CT Master Chorale Scheduling Auditions

SOUTHBURY — The Connecticut Master Chorale, under the direction of Tina Johns Heidrich, announces auditions for its 2012-2013 concert season.

The Chorale will present three concerts, beginning with its annual Holiday Prelude Concert on November 18. The program will feature a variety of festive selections and will music with brass ensemble and steel drums, works of John Rutter, Mack Wilberg and Aaron Copland, multi-cultural numbers, lullabies, gospel and more.

On March 3, the Chorale will present a brand new composition by Karl Jenkins entitled “The Peacemakers.” With texts from Percy Bysshe Shelley, Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, Terry Waite, Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Carol Barratt, Karl Jenkins, St. Francis of Assisi, Sir Thomas Malory, Rumi, Nelson Mandela, Bahá’u’lláh, and Anne Frank, “this is perhaps Jenkins’s most magnificent and inspiring contribution to the choral world to date,” said Ms Heidrich.

“A Hungarian Rhapsody” is the theme for the Chorale’s spring concert on May 4. It will consist of the Hungarian National Anthem, Hungarian folk songs, works by Zoltán Kodály, Miklós Rózsa, Bárdos, Orbán and Lizst’s “Hungarian Rhapsody,” featuring  Joseph Jacovino on piano.

All concerts are performed at St Rose of Lima Church in Newtown. The March and May concerts will be accompanied by the Connecticut Master Chorale Orchestra.

Rehearsals are held on Tuesday evenings at the South Britain Congregational Church Parish House.

Now entering its 14th season, the Master Chorale consists of 55 professional-caliber vocalists in western Connecticut. In addition to three regularly scheduled performances every year, the award-winning group has performed at The White House, Lincoln Center, three times at Carnegie Hall, West Point, Madison Square Garden and with Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra, all by invitation.

Auditions are by appointment. To inquire about specific openings and schedule an audition, call 203-775-2602 or visit www.cmchorale.org.