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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
GMChorale Presents The Creation, a Rarely Performed Choral Masterpiece, Sunday May 1, 2022 at 4:00pm
 
GMChorale welcomes audiences for the rare opportunity to hear F.J. Haydn's enchanting oratorio, The Creation.
 
MIDDLETOWN, CONN. (April 7, 2022) — On Sunday, May 1, 2022, GMChorale’s Artistic Director, Joseph D’Eugenio will conduct GMChorale, Alchemy, Orchestra New England, Elm City Girls’ Choir, and three world renowned Grammy award winning concert artists: Mark Womack, Sherezade Panthaki, and Dann Coakwell, in a rare performance of F.J. Haydn's late classical masterpiece The Creation in Middletown, Connecticut with over 140 voices and 40 instrumentalists.

Rarely performed choral masterwork, The Creation, has enchanted audiences for generations since its premier in Vienna in 1798. Inspired from the oratorio tradition of Handel, The Creation celebrates the creation of the world as described in the Book of Genesis, the Biblical Book of Psalms, and in John Milton's Paradise Lost. Audiences will be transformed by the brilliant tone-painting and monumental choruses of the work as they hear light emerge from darkness, the foaming billows of the seas, and Adam and Eve, the graceful consort and the spouse adored before the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

This concert is a true Connecticut collaboration, where four ensembles and three soloists, located throughout Connecticut unite to enhance the state's cultural richness. Don't miss this chance to support your local artists and to support live classical music in Central Connecticut! This concert will be a monumental production not to be missed.

For more information on the oratorio and the performance on May 1, audiences are encouraged to go to our website at www.gmchorale.org.


The program begins at 4:00pm at the Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, 200 La Rosa Lane, in Middletown, CT. There is ample parking, and the site is fully accessible. For the comfort and safety of all, the performers will be masked and vaccinated.  Audiences 12 years of age and older are required to be masked and vaccinated as well. More information can be found at our website at www.gmchorale.org/covid
 
Tickets are on sale now at www.gmchorale.org/events. Discounts are available for seniors, students, and groups of 10 or more.
 
EVENT DETAILS
 
What: The Creation, an oratorio by F.J. Haydn.
 
Who: GMChorale, Alchemy, Orchestra New England, Elm City Girls' Choir, Soloists: Mark Womack, Sherezade Panthaki, and Dann Coakwell, Conducted by GMChorale Artistic Director Joseph D’Eugenio.
 
When: Sunday, May 1, 2022, 4:00pm.
 
Where: Middletown High School's Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center, 200 La Rosa Lane, Middletown, CT. The site is fully accessible. There is ample free, off-street parking in the school lot.
 
Tickets: $25 -$65, on sale now at www.gmchorale.org/events or at the door one hour prior the concert.

 
GMChorale Media Contact
Robert O'Brien, Managing Director
robert.obrien@gmchorale.org
GMChorale, P.O. Box 527, Middletown, CT 06457

Website: www.gmchorale.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gmchorale    @gmchorale
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gmchorale/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gmchorale/

 
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Photos: Below.
 
About the GMChorale – The GMChorale has become one of New England’s finest and most engaging choruses since its founding in 1977 as The Greater Middletown Chorale. Under the artistic leadership of Joseph D’Eugenio since 1998, the GMChorale is celebrated for its innovative symphonic choral presentations, and often performs with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and other ensembles. The 90-voice Chorale performs a wide range of choral repertoire, from beloved masterworks to newly commissioned pieces. The GMChorale crowned its two European concert tours as the only choir providing music for the Sunday noon mass at Venice’s extraordinary Basilica San Marco.
 
Under Maestro D’Eugenio’s leadership, the GMChorale has commissioned and premiered new choral works by leading composers including Gwyneth Walker, Eugenie Rocherolle, Peter Niedmann, Colin Britt, Ellen Gilson Voth, Lee McQuillan, and Henry Mollicone. In 2011, the GMChorale commissioned Connecticut Grammy-nominated composer Sarah Meneely-Kyder to create Letter from Italy, 1944 with the libretto by her sister, poet Nancy Meneely. In 2013, the GMChorale premiered the new oratorio to great acclaim in Middletown, Connecticut. The Chorale commissioned Karyl Evans to create a documentary of the oratorio’s historic background and creative process that was narrated by Meryl Streep. The stunning result, Letter from Italy, 1944: a New American Oratorio, earned an Emmy for its director in 2016. In May 2017, the GMChorale collaborated with The Hartford Chorale to perform Letter from Italy, 1944 with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford. Joseph D’Eugenio directed the semi-staged production, its professional soloists, the 200 singers of the combined Chorales, and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in a memorable performance.
 
As the GMChorale enters its fifth decade, the organization is broadening its mission and the scope of its offerings to bring the power and beauty of choral music to people and communities across Connecticut. Beginning this season and going forward, many of the GMChorale’s programs are focused around “Singing for a Lifetime,” an idea that embraces everyone already involved with the Chorale, as well as those who are yet to be. The singers of the Chorale and the professional musicians who form the Alchemy and Harmonia chamber ensemble serve as ambassadors for our organization as we expand the Chorale’s overall mission by engaging singers and listeners of all ages and abilities through community workshops, collaborations, and concerts throughout Connecticut and beyond.
 
About the GMChorale’s Artistic Director Joseph D’Eugenio

Recognized as one of Southern New England’s most engaging musicians, Joseph D’Eugenio has been bringing music to life across the region for nearly three decades. As a conductor, artistic director, music director, educator, pianist, organist, and vocal and conducting coach, D’Eugenio combines imaginative programming, skilled conducting, and deeply-informed musical versatility when producing captivating performances of choral, chamber, keyboard, and orchestral music.

D’Eugenio’s passion for preparing and presenting the great choral masterworks (including the requiems of Mozart, Brahms, Duruflé, and Fauré; masses of Haydn, Mozart, and Bruckner; and oratorios of Carissimi, Handel, Haydn, and Mendelssohn) has led him to conduct productions of major choral-orchestral works each season, most often with the GMChorale, where he has served as Artistic Director since 1998. Under D’Eugenio’s leadership, GMChorale, an auditioned symphonic chorus of 90 voices that performs a wide range of choral music from several centuries, has become known as one of New England’s finest choruses, awarded and celebrated for its creative choral presentations and dynamic collaborations, including those with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra (with maestro D’Eugenio conducting).  The GMChorale and Alchemy (the vocal chamber ensemble of GMChorale) have performed on noted concert series, and conventions of the Connecticut chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. D’Eugenio conducted GMChorale’s international concert tours in Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, Rome, Florence and Venice, where the GMChorale performed at historic St. Mark’s Basilica.

D’Eugenio takes a special interest in creating meaningful collaborations with other ensembles and performers to produce events that engage an entire community. In 2010, GMChorale, Elm City Girls’ Choir, and the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra Chorus presented a semi-staged theatrical performance of Mendelssohn’s grand oratorio Elijah.  Community events leading up to the performance included a series of lectures and conversations that explored how the prophet Elijah could be understood within Islamic, Christian, and Jewish traditions. More recently, D’Eugenio produced a project on a scale rarely undertaken by a community chorus: GMChorale’s commissioning of an oratorio, Letter from Italy,1944, composed by Grammy-nominated composer, Sarah Meneely-Kyder, and poet, Nancy Fitz-Hugh Meneely, for which he also wrote the book, conducted the semi-staged multimedia 2013 premiere in Middletown, and oversaw the production of two related videos. D’Eugenio collaborated with filmmaker, Karyl Evans, to produce the documentary video Letter from Italy, 1944: A New American Oratorio, narrated by Meryl Streep, which earned Ms. Evans an Emmy-award for Outstanding Director in 2016, and was broadcast on CPTV. In 2017, D’Eugenio conducted the oratorio’s second performance and Hartford premiere at the Bushnell Theater with the full vocal forces of GMChorale, Hartford Chorale, vocal soloists and cast, and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. 

D’Eugenio has championed and conducted premieres of GMChorale-commissioned works by recognized composers such as Gwyneth Walker, Eugenie Rocherolle, Colin Britt, Ellen Gilson Voth, Lee McQuillan, and Henry Mollicone. Most recently in 2019, D’Eugenio conducted the premiere of New Every Morning, a choral cantata for chorus, soloist, and piano, composed by Peter Niedmann.

In 2009, D’Eugenio was named Conductor of the Year by the Connecticut Chapter of ACDA. In demand as a guest conductor and clinician, D’Eugenio has led various workshops and festivals, and has conducted choral groups in high schools, colleges, and universities across Connecticut, including as visiting instructor at Wesleyan University in Middletown. A collaborative pianist of the first rank, D’Eugenio frequently accompanies professional choral ensembles, All-State festivals, and song recitals with accomplished concert artists. He may be heard on In Delightful Company, a CD of choral music composed by Pulitzer prize finalist, Charles Fussell. D’Eugenio has served as Director of Music and organist at First Congregational Church in Cheshire, Connecticut since 2003, where he directs the church’s vibrant music program and chancel choir. D’Eugenio earned the Bachelor of Music (cum laude) in piano performance from The Hartt School, University of Hartford, and the Master of Music in choral conducting from the University of Connecticut.

The Creation
The GMChorale, led by Artistic Director Joseph D'Eugenio
The GMChorale in concert, led by Artistic Director Joseph D'Eugenio
Alchemy, the vocal chamber ensemble of the GMChorale
Artistic Director Joseph D'Eugenio
GMChorale, led by Artistic Director Joseph D'Eugenio
The GMChorale is partially funded by generous grants from the following: the Community Foundation of Middlesex County; the Middletown Commission On The Arts; Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development, Connecticut Office of the Arts which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and CT Humanities.
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