AUDITION to SING MENDELSSOHN'S ELIJAH with THE CHORISTERS

Now through Friday, January 23, The Choristers, one of the premier concert choirs in the Philadelphia suburbs, is accepting appointments to audition potential singers for its spring 2015 concert.

On Saturday April 25, 2015 at 7:30 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lansdale, PA 19446, The Choristers will present Felix Mendelssohn’s epic oratorio, Elijah, accompanied by a 42-piece professional orchestra. Soloists will be Carole Latimer (Soprano), Suzanne DuPlantis (Mezzo-Soprano), Robert Chafin (Tenor) and Justin Hopkins (Bass/Baritone) in the role of Elijah.

Elijah depicts events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament. The prophet Elijah challenges the people of Israel to turn from the false god, Baal, to worship the one true God, Jehovah. The story is told as the chorus sings about raising a child from the dead, bringing rain to drought-stricken Israel, and the bodily ascension of Elijah on a fiery chariot into heaven. One of the most dramatic choruses is the contest of the gods, or God Wars “Baal vs. Jehovah,” in which, after a failed sequence of frantic prayers by the prophets of the god Baal, Jehovah consumes an offered sacrifice in a column of fire.

This dramatic story of Elijah will come alive when The Choristers presents the work semi-staged, enabling soloists on a small stage to become individual characters in the story and to interact and connect with each other as they are singing. Justin Hopkins will portray Elijah. Carole Latimer, Suzanne DuPlantis, and Robert Chafin will portray multiple characters. Each soloist will be identified as a specific character when wearing a distinctive unique stole.

The Choristers rehearses Friday evenings from 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm at Supplee Presbyterian Church, 855 E. Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002. Those interested in joining the choir as a singer should schedule an audition with David M. Spitko, Artistic Director, at (215) 542-7871 or email him at DSpitko@TheChoristers.org . Auditions for the spring concert will be scheduled through Friday January 23, 2015. For more information, go to www.TheChoristers.org .

The Choristers is a 65-70 voice auditioned civic concert choir that has thrived since its organization in 1978 by the current Artistic Director, David M. Spitko. Over the past decade, the choir has performed standard challenging choral repertoire, including Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis as well as underperformed works such as Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor, selections from Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts, and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess ~ Concert Version (for which the Artistic Director created a four-hand piano accompaniment from the orchestral score). Finally, the choir has performed several commissioned works penned by its Composer-In-Residence, David Hobbs ~ The King of Peace (2008), Where There Is Love (2010), Psalm 22 (2011), and Jubilate and Te Deum (2014).

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