This Sunday: CONCORA presents Bach's "Great Passion"

CONCORA continues the Masterworks Season on March 25 with the greatest choral masterwork of them all: Bach's profoundly beautiful Saint Matthew Passion, the music that Bach's friends and family knew as the "Great Passion" - that is, the best of all his work. Here is information on tickets and parking, information about our featured vocal soloists, and more.

We also share details about the memorial service for Christine Laird, planned for April 7.

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J S BACH
Saint Matthew Passion
Sunday, March 25, 2018, 4:00PM

Immanuel Congregational Church
10 Woodland Street – Hartford CT
WANT MORE INFO? CLICK HERE
READY TO BUY TICKETS? CLICK HERE

Reserve tickets soon for this special event. Advance orders are recommended as there is often a line of ticket buyers at the door for CONCORA's annual Bach concert.

You may order tickets 24/7 at CONCORA's secure ticket site, or contact the CONCORA office at contact@concora.org or 860-293-0567. Tickets will also be available at the door.

Advance orders are recommended for preferred seating. Single tickets are $15-$65. Group rates are available for general admission adult and senior tickets purchased in advance in groups of 8 or more.

Curious about the photo shown in this illustration? Scroll to the bottom of this message to learn more.

Reserve tIckets for Sunday's Bach concert

Where to park: Free, off-street parking is available on the day of the concert in the Mark Twain House parking lot (enter at 385 Farmington Ave) and the Woodland Medical Center (19 Woodland Street). Click on the image to open Google maps for 10 Woodland Street, Hartford.

Note: Do not park at the Town & County Club next to the church or at Immanuel House (15 Woodland Street).

Meet the featured vocal soloists for Sunday's concert

Jack Anthony Pott is a highly respected soloist, voice teacher, clinician, and conductor throughout the region. He has been a featured tenor soloist with many ensembles in Connecticut, including the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, CONCORA, Voce, Inc., Hartford Chorale, Greater Middletown Chorale, The Concert Choir of Northeast Connecticut, Con Brio, Mystic River Chorale, and Cappella Cantorum.

Mr. Pott has soloed in numerous performances of Handel’s Messiah, as well as Bach’s Mass in B Minor, St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, Magnificat, various Cantatas, and as the Evangelist in the Christmas Oratorio. He has performed a variety of operatic roles with Connecticut Concert Opera, CONCORA, UConn Opera, and the Asylum Hill Music Series in Hartford. In April, 2013, he sang the role of Dr. John K. Meneely in the world premiere of the dramatic oratorio, “Letter from Italy, 1944”, and was featured in a 2015 Emmy-winning documentary of the same. He reprised that role in May 2017 with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at The Bushnell. Additionally, he is featured on a recording of the music of Morten Lauridsen by the Hartford-based professional choir, Voce, for which he serves as Principal Tenor. Equally comfortable on the other side of the podium, he has conducted the CMEA Northern Region HS Choir, as well as other high school choral festivals throughout Connecticut. He is currently the Director of Music & Arts at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford, the Assistant Music Director for the Hartford Chorale (a 150-voice symphonic choir), and is a member of the music faculty at Central Connecticut State University. Previously, he served as music director for the Simsbury Summer Theater, and taught for The Center for Creative Youth at Wesleyan University (CCY), and the Hartt Community Division at the University of Hartford, where his was the founding director of the Hartt Community Division High School Chamber Choir. Prior to his appointment at the church, he served there as a soloist (1995-2016) and assistant to the Minister of Music and Arts (2001-2016). He holds a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance from The University of Michigan, and also did graduate studies in choral conducting and voice performance at the University of Connecticut. Mr. Pott resides in South Windsor, CT, with his wife and two children.

Baritone JERMAINE WOODARD Jr loves a diversified singing career in Opera, Musical Theatre, Jazz, R&B, Gospel, Pop, Sacred, and Inspirational Classical / Contemporary music. His choral affiliations include the artistically-acclaimed CONCORA, Wallingford Chorale, Novi Cantori, New Haven Chorale, and formerly Cathedral of Saint Joseph’s Schola Cantorum. In addition, he will be featured as Baritone section-leader with Asylum Hill Congregational Church and Hartford Chorale in an electrifying new season of music making. Extracurriculars include solo endeavors

across the New England and Tri-State border, music directing University of Saint Joseph’s BlueJay’s In Spirit (Voices of Praise) ensemble and cantoring at Church of the Holy Spirit (Newington), Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center (West Hartford/Farmington) and Sacred Heart Church (Bloomfield). For more fun things, this Spring he will be performing Jim Conley in the musical “Parade” by Jason Robert Brown with Broad Brook Opera House Players

PAMELA FRIGO JOHNSON is originally from Wisconsin where her first singing experience was as a member of her family's nine-voice choir singing sacred classical music for Catholic Masses. Pam received her Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Lawrence University's Conservatory of Music. She has been a featured soloist with the Hartford Symphony, the Manchester Symphony and Chorus, the Farmington Valley

Symphony, the Middletown Chorale and the Battell Orchestra. She sings alto in the professional quartet of Mishkan Israel in Hamden and is a member of Voce. Pam is the Business Manager, Cantor, Section Leader, Associate Liturgy Director and Director of the Treble Clef Choir at St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church in Hartford.

STEPHAN P. BARNICLE, a Worcester native, taught choruses, orchestra and music technology in Connecticut High Schools from 1970 to 2004 when he retired and moved to Fayetteville, NC where he served as Director of Music Ministry at St. Patrick Catholic Church and the Artistic Director of the CANTATE Chamber Choir and the St. Patrick Music for Charity concert series for nine years. Raised as a chorister in the St. Paul’s Cathedral Boys’ Choir, and a charter member of CONCORA, he has held a

variety of positions as a church musician for more than 60 years. Mr. Barnicle has appeared as guest soloist and conductor throughout the U.S. and in Europe. He was the Music Director of the Visit Canada International Polychoral Festival in Montreal and Quebec for a decade. He is a published author, poet, arranger and award winning composer whose works are published by Walton, Plymouth and Alliance publications, and has served as choral consultant for Glencoe/Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Educational Publishing. He was named Connecticut Music Educator of the Year for 1995; he was awarded the University of Connecticut’s “Excellence in High School Teaching” award; and was honored on national television on the “Disney Channel and McDonald’s presents the American Teacher Awards.” During the summer of 2013 Steve returned to Worcester and accepted the position of Director of Music Ministry at the First Congregational Church of Paxton, and has joined the faculty of the Joy of Music Program as a Recorder and Voice teacher.

A Passageway to the transcendent ?

Listening to Bach's Saint Matthew Passion can be a transcendent experience; this is true whether the listener is a Bach expert or a first-time listener; a person of faith or person of no faith; a musician or non-musician.

In seeking an image to convey this journey to transcendence, we chose this photo, taken on a bright summer day at the Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault in Anjou, France.

As one wanders in and among the Abbey's cloisters, refectory, chapter house, and church, one continually moves between deep, often cold shadow and brilliant midday sunlight, an experience that dazzles the eyes and senses. This photo, taken from deep within a dark stone chamber, suggests the possibility that just out of our sight, there is a place of infinite light ... perhaps transcendence?

In Memoriam Christine Laird

CONCORA will dedicate its April 29 performance of the Mozart Requiem to the memory of Christine Laird, CONCORA's beloved singer, staff member, and friend , who passed away on March 16, 2018. (Details about this event shown below.)

Read Artistic Director Chris Shepard's lovely tribute to Christine's life and artistry HERE.

A memorial service to celebrate the life of Christine Laird will be held on Saturday, April 7, at 11:00am. at South Church, 90 Main Street, New Britain, CT, where Christine served as soprano section leader and soloist for more than twenty yeas, and where she was Managing Director of the Music Series at South Church, one of the most distinguished church music series in the region.

Join CONCORA for these Upcoming Concerts and Events

Mozart
Requiem
Sunday, April 29, 2018, 4:00PM
St James's Episcopal Church
West Hartford, CT

Click here for event and ticket information at CONCORA's website.

You're in Luck!
CONCORA's Gala Fundraiser
Friday, April 13, 2018, 6:00-9:00PM
The Pond House in West Hartford, CT

Tickets are on sale now! Seating is limited, so don't wait to reserve your seats. More info here.

Try Your Luck Now!
Play the CONCORA Raffle

Are you feeling lucky? Then get some tickets for CONCORA's "You're in Luck!" fundraising raffle! First prize is a $1,000 VISA gift card, 2nd prize is a $500 VISA gift card, and 3rd prize is a pair of subscriptions (preferred

seating) to CONCORA's 2018-2019 season. The drawing takes place on Friday, April 13th at the gala at the Pond House Cafe. Raffle tickets are just $5 and will be available at CONCORA's concert this Sunday, March 25, and will also be sold at the gala on April 13. You may contact the CONCORA office to order tickets (contact@concora.org or 860-293-0567) . You can't win if you don't play! (Winner need not be present to win.)

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CONCORA’s season is made possible by the generosity of the American Savings Foundation, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, the J. Walton Bissell Foundation, the Andrew J. Sloper Music Fund, the Saunders Foundation, The Edward C. & Ann T. Roberts Foundation, the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, Connecticut DECD Office of the Arts, The William and Alice Mortensen Foundation, the City of New Britain Commission on the Arts, and the Robert C. Vance Foundation, as well as many other foundations and individuals.