Middlebury College Community Chorus
past programs...
Our 2007/2008 season:
Sunday, May 4, 2008, 3:00 pm
Songs for Spring:
Music of Life, Remembrance, Reflection and Joy
Our Spring 2008 program featured British composer-conductor John Rutter's Requiem, one of his most sensitive and lyrical works. With texts selected by the composer, this extended work - first performed in 1985 - includes words from the Psalms, as well as English and Latin services of remembrance. The program also includes classical pieces by Franz Joseph Haydn, with spring and summer choruses from his oratorio The Seasons. Contemporary American works include two hauntingly beautiful and newly published songs by Morten Lauridsen and Randall Stroope: Sure on this Shining Night and I Am Not Yours by American poets James Agee and Sara Teasdale. Of special note, we will offer a set of wonderful works by Vermont composer Gwyneth Walker, including White Horses and the rousing chorus Spring!, on the poems of E. E. Cummings.
November 18, 2007. Our Thanksgiving program centers on the theme of "Simple Gifts." This popular Shaker song ('tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free) was originally composed in 1848 by Joseph Brackett while living in Alfred, Maine. The chorus will prepare different arrangements, including settings by American composer Aaron Copland, as well as by contemporary composer-conductors René Clausen and Dale Warland. In the celebratory spirit of Thanksgiving, the program will feature two contrasting settings of "Now Thank We" - one by Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel, and the other by contemporary British composer Bob Chilcott. The program also includes French composer César Franck's powerful setting of Psalm 150 "Praise Ye The Lord" and delightful selections from Franz Joseph Haydn's "The Creation" that depict the earth in all its glory. In addition, the program features settings of American poems including Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" from Randall Thompson's "Frostiana." The program reprises works by Stephen Paulus sung in past College Community Chorus programs, including the "Pilgrims' Hymn."
Our 2006/2007 season:
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Our spring program theme is care, hope, and remembrance. The program includes Handel's "Foundling Hospital Anthem" composed in 1749 as a benefit for a London hospital that cared for homeless children. The texts of the work reflect the desire to comfort the hospitalized children, and it ends with the spirited "Hallelujah Chorus" from the Messiah. Also on the program is Franz Joseph Haydn's "Missa Solemnis," commonly known as the Heilig ("Holy") Mass, with wonderful, tuneful melodies and uplifting harmonies. We'll also prepare the Vermont premier of a recently composed work by Minnesota composer Stephen Paulus. "A Place of Hope" was written for the dedication of a new building at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in 2001. This contemporary work draws its texts from the writings of clinic patients who reflect on hope for their lives, as well as the role of music and art in their treatment and healing. The program also includes Minnesota composer-conductor René Clausen's "Kyrie", part of his larger work "Memorial" that commemorates victims of 9/11. Clausen combines the traditional texts of "Kyrie" (Lord have mercy) and "Dona nobis pacem" (Grant us peace) from in a way that is hauntingly beautiful. The program will conclude with the Gaelic Blessing, set by noted British musician John Rutter.
Donations at the May concert will benefit Porter Hospital's new BJ Calhoun Memorial Garden, planned to open by early summer, a place for patients, visitors and staff to retreat for reflection.
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Saturday, December 2, 2006
Join as we sing in the holiday season!
Our program includes selections from J. S. Bach’s Christmas Cantata Gloria in Excelsis Deo and The Magnificat ; Heinrich Schütz’s The Story of the Birth of Christ , and Felix Mendelssohn’s Behold a Star from Jacob Shining . The program then turns to delightful music, with newly composed and arranged Chanukah songs by Adrian Mann and by Broadway composer Jason Robert Brown, as well as carol arrangements and original songs by noted Minnesota conductor and arranger Dale Warland; Rochester, New York composer Cary Ratcliff; and distinguished British composer and conductor John Rutter.
PREVIOUS YEAR'S PROGRAMS
May 7, 2006
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). The Nightingale. The Primrose. Praise of Spring.
Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943). Dirait-on.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). Loch Lomond. Alister McAlpine's Lament.
Béla Bartók (1881-1945). Slovak folk songs
Robert Schumann (1810-1856). Zigeunerleben (Gypsy Life).
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). Selections from Zigeunerlieder (Gypsy Songs). No. 1, 2, 5, 9.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Finale from The Magic Flute
Gilbert & Sullivan. Selections from The Mikado.
George Gershwin. Selections from Porgy and Bess, with special guest soloist Francois Clemmons
November 20, 2005
Community Thanksgiving Celebration and Concert
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). Excerpts from his Symphony #2, Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise)
William Billings. An Anthem for Thanksgiving Day.
Justin Morgan.
René Clausen (How Can You Buy the Sky with text by Middlebury's Ted Perry)
Stephen Paulus. Pilgrim's Hymn
Spring 2005
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959). Avodeth Hakodesh (Sacred Service) , with the Middlebury College Chamber Singers, Middlebury College Orchestra and Rabbi Bob Freedman. Perhaps the best-known setting for cantor, chorus and orchestra of psalms and prayers from the Union Prayer Book.
Aaron Copland (1900-1990). Zion's Walls & Simple Gifts.
Fall 2004
Z. Randall Stroope (b. 1953). Where the Earth Meets the Sky
Gabriel Faure (1845-1924). Cantique de Jean Racine (op. 11). Ecce fidelus (op. 54)
Stephen Paulus (b. 1949). Pilgrim's Hymn
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). selections from Samson
Spring 2004
Jean Berger (1909-2002). Five canzonets; God be in my heart
John Rutter (b. 1945). selections from Childhood Lyrics
Zoltan Kodaly (1882-1967). Missa Brevis
Fall 2003
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). O Sing unto the Lord (from Psalm 96)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Maker of All (from Psalm 41)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place (from A German Requiem); Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). Linden Lea
John Rutter (b.1945). Gloria
Fall 2002-Spring 2003
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). St. Paul oratorio
Spring 2002
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Ave verum
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). Missa brevis 'Rorate coeli desuper'
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). Hallelujah, Amen (from Judas Maccabaeus); 2 Coronation Anthems: Let Thy Hand be Strengthened; Zadok the Priest
Fall 2001
Randall Thompson (1899-1984). Mass of the Holy Spirit ; selections from Frostiana (settings of poems by Robert Frost)
Spring 2001
John Rutter (b. 1945). selections from Psalmfest
O be joyful in the Lord; I will lift up mine eyes; Praise the Lord, O my soul; The Lord is my shepherd; Cantate Domino; O clap your hands
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847). selections from oratorios.
Elijah: He watching over Israel; Cast thy burden upon the Lord, And then shall your light break forth. Christus: Behold a star from Jacob shining. St. Paul: Happy and blest are they; To God on high; Great is the depth.
Fall 2000
Middlebury College's Bicentennial celebration
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). Awake the trumpet's lofty song; O first-created beam (from the oratorio Sampson)
Howard Hanson (1896-1981). I will lift up mine eyes (Psalm 121)
Randall Thompson (1899-1984). The last words of David
Aaron Copland (1900-1990). Freedom is a noble thing
Peter Hamlin (Middlebury class of 1973). Reflections of the sky with settings of poems by Middlebury College faculty Julia Alvarez , Robert Pack , and Jay Parini ; commissioned and funded locally by the Middlebury College Bicentennial Committee, and nationally as part of the American Composers Forum and the National Endowment for the Arts landmark initiative Continental Harmony, that links rural communities throughout the nation with composers to celebrate the new millennium