An Evening of Music and Cheer

This year’s free Summer Choral Festival concert was a special one. After a moving performance of Brahms’ Ein deutches Requiem, many concertgoers and Summer Choral Festival singers stayed for our benefit reception. Held in the Festival’s rehearsal space at the Church of the Incarnation, attendees enjoyed a night full of great food and good conversation.

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Enjoying St. George's Choral Society's 2016 Benefit. Photo by Pat Rasile.

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Karen Harkenrider, right, staffs the wine pull. Photo by Pat Rasile.

In addition to a delicious array of donated homemade desserts and hors d’oeuvres, there was also a wine bar (and our friendly bartender, board member Paul Secor!). Attendees took advantage of the many different opportunities to support our Choral Society. The wine pull was a huge success; for $20, participants blindly picked a wrapped bottle of wine that worth at least that much. The silent auction featured great items, including homemade baked goods and a dinner with Artistic Director Matthew Lewis. There were St. George's Choral Society tote bags for sale, as well as a 50/50 raffle.

Not only did the benefit raise more than $4,000 for the choir, but it allowed everyone to mingle and meet new supporters and friends of St. George’s. The relaxed atmosphere was welcomed by all, and everyone seemed to have a wonderful evening. Thanks to everyone who made the benefit such a huge success! 

Missed the benefit? We welcome your contributions as we move into our 200th anniversary season.

Learning the Brahms Requiem in Two Weeks: Report from the Summer Choral Festival

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DESIGN BY ANDREW SPINA © 2015

The best treat after a hard day’s work? Ice cream? Binge tv watching? Relaxing in a bath with a glass of wine? No, no, and no: Challenging ourselves with German words set to the Romantic music of Johannes Brahms. This year, the Summer Choral Festival hosted by St. George’s Choral Society will present Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem on June 18 after only two weeks of rehearsals.

Committed to this challenge, the participants of the choral festival came to the first two rehearsals this past week with their pipes in working order and phenomenal focus (there was only one “where are we?”). The chorus’ high level of engagement has allowed Artistic Director Matthew Lewis to concentrate on dynamics, phrasing, and diction, rather than on note learning.

For example, in the opening and closing movements (“Selig sind”), we used dynamics to convey the sense of peace imparted to the blessed mourners and blessed dead. Honing our German pronunciation (forte consonants, piano vowels!) brought out the hair-raising reminder of mortality found in “Denn alles Fleisch.” The joyous fugues sprinkled throughout the piece (“Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand,” “Herr du bist wurdig,” to name a few) elevated the phrasing and highlighted the gorgeous blend of each vocal section as the theme swept through the different parts.

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Rehearsing the Brahms Requiem for the JUNE 18, 2016 Summer Choral Festival concert. Photo: Blessing Agunwamba.

By the end of the second rehearsal, we have now gone through the entire piece in depth. Exploring such a beautiful composition with a committed group of individuals is an amazing summer treat. The melodious musicality that Dr. Lewis achieved from the group during this first read augurs an excellent concert. 

If you are not singing in the festival, come be uplifted and comforted on June 18 at 7pm at the Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue and 35th Street. The concert is free and will be followed by a choir benefit ($25 to attend the benefit).

Hear the Brahms Requiem and Support the Choir

Please join us on June 18 at 7PM for our end-of-season concert and a benefit to kick-off our 200th Anniversary season.

Design by andrew spina © 2015

Our concert is free, and features Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem. 

Our benefit, immediately following the concert, is $25 and will feature:

Drinks and desserts
Auctions for homemade goodies (custom cupcakes, cases, and more!)
Raffles for gift baskets
A wine pull with mystery bottles of wine worth $20 and more

Space for the benefit is limited to 70, so register today! 

Register and pay online:

Both the concert and benefit will be held at Church of the Incarnation at the corner of Madison and 35th Street.

Summer Choral Festival Featured on the Vocal Area Network

DESIGN BY ANDREW SPINA © 2015

Beginning Tuesday, June 7, St. George's Choral Society will host a two-week choral intensive, with two rehearsals a week, culminating in a free public performance on June 18 at 7 PM of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem. This performance will feature Brahms's arrangement of the work for chorus and piano, four hands. Both the choral intensive and public performance will take place at The Church of the Incarnation on Madison Avenue and 35th Street, New York City.

I spoke with Dr. Matthew Lewis, Artistic Director, about his founding of the Summer Choral Festival when summer sings abound.

Laura Daly: What did you think was lacking in the usual summer sings that prompted you to start St. George’s Choral Society Summer Festival?

Michael Lewis: My goal is to allow the singers more time to become more comfortable and confident with the music. Summer sings are great fun, but it always seemed to me that singers would enjoy themselves more if we had more time to rehearse. So, the Summer Festival really allows for that. At the same time, there is a fun aspect to it. It’s summer time; we are all here to enjoy ourselves through music, and camaraderie. So, there is a certain comfortable aspect to it.

>>Read on at Van.org

Hear Us Perform "Sacré et Profane - Choral Music from Paris" on April 17

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Artistic Director Matthew Lewis leading the choir at its April 13, 2016 rehearsal for "Sacré et Profane - Choral Music from Paris."

This Sunday, April 17, at 3 pm, St. George's Choral Society will perform "Sacré et Profane - Choral Music from Paris" at the Church of the Incarnation, 209 Madison Avenue at 35th Street.

This program features works of French song composers, performed a capella and with organ accompaniment. 

Claude Le Jeune's (c1528-1600) rhythmically vivacious Revecy venir du Printemps is a song with refrain, each verse adding voices, building momentum as the song progresses. Claude Janequin (c1485-1558) also composed Parisian chansons. Very creative and modern, even for listeners today, Le chant des Oiseaux has the singers mimic bird calls. Des pas dans l'allée is a somber setting by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) of a poem by Maurice Boukay. Saint-Saëns was an extremely popular composer, known for The Carnival of the Animals and many other works.

Among his students was Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), known primarily as a song composer. The Pavane is undoubtedly his most famous piece, originally written for piano, later scored for orchestra with optional chorus. Another composer famous for his songs is Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). The Chansons Françaises are clever, virtuoso settings of French folk songs for unaccompanied voices. The final work on the program is Jean Langlais' Messe solennelle. Blind from birth, Langlais (1907-1991) mostly wrote sacred music. His Messe solennelle, for organ and chorus, is a colorful and adventurous work, featuring advanced harmonic language combined with chant-like choral writing. It is often in the form of a dialogue between the organ and chorus.

We hope you will share this music with us on Sunday. Tickets ($30) are available online and at the door.
 

Starting this Week! Lincoln Center Performances with Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance

On March 17, 18, 30, and April 2, our nearly 40-member mixed professional and amateur choir will accompany Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance for the second year in a row, singing Poulenc’s “Gloria” during performances of the dance “Beloved Renegade” to orchestral accompaniment by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.

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Outside the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center after a 2015 performance with Paul Taylor's American Modern Dance. Photo: Johanna Goldberg

We hope to see you at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater for what will be moving evenings of dance and music.

Tickets for our four performances with Paul Taylor's American Dance may be purchased through the David H. Koch Theater.  

Make Our Online Auction a Success

Membership dues and ticket sales cover only a portion of our costs for soloists, instrumentalists, administrative fees and a robust and educational rehearsal schedule that includes professional section leaders.

We have been using Charity Buzz for the last two years as a source of significant income.

The success of our Charity Buzz Auctions is based on two factors:      

·      The generous donations from our members and friends

·      The far-reaching Charity Buzz subscriber base (many winning bids have come from those outside of the New York area)

We will conduct our next Charity Buzz auction in early April.

Please consider making a donation or asking a friend or family member to do so.

Charity Buzz’s minimum value per item is now $1,000. Our most successful donations in the past have been experiences with both tangible and intangible value to meet this minimum (tour of the UN, private tour of the Met, tickets/back stage tour of a Broadway show).

Please email Laura Daly with your donation(s) or ideas you may have for donated experiences by March 21, with the following information in the email:

·      Item/Description

·      Number of people  (i.e., 4 tickets to a show, tour/lunch for 2)

·      Any timing restrictions (i.e. when available or black out dates)

·      Name/address/phone/email of donor

·      Value of item

·      A jpeg image of the item. (For example, photo of a work of art or a series of images of an apartment offered for a weekend getaway.)

Many thanks to all of you for helping us with this effort!

Apply for our 2016 Summer Choral Festival

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DESIGN BY ANDREW SPINA © 2015

Though it certainly doesn’t feel like it outside today, summer will be here before you know it. In preparation, we are now accepting applications for our 2016 Summer Choral Festival.

Beginning Tuesday, June 7, St. George's Choral Society will host a two-week choral intensive, with two rehearsals a week, culminating in a performance of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem, featuring Brahms' arrangement of the work for chorus and piano, four hands, on Saturday, June 18 at 7:00 pm.

Participation costs $175.00 for those who apply early and are accepted and pay by May 8 and $225.00 for those who apply and are accepted and pay by June 2. In certain instances, financial aid may be available.

Learn more and apply.

Sing Choral Masterworks from France

Design by Andrew Spina © 2015

Rehearsals for our spring concert, Sacré et Profane - Choral Masterworks from France, will begin January 27 at a new time and location: 7:30–9:40 PM at the Church of the Incarnation, 209 Madison Ave at 35th Street. Our spring concert will be held at the Church of the Incarnation on April 17 at 3 PM.

We want you to join us! We will hold auditions on January 27 and February 3 from 7:00–7:20 PM. Contact Artistic Director Dr. Matthew Lewis at stgeorgeschoralsociety@yahoo.com to schedule a slot on those dates.

We look forward to singing with you! Questions? Visit our Member Guidelines page.

The Consoling Power of Christmas Carols

It had been a long time since the residents at the Hopkins Center for Rehabilitation & Healthcare in downtown Brooklyn attended a concert. So St. George's Choral Society members Laura Daly, Andrew McDonough, Johanna Goldberg, Blessing Agunwamba, and I brought music to them, offering a selection of Christmas songs on December 12.

St. George's Choral Society members singing at Brooklyn's Hopkins Center for Rehabilitation & Healthcare. Photo: Pawel Goralczyk.

We quickly realized that they also need to sing, as they straight away joined their voices with ours. Thus our performance turned out to be a very moving dialog, with our audience opening up their hearts as they requested special carols and sang with full voices.

I visit this nursing home every week, and sometimes—often—I don't know how to speak to my friends there, how to alleviate their suffering and their loneliness. But on that day, music was enough. And when we got to speak with our audience at the end of the concert, conversation flowed easily, because consolation had already happened. I was so moved to see my fellow singers from St. George's Choral Society stay one hour with these friends, introducing themselves in such a gentle way, getting to know their lives, and listening to them. We also visited a friend in her room and celebrated her birthday together. As she is paralyzed she could not come downstairs, but we gave her a little private Christmas concert. Her name? Carol.