Choral Singers from across Connecticut Invited to Join CONCORA’s “Masterworks” Summer Festival

HARTFORD AND NEW BRITAIN, CONN. (May 14, 2017) — Choral singers from across the region are invited to apply by May 30 to participate in CONCORA’s Summer Festival, “Exploring the Great Choral Masterworks with CONCORA and Chris Shepard.” The Festival runs from July 30 through August 5 at Bethany Covenant Church in Berlin, CT.

Now in its 18th season, CONCORA’s Summer Festival offers amateur singers an opportunity to rehearse, learn, and perform with CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists), the region’s oldest and best-known professional choir. In evening and weekend sessions, participants rehearse with Artistic Director Chris Shepard and an ensemble of CONCORA’s professional singers, enjoying three festive social events along the way. The Festival culminates in a public concert on Saturday, August 5, at 4:00PM.

The Festival offers a week of exceptional music-making, uplifting repertoire, and high artistic standards in a relaxed atmosphere with plenty of opportunities for socializing, renewing friendships, and making new friends.

The 2017 Summer Festival features excerpts from favorite choral masterworks by Bach, Handel, Mozart, Vivaldi, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Rossini, Fauré, and others. CONCORA’s Artistic Director Chris Shepard will direct the CONCORA Summer Festival Choir, which typically numbers about 100 singers from across Connecticut, with some coming from nearby states.

For more information, including the Festival schedule, repertoire, and other details, visit the “Education & Outreach” page at CONCORA’s website www.concora.org to download the Festival application form, or contact Christine Laird in the CONCORA office at claird@concora.org or 860-293-0567. Qualified high school and college-age students may apply to attend the Festival on full scholarship as Choral Scholars.

The application deadline is Tuesday, May 30, 2017.

Tickets for the August 5 Festival concert go on sale June 1 at www.concora.org.

Bethany Covenant Church, at 785 Mill Street in Berlin, CT, is fully accessible and air-conditioned, with ample free, off-street parking.

About CONCORA’s Artistic Director Chris Shepard

Chris Shepard has served as CONCORA’s Artistic Director since 2015, succeeding founder Richard Coffey in that role. He also serves as Music Director of the Worcester Chorus and the Masterwork Chorus of Morristown, New Jersey. With these choirs, Chris has performed a wide range of repertoire, collaborating with a number of major orchestras in venues that include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Radio City Music Hall in New York, as well as the Royal Festival Hall in London and the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

A conductor with a particular affinity for the choral music of J.S. Bach, Chris founded the Sydneian Bach Choir in Sydney, Australia, an ensemble that has performed all of Bach’s choral cantatas as well as all of his major choral works. He has taught at the Taft School, Sydney Grammar School and Holy Cross College. A pianist and keyboard continuist, Chris holds degrees from the Hartt School and the Yale School of Music, and the University of Sydney. His PhD dissertation won the American Choral Directors Association’s 2012 Julius Herford Prize for outstanding doctoral thesis in choral music.

A fuller bio of Chris Shepard is available at http://concora.org/artistic-director/.

About CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists)

Acclaimed as Connecticut’s premier professional choir, CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists) presents masterful performances of the world’s finest choral music. “CONCORA, acknowledging that music transforms and enriches people's lives, perpetuates and performs with excellence choral music of the highest quality for the broadest possible audience.” This mission represents a commitment to the Connecticut community and to artistic excellence, masterful performances, and educational enrichment.

Since its founding in 1974 by Artistic Director Emeritus Richard Coffey, CONCORA has held a unique place in the arts community as Connecticut’s premier professional choir, and has built an extraordinary reputation for artistic excellence throughout New England.

Under the direction of Chris Shepard, about to begin his third season as Artistic Director, the ensemble’s versatility is displayed in its wide range of repertoire and in the selection of the choir’s singers to produce an extraordinary range of choral color and dynamic range for each program and performance space.

CONCORA’s educational outreach program includes several highly successful projects. CONCORA extends special invitations to other choruses, especially children’s, high school and college ensembles, as a regular part of its concert programming, particularly the “Extraordinary Concerts,” where the ensemble collaborates with select high school choirs. CONCORA’s Summer Festival offers adult singers from the community and select high school and college singers an opportunity to join with CONCORA in rehearsing and performing great choral works. For children, the CONCORA-to-Go quartet presents an interactive, multicultural program, “Around the World in Music,” performed in area elementary schools and public libraries.

More information about CONCORA is available at http://concora.org/about/