Our season approaches! We have a new collaborative pianist, a venue, and a plan. So, tune up your voices and get ready to sing! 

 

Here are the details. 

 

 

Our Open Sing is scheduled for Wednesday, September 8, from 7-9 PM, at South Church, 27 Pleasant Street, Concord. We are excited to welcome new and returning singers! Please plan to arrive a little early to collect new music. Our format for Open Sing will be a little different than usual so that we can spend some time getting to know our new collaborative pianist and so we can discuss some of the decisions made about how we will function this fall in light of the pandemic. Please continue to refer potential new singers to our membership chair Sue Berlenbach at membership@concordchorale.com.

 

 

I am pleased to introduce our new collaborative pianist, Liya Nigmati, who holds a doctoral degree in musical arts and a master’s degree in collaborative piano performance. Liya has performed extensively throughout the world including in France, China, Russia, and the US and currently is a piano accompanist, piano instructor, and diction coach in the Boston area. The interview team was very impressed by the strength of Liya’s playing and the emotional depth of her expression. She is very community-minded and is eager to have the opportunity to work with Concord Chorale and engage with the Concord Community, when appropriate. Approachable, friendly, and open, Liya is described by those who have worked with her as a reliable, talented, and flexible professional. Liya will bring to the Chorale a level of professionalism that will allow us to continue to grow. Please join me at Open Sing in providing a warm welcome to Liya. 

 

 

Our Open Sing and fall rehearsals will be held in South Congregational church. Members of the board, with assistance from doctors BJ Entwisle and Lyn Lindpaintner and venues chair and engineer Carl Thunberg, have selected South Church for the size of its space and the ability to ensure at least three feet of physical distancing during rehearsals. In Carl’s words, “…it is a drafty old building, which may actually be more protective of human health due to the chimney effect of air flowing through the walls and roof.  These are the same things that lead to heat loss.  Due to the high ceiling height, the volume of air in the sanctuary will be orders of magnitude greater than the music room [at the high school]. 

 

 

As previously stated, all in-person singers will be required to be vaccinated and must submit a copy/photo of their vaccination card to their section leader (see below). We will also require masks at rehearsals until further notice. We are looking into ordering matching singer’s masks for all members, but we may not have them available until after Open Sing. 

 

Soprano – Sue Berlenbach membership@concordchorale.com  (temporary)

Alto – Linda Ashford lindalashford@comcast.net

Tenor – Brian Kugel bckug@comcast.net

Bass – Tom Weston tweston423@gmail.com 

 

 

For the fall semester, we will include Zoom in our rehearsals so that those who are ill, immunocompromised, unvaccinated, or simply uncomfortable attending in person may participate in rehearsals. Those who attend rehearsal through Zoom should anticipate attending the concert in person; we will NOT be including recordings of singers in the concert. Zoom participants are welcome at rehearsals whether or not they plan to sing in the concert. Our traditional attendance requirement for rehearsals will be the same, whether a singer is attending in person or on Zoom. 

 

From Jenny: 

 

Just a note on scores for Open Sing since some of you may have the following. 

 

1) If you have a Vivaldi Gloria in D score, please bring it!

2) If you sang in the December 2019 concert, please bring your copy of the Carol Suite by Mark Hayes (tips for looking through your past music: red cover, white text, octavo sized, thick packet).  We only ordered enough copies to give them to people who don’t already own them.