Much Ado About Music: 400 Years of Shakespeare in Song, a Concert at The Country School

The New Consort, winners of the 2015 American Prize in Chamber Music, will perform Much Ado About Music: 400 Years of Shakespeare in Song at The Country School on Thursday, April 21 at 7 p.m. This celebration of the Bard’s enduring legacy will include works written by English composers of Shakespeare’s time, choral settings of Shakespeare’s texts by a variety of more recent composers, readings from some of his greatest plays and sonnets, and a world-premiere.

Presented in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and in honor of The Country School’s 60th Anniversary, the concert is free and open to the public. Brian Mummert, a 2001 graduate of The Country School and the founder of The New Consort, will conduct and perform as part of the vocal ensemble. The Country School is also excited to present the world premiere of “When He Shall Die,” composed specifically for The New Consort on this occasion by Lyme resident and Wesleyan emeritus faculty member Sarah Meneely-Kyder, a music teacher at The Country School in the 1970s.

The concert marks Brian Mummert’s first return to The Country School stage since his 8th Grade graduation 15 years ago. He has been singing professionally since he graduated from Yale, where he served as musical director of the Yale Whiffenpoofs, America’s oldest collegiate a cappella group. A baritone from Lyme, Brian has performed at venues from Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center and in genres from opera to pops. He recently received his Master of Music in Voice at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and will begin further graduate work in choral conducting next fall at Trinity College Cambridge (UK). Learn more at www.brianmummert.com.

The concert will be followed by a gallery show of alumni work, including drawing, painting, photography, filmmaking, and fashion, jewelry, and costume design. Learn more and register at www.thecountryschool.org/alumniart.

Founded in 1955, The Country School is a coeducational, independent day school serving students in PreSchool-Grade 8. Located at 341 Opening Hill Road in Madison, The Country School is committed to active, hands-on learning and a vigorous curriculum that engages the whole child. Learn more at www.thecountryschool.org.