Announcements

The recipients of the 2015 Alfred Nash Patterson grants were selected from 47 proposals that were received by the February 28, 2015 deadline.

On Sunday, November 15, Journey Song a cappella hospice singers will present an afternoon of song featuring the work of Vermont’s Peter Amidon, musician, educator, choral arranger/composer and co-music director of the Hallowell hospice singers. The performance will include a variety of songs, sung in four-part harmony, from Journey Song's extensive repertoire of music for group and bedside singing. It will take place at the Congregational Church of Exeter, 21 Front Street, Exeter NH.

This project is supported in part by an Alfred Nash Patterson Grant from Choral Arts New England. The grant enabled Journey Song to commission Peter Amidon to create a new song, "May Today There be Peace," which will be premiered at the performance.

CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists) has announced the appointment of Christopher Shepard as its second Artistic Director, succeeding Artistic Director Emeritus Richard Coffey, who founded the ensemble as the region's first all-professional choir in 1974. The ensemble has been led by guest conductors during the 2014–2015 season, as a national search was conducted to identify Maestro Coffey’s successor. Dr. Shepard will assume leadership of the ensemble starting with the soon-to-be announced 2015–2016 season.

Boston Baroque will be performing J.S. Bach's St. John Passion on Friday, February 27 and Saturday, February 28, 2015. Prior to the Friday evening performance, the group will sponsor a panel discussion hosted by WBUR's Christopher Lydon on the controversy concerning anti-Jewish passages in the work. Panelists Include Martin Pearlman, Music Director; James Bernauer, Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College; Deeana Klepper, Assoc. Professor of Religion at Boston University; and Robert Marshall, Eminent musicologist and Bach Scholar at Brandeis University.

Conductor John Eliot Gardiner has been appointed the Harvard Music Department’s inaugural Christoph Wolff Distinguished Visiting Scholar, supported by the Christoph Wolff Fund for Music. Gardiner, an English conductor, early music expert, and Bach biographer, will participate in a series of talks and events in early February. Each of the three events is free and open to the public. There are no tickets required; seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The professional chamber choir Novi Cantori announces a composition masterclass on Saturday, March 28, 2015 in Westfield, MA. This special event will explore works in progress, with the director and singers of Novi Cantori providing feedback to the composers present. The masterclass is aimed especially for advanced undergraduate, graduate and young professional composers who value the opportunity to hear their music performed by an outstanding choir and receive feedback on their work and approach to choral composition.

A maximum of 5 composers will be selected. These composers will be announced on the Novi Cantori website and in spring season publicity, and their works may be considered for future performance. Composers who submitted works for last year’s Call for Scores are eligible to apply. For this masterclass, composers should be within reasonable travel distance of Westfield, MA if selected. Decisions about the number of composers and the repertoire selected are final.

In June 2015, the Yale Glee Club will host the second Yale International Choral Festival, an event produced in collaboration with the Yale School of Music, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, and the Yale Alumni Chorus, continuing an exciting new chapter in Yale University's long tradition of international choral exchange.

The festival will take place June 16–20, 2015. Outstanding choirs from throughout the world will come together for five days of singing, learning, and exploring the connections that choral music fosters between people. Each evening will feature a formal concert in Yale's renowned Sprague Hall, and each day will be filled with lectures, workshops, and masterclasses led by visiting conductors and Yale faculty, including the first Eric Ericson International Choral Centre Conducting 21C masterclass offered outside of Stockholm.

Participating ensembles include Voces Nordicae (Sweden), Entrevoces (Cuba), Jerusalem Youth Choir (Israel), the National University of Singapore Choir, the Yale Alumni Chorus, and the Yale Choral Artists.

Founded in 2009 by Murray Kidd, the Boston Singers’ Relief Fund provides financial relief in a confidential, respectful manner to those in the singing community who have contributed significantly to the artistic life of New England and are facing job loss, illness or other catastrophic life events. “The Singers’ Voice” on is a Fifth Anniversary Concert Celebration and benefit for the fund. It will include performances by Blue Heron, Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, and Handel and Haydn Society. The grand finale will include a combined chorus of the area’s finest professional singers conducted by Ryan Turner, Artistic Director of Emmanuel Music.

Admission is $30. The event is on January 24, 2015 at 4:00 PM, at Emmanuel Church, 15 Newbury St., Boston.

The Orientale Concentus (VIII) International Choral Festival has been held since 2008 to promote choral music development and cultural exchange in Asia. It is one of the few festivals that rewards highly performed choirs with cash prizes in the region. World renowned choral music experts are invited to adjudicate the competition and conduct personalised master classes to maximize the learning experience of each participant. Last year's event attracted over 1600 participants, and it is anticipated that this year there will be close to 2,000 participants from 40 to 50 choirs around Asia. The event is held from July 23–25, 2015 at Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore.