Greetings! Here's an update from CONCORA with news about:
The CONCORA Summer Festival - Singer registration is due by May 30!
The Summer Festival Concert is August 5 at 4PM - Save the date! Tickets go on sale June 1 for this program of choral favorites by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, and more.
CONCORA's 2017-2018 season - Tickets go on sale June 1 for CONCORA's exciting Masterworks season. Brahms, Bach, Mozart, and more!
CONCORA's Artistic Director Emeritus Richard Coffey - Rick invites you to a special service at South Church as he concludes his remarkable 45-year tenure there on Sunday, June 4.
A special offer from the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for upcoming concerts featuring the Hartford Chorale, with CONCORA singers in featured solos!
Scroll down for details, links, and more information.
Exploring the Great Choral Masterworks with CONCORA and Chris Shepard July 30 through August 5, 2017
Bethany Covenant Church, Berlin CT
Singers: The Summer Festival opens on Sunday, July 30 and concludes with a public concert on Saturday, August 5, at 4PM. Amateur singers from high-school age through adult are invited to apply. Applications are due by Tuesday, May 30, 2017. Details (including schedule and repertoire) and registration information are available on CONCORA's website: http://www.concora.org/education--outreach.html
Listeners: Tickets for the Summer Festival concert on Sunday August 5 (4PM) go on sale June 1.
Save the Dates!
CONCORA SINGS MASTERWORKS
2017-2018 SEASON
Tickets go on sale June 1, 2017
Brahms – A German Requiem
Sunday, October 15, 2017, 4:00PM
South Church, New Britain CT
Saturday, November 4, 2017, 7:30PM
St John’s Episcopal Church, Stamford CT
Extraordinary Choral Masterworks
With choirs from area high schools Saturday, November 18, 2017, 7:30PM
Hartford-area venue TBA
Masses Ancient and Modern
Sunday, February 11, 2018, 4:00PM
Trinity College Chapel, Hartford CT
Snow Date: Monday, February 12, 2018, 7:30PM
Bach – Saint Matthew Passion
Sunday, March 25, 2018, 4:00PM
Immanuel Congregational Church, Hartford CT
Mozart – Requiem
Sunday, April 29, 2018, 4:00PM
St James’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford CT
News from CONCORA's
Artistic Director Emeritus Richard Coffey
In 1972, Richard Coffey was appointed Minister of Music and Organist at South Congregational Church in New Britain. Just two years later, as an outgrowth of the still-vibrant Music Series at South Church, Rick established the South Church Choral Society, the region's first all-professional choral ensemble. In 1984, after ten years of remarkable growth and artistic development, the ensemble took on a new identity — Connecticut Choral Artists, or CONCORA — and the rest, as they say, is history.
For nearly half a century, Rick has led a distinguished music ministry at South Church, where many CONCORA singers have long served in the Chancel Choir as professional soloist-section leaders and as volunteers. Rick invites you to a special service at South Church as he concludes his remarkable 45-year tenure there on Sunday, June 4. A "Coffey hour" follows the service. Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Sunday, June 4, 2017, marks the end of my tenure as Minister of Music at South Church, New Britain, a forty-five year span of time that often seems just recently to have begun. I write to say that if you are free to attend that day’s service of worship, which begins at 10:30 a.m., it would be a great honor to have you join me in this time of praise to the Creator of all music, with others of the South Church congregation and wider community who can rejoice in what has been and eagerly await what lies ahead.
On that day, David Westfall, who in January stepped down as the South Church Organist, will be present to lend his inestimable talents, permitting the two of us to end together this long, fruitful time of service that he and I have shared and loved.
On that Day of Pentecost, the music includes the organ works “Vision of the Eternal Church” by Olivier Messiaen as the prelude, and the Prelude and Toccata from Maurice Duruflé’s Variations on “Veni Creator Spiritus” as the postlude. At the offering, the Chancel Choir will sing the anthem, “How Can I Sing That Majesty?” The words are by John Mason, and the music, based on “Coe Fen,” is by John Ronald Daniels. The Communion rite is the Gerald Near Service in D Major for the Kyrie, Gloria in Excelsis, Sanctus, and Benedictus. At the sharing of the cup, we offer the “Agnus Dei” from Missa Gaia by Jim Scott and Paul Winter.
Hymns for the day are “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” (Lauda Anima), “Come Down, O Love Divine” (Down Ampney), “Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song” (Bridegroom), and “God of Grace, and God of Glory” (Cwm Rhondda).
Come, if you can, to lend your mind, voice, and heart to a day of praise and prayer.
Fondly and gratefully,
Rick Coffey
South Church is located at 90 Main Street in New Britain. Free parking is available in the municipal garage on Chestnut Street, next to the Police Station, just a few steps away from the church. Accessible parking is available in the small parking lot next to the church. Some free parking is also available on nearby streets. The church's website offers information on parking, childcare, accessibility, and more: http://www.southchurch.org/interested-in-visiting
Here's a special offer from our friends at the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for upcoming concerts that feature the Hartford Chorale and several CONCORA vocal soloists.
Special discount offer from the HSO!
Choral Fantasy and Mystical Songs
Friday, June 9, 2017 through Sunday, June 11, 2017
Belding Theater at The Bushnell, Hartford
Friday & Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 3pm A pre-concert talk begins one hour prior to curtain each day.
Program:
Brahms Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Haydn Te Deum for the Empress Maria Therese
Beethoven Fantasia in C minor for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra, Op. 80, “Choral Fantasy”
Ravel Ma mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Suite)
Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs
Featuring:
Adam Kerry Boyles, conductor
Alexander Moutouzkine, piano
John Hancock, baritone
Hartford Chorale, Richard Coffey, Music Director
Hartford Chorale soloists (CONCORA singers!)
Christine Laird, soprano
Claudia Ayer, soprano
Katie Hart mezzo-soprano
Jack Pott, tenor
Dylan Koerner, tenor
Jermaine Woodard, Jr. baritone
For more information and to order tickets, visit the HSO’s website HERE or call 860-987-5900.
Discount from the HSO for CONCORA friends! Use the promo code CHORAL to receive 20% off tickets for this concert series.
