The funds that the Chorale raises from ticket sales only cover about one third of their operating expenses for making the concert a reality!

Theater & Music Around Town (11/20-22)

Friday (today) November 20:
A reminder: The Oddfellows Playhouse Teen Repertory Company presentation of "Around the World in 80 Days" has 2 performances this weekend - tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. To find out ticket availability, call 860-347-6143.

The Buttonwood Tree presents Frank Critelli and Shandy Lawson tonight at 8 p.m. Both are fine writers and performers so call 860-347-4957 for reservations.

Toussaint the Liberator & Buru Style brings their reggae/funk/soul to Boney's Music Lounge and the "riddim" is definitely "gonna get you." Call 860-346-6000 for the time of the first set.

Saturday November 21:
At 8 p.m. in Crowell Concert Hall, the Wesleyan University Orchestra, Angel Gil-Ordonez, music director, invites you to spend "An Evening in Spain." Among the pieces of music that will transport to the Iberian Peninsula will be de Falla's "Amor Brujo" and "Nights in the Gardens of Spain", Turina's "Fantastic Dances", and Guridi's "Ten Basque Melodies." This sounds like a lovely evening of music and it's free to all who want to take the journey.

There is a double bill of exciting creative music at 8 p.m. in The Buttonwood Tree. The New Haven Improvisers Collective (NHIC) opens the evening with a set of music that draws from the many traditions of jazz and improvisational music. The septet, led by Bob Gorry (guitar) and featuring Wesleyan graduate Carl Testa (bass, bass clarinet), has a new CD, "Inflection", featuring all original works, with music that moves in many directions.
After a short break, multi-instrumentalist and sound manipulator Phil Bullaro celebrates the release of his new CD, "Golden Alien", with an inspired set of "electro-acoustic" music. Joining him will be guitarist (and owner of Middletown's Coffeehouse Recording Studio) Michael Arafeh. Call 860-347-4957 for more information or go onlie to www.buttonwood.org.

The Greater Middletown Chorale, Joseph D'Eugenio, music director, have a new program titled "Come, Let Us Sound With Melody!" and you can hear it twice this weekend (not in Middletown, however...sigh.) The program, which features new works by Connecticut-based composers Sarah Meneely-Kyder and Peter Neidmann as well as pieces by Gyneth Walker and a preview of the Chorale's Spring 2010 concert, Mendelssohn's "Messiah." Also on the program is David Conte's "Elegy For Matthew", written for the Matthew Shepard and performed by the GMC on the 10th anniversary of his death. In conjunction with the "Elegy..", members of the Oddfellows Teen Repertory Company will present monologues from Moises Kaufman's "The Laramie Project." Saturday, the GMC performs at 7 p.m. in Newington at the Church of Christ, Congregational, 1075 Main Street, while Sunday the program will be heard at 4 p.m. in the Zion Lutheran Church, 183 William Street in Portland. For ticket information, call 860-526-8891 or go to www.gmchorale.org.

Sunday November 22:
The Green Street Arts Center "Sunday Salon" series features Wesleyan Professor Indira Karamchetti for a 2 p.m. program titled "Reading the Nobel Prize Winners." The GSAC describes the event thusly: "Since 1901, Nobel prizes have become the most prestigious international recognition of achievement. They are earned by a broadly international register of scientists, activists, and authors. This salon will selected readings from the works of recent Nobel Laureates together with a discussion of the criteria for establishing Nobel's ideal of the "greatest benefit [to] mankind," as it relates to literature." Professor Karamchetti is a fine reader and will lead the discussion. For ticket information, call 860-685-7871.

The Wesleyan Guitarists' Showcase takes place at 4 p.m. in the World Music Hall, Wyllys Avenue. The event, free and open to the public, features members of the Wesleyan Guitar Ensemble and special guests.

The Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service is being held this year in the lobby of Middlesex Memorial Hospital at 7 p.m. Prayers, music and sermons from the different religious institutions and beliefs are on the bill - people are requested to bring non-perishable food items to be donated to the St Vincent dePaul Place and the Amazng Grace Food Pantry.

Busy Weekend (Part 2)

Saturday April 18 and Sunday April 19 offers residents and visitors several choices of musical entertainment.

The Annual Elizabeth Verveer Tishler Piano Competition Recital takes place Saturday at 2 p.m. in The Russell House, 350 High Street. Betty Tishler is a true patron of the arts, especially classical keyboard. This year's recital features finalists Andrew Chung (class of 2011), Nicholas Luby ('11) and Julie Zhao ('10.) A reception follows the concert, all of which is free and open to the public.

Ms. Tishler's husband, Professor Max Tishler (1906-1989), taught at Wesleyan after a distinguished career at Merck & Company (he led research teams whose work was of enormous importance for human health as well as a microbiological group that developed fermentation processes for actinomycin D, streptomycin, and penicillin. In addition, his invention of the animal-health drug sulfaquinoxaline made possible a great expansion of the poultry industry and created overnight a new field for research--an event of great magnitude for agriculture - read more about his many accomplishments by clicking here.)

The First United Methodist Church, 24 Old Church Street, presents its Annual Spring Organ Concert Saturday at 7 p.m. Scheduled to perform is Joshua Brown. For more information, call 346-3689.

The Buttonwood Tree welcomes The Erasmus Quintet, an offshoot of the New Haven Improvisers Collective, for a 7:30 p.m. show on Saturday. Composed of guitarists Jeff Cedrone and Bob Gorry, saxophonist Paul McGuire, percussionist Steve Zieminski, and Adam Matlack (accordion, clarinet), the EQ creates music that blends many elements, including jazz, classical, "free" improvisation and sonic explorations, into an aural "mash" that is challenging and rewarding. To hear an excerpt of the ensemble's music, click here. To find out more about the NHIC and its many members, go to www.nhic-music.org/.



Sunday morning at 11 a.m., "folk crooner" Dave Downs plays his monthly gig at Brew Bakers, 169 Main Street. Downs plays popular "standards", folk music, and his own fine compositions. Imagine the Mills Brothers meeting Woody Guthrie and Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys) - that's part of what Downs' music reminds me of.

The Greater Middletown Chorale, Joseph D'Eugenio, music director and conductor, joins forces with the Wesleyan University Concert Choir for a 4 p.m. show Sunday in Crowell Hall. The highlight of the program will be Schubert's "Mass in G-Major" featuring both ensembles, selected soloists and a 22-member string orchestra. Also, there will be music by Brahms, Mozart and Telemann. For ticket information, call the University Box Office at 685-3355 or go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Chorale Performance and Bell Tower Dedication Thursday

From Pam Accola:

On April 19th at 4 PM The Greater Middletown Chorale and The Wesleyan University Concert Choir will perform at the Crowell Concert Hall on the Wesleyan Campus in Middletown. There will be individual performances from each choir, including works of Brahms and Mozart, then the combined choirs will perform Schubert's Mass in G with a string orchestra. Log on to www.wesleyan.edu/boxoffice for tickets: $25 for General Admission, $20 for seniors and non-Wesleyan students, and free to all Wesleyan Students.

Also on April 19th the Church of the Holy Trinity, 381 Main St., Middletown, will celebrate the rededication of the rewly renovated bell tower, built in 1874. There will be a tower bell recital at 2 PM , followed by the Classic Brass Band in concert at 3 PM. There will be a Gala reception at 4:30 PM. Admission is donation of any amount to the Holy Trinity Capital Campaign. Call 860-347-2591 for more info.

Voices Raised on High

The Greater Middletown Chorale, Joseph D'Eugenio, musical director, continues to grow in stature as one of the state's finest vocal ensembles. They work very hard to create programs that are highly musical, informative,and downright entertaining.

This Saturday (February 21), the GMC presents "Harmony and Warmth - A Winter Choral Festival" at 7 p.m. in the beautiful new Cross Street A.M.E. Zion Church, 440 West Street. The culmination of a day-long choral workshop during which members of area choral groups will work alongside the GMC, the concert features Antonio Vivaldi's "Gloria" with piano accompaniment by Allan Conway and solos by Patricia Barbano, Jeanne Caillouette and Margaret Tyler. A.M.E. Zion choir director Paul Cameron will lead the assembled voices in several gospel songs and the finale of the concert will be a performance of Paul Halley's gospel-flavored "The Rain is Over and Gone" featuring the stunning voice of Tiffany Jackson.

Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased at the door the night of the concert. For more information about the concert, call 860-285-8208.

They're Singing This Song for You

Yes, it's that time of year again - Valentine's Day. Even if you don't believe that one needs a special day where you say "I Love You!" to your spouse, partner, parent, child, classmates, mistress, co-workers, etc, (something you can do the other 364 days of the year), you have to admit it's good for certain businesses.

The Greater Middletown Chorale has come up with a great (and quite clever) idea for the romantics in the area. For $50, a trio or quartet of singers from the GMC will come to your house or workplace with a program they call "A Song, A Card, A Red Rose." Not just any song, but a love song from the Great American songbook. Not just any card, but one made especially for each recipient. As for the rose...well, "a rose is a rose is a rose" but, combined with the other elements, it completes a very handsome and harmonious package.

For more information, call 860-285-8208 or 860-539-9830.