I am no longer working for the Boston Cecilia. I had a great time there, and I'm going to miss them all very much. However, I'm also quite excited about my new job - I'll be working at Harvard Law School in the Office of Public Interest Advising. Basically, we are the career services office for non-profit and government work.
So, for the past two weeks I have been working both jobs, which left me a little limp, and disinclined to scan the concert pages. However, guilt over my dereliction of duty has propelled me back into my usual schedule, so here are the concerts lined up for this weekend! (See if you can find the one that I'm in. It's like Where's Waldo! Only if Waldo were, like, female, and blond, and singing, and someone who wouldn't be caught dead in horizontal red-and-white stripes,* and not actually hiding anywhere. And without that whole looking-at-a-picture element. So, OK. Maybe not so much like Waldo after all.)
Friday
Chorus Pro Musica, 8:00 pm, Cathedral Church of St. Paul at 138 Tremont St. in Boston - They will be performing "A Celebration of New England Composers" in honor of Daniel Pinkham. (There's a lot of that going around.) From Billings right up until the present day, there are a lot of good composers that have come from this area, so go and feel some local pride! More information at their website.
Boston Choral Ensemble, 8:00 pm, First Church in Cambridge - The Boston Choral Ensemble will perform di Lasso's "Lagrime de San Pietro." More information at their website. I don't know this piece, but I love Orlando di Lasso, so I'm somewhat sad that a rehearsal prevents me from making this concert.
Saturday
New England Classical Singers, 7:30 pm, St. Augustines Church, Essex St., Andover - Two classics - the Fauré Requiem and "Rejoice in the Lamb" by Benjamin Britten. If you are not intimately familiar with both of these pieces, then go! You must hear them! And if you are, then you already know why you should go. More info at their website.
Chorus North Shore, 8:00 pm, Our Lady of Hope Church, Linebrook Rd., Ipswich, MA - It seems to be a good weekend for American composers - this concert features Bernstein, Billings, Copland, Getchell, Thompson and other American composers. More info at their website - this concert will also be on Sunday at First Parish Church, 225 Cabot St., Beverly, MA.
Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society, 8:00 pm, Sanders Theatre in Cambridge - This concert is titled "Musica Diversa", and that's just what these two groups will be singing - anything that caught their fancy over the past half-century. More information at their respective websites.
Assabet Valley Mastersingers, 8:00 pm, St. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury, MA - This is a mixed bag concert, so I will simply quote from their website: "Bach's Lobet Denn Herrn will be contrasted with Rachmaninoff's setting of the same text. Similar comparisons of musical settings will be Victoria with Lauridsen, and Brahms with Whitacre. This exciting and eclectic program will also include American music from the Spiritual to Randall Thompson's "Ye Shall Have a Song."" More information at said website.
Rachmaninoff Festival Choir, 7:30 pm, St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church, Cambridge, MA -
Rachmaninoff's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom will be performed by the Rachmaninoff Festival Choir combined with members of the Down East Singers and the Bowdoin College Chorus, both located in mid-coast Maine. More info is at the church's website.
Sunday
Choir of All Saints Parish, 3:00 pm, All Saints Parish, 1773 Beacon St., Brookline, MA - The Choir of All Saints presents their Annual Sacred Concert of Remembrance featuring the Fauré Requiem and other sacred works by Fauré. Jessica Cooper, soprano and Robert Honeysucker, baritone. Donald Teeters, conducting. Free! Also featuring, ringing in the alto section, a familiar blogger!
Polymnia Choral Society, 4:00 pm, St. Mary's Church, 46 Myrtle St., Melrose - Polymnia presents the Cherubini Requiem, which is not so well known nowadays, but which was much beloved in times past (Beethoven famously listed it as one of his favorite pieces.) Highly worth going to see. More information at their website.
Seraphim Singers, 4:00 pm, The United Church of Christ, 496 Main Street, Medfield, MA - this is a tough day to decide! Seraphim Singers are a stellar choir that handles astonishingly difficult music with ease (I should know, I sang with them until Boston Cecilia took away my Monday nights, and I think that's the hardest rep I've ever had put in front of me.) They'll be performing Schütz Deutsches Magnificat; Byrd Ave Maria & other works honoring the Virgin Mary. More info at their website. They will also be performing this concert for FREE at St. Mary's Chapel at Boston College on Tuesday at 8:00 pm.
Boston Choral Ensemble, 2:00 pm, St. John the Evangelist, 35 Bowdoin St., Boston - see entry under Friday.
Chorus North Shore, 3:00 pm, First Parish Church, 225 Cabot St., Beverly, MA - see entry under Saturday.
Assabet Valley Mastersingers, 8:00 pm, St. Mark's School, Southborough, MA - see entry under Saturday.
Quincy Choral Society, 2:00 pm, Sacred Heart School Auditorium, Hancock St. (Rte.3A) N. Quincy - "Lights, Camera, Auction!" Join them for a free concert, a silent auction, and a sing-along! They will be performing a fun assortment of pieces from movies and musicals. More information is here. (Warning - their website is rather loud.)
Mass Theatrica, 2:00 pm, Southgate of Shrewsbury, 30 Julio Drive, Shrewsbury, MA - an open read-through of the G&S operetta Iolanthe. It appears that the cast for soloists has been settled, but if you bring your own score, you can sing in the chorus. More information is here.
In short, a very rich weekend! Don't forget, live music is like nothing else. Get out there and physically remind yourself of that fact.
Hi there- I forgot to mention this until it was nearly too late, but here's an addition in the category of "Rare Tuesday night concerts" and "enthusiastic amateurs/high schoolers": Haydn Kleine Orgelmesse (by church choir with strings) and Schubert Mass no. 2 in G (by high school choruses and orchestra) at First Parish Westwood, 7:30 PM. Free concert...
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