Concerts and Events Calendar

Sunday, July 24, 2016

CONCORA: Connecticut Choral Artists

Summer Festival 2016

A Week of Singing with Chris Shepard

CONCORA is thrilled to announce Summer Festival 2016, “Shakespeare’s Legacy,” and to welcome Artistic Director Chris Shepard to his first Summer Festival. Festival applications are available at our website: concora.org. Application deadline is Monday, May 23.

Is there any author in the western world better known than William Shakespeare? Not only have his plays been translated into every conceivable language, but they have also been adapted into all manner of new plays, books and films. His poetry (and the songs from his plays) are perhaps a little less well-known than the storylines of his dramas, but for singers, they have long been a rich source of texts for solo and choral songs from their very inception.

April 2016 marks the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, so it seems fitting to honor his singular contribution to the vocal repertoire by featuring some settings of his most famous lines in CONCORA Summer Festival 2016.

Ralph Vaughan Williams had a particular affinity for Shakespeare’s words. We will feature two of his works based on the Avon Bard’s plays: “Serenade to Music” adapted from The Merchant of Venice, and “In Windsor Forest,” settings of texts by Shakespeare and his contemporaries from Sir John in Love, Vaughan Williams’ opera about Falstaff.

We will also sing several smaller choral settings of Shakespeare’s texts by composers John Rutter, Emma Lou Diemer and Erik Neilsen, who has had a long relationship with CONCORA.

We will finish with a wonderful setting of Shakespeare’s “Songs and Sonnets” by jazz pianist George Shearing, offering proof that the words of England’s greatest poet transcend time.

Come join us for an exciting week of music-making!

– Chris Shepard

Venue: July 24 - July 30
Public Concert: Saturday, July 30, 2016 at 4:00 PM
Bethany Covenant Church
785 Mill Street, Berlin

Tickets: $190 Tuition includes music, catered dinner, and other social events.
Concert tickets: $30 Preferred, $20 General, $10 student

Contact: contact@concora.org
860-293-0567

Website: www.concora.org