Connecticut Master Chorale Announces 2012-13 Season

The Connecticut Master Chorale, under the direction of Tina Johns Heidrich, has finished planning its 2012-13 concert season.

All concerts are held at St Rose of Lima Church in Newtown. The late winter and spring concerts will be accompanied by The Connecticut Master Chorale Orchestra.

The Chorale will open its season with its annual Holiday Prelude Concert on November 18. Featuring a wide variety of festive selections, the program includes music with brass ensemble and steel drums, selections by John Rutter, Mack Wilberg, Aaron Copland, multi-cultural numbers, lullabies, gospel, and more.

On March 3, the Chorale will present “The Peacemakers,” a new composition by Karl Jenkins. 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 one of the composer’s most compelling and significant contribution to the choral world to date.

“A Hungarian Rhapsody” will be 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.

“As we enter our 14th season, I remain as excited and inspired as I was when we first started,” said Ms Heidrich. “We’ve performed over 250 pieces in many venues in Connecticut and New York, and worked with the leading composers of our day.”

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

The Chorale won the annual McDonald’s Gospelfest Competition three years in a row and has appeared on ABC-TV. Their recordings are frequently heard on WMNR Fine Arts Radio in Connecticut and New York.

Newtown residents in the Chorale are Judy Bolduc, Ginnie Carey, Anita Corbeil, David Jurman, Lyn Nagel, Karen Orzechowski, Nancy Raymond, and Dan Yee.

The fall and late winter concerts will begin at 3 pm, while the season finalé will be an 8 pm performance. Admission to each concert is $20 in advance or $25 at the door.  For tickets, call 203-775-2602 or visit www.CMChorale.org.