[Maryland Choral Society] Audition Announcement

The Maryland Choral Society (MCS) is currently accepting audition submissions for our exciting 41st season.  The MCS performs multiple concerts per year and rehearses weekly on Monday evenings (7:15-9:30) in Fort Washington, Maryland.

The Maryland Choral Society is a community organization and strives to be a leading force in the advocacy and enhancement of the choral arts industry, to cultivate educational opportunities, to nurture intergenerational experiences, and to create musical excellence throughout Maryland and the DC Metro regions.

Please visit us at http://www.marylandchoralsociety.org/join.html and complete a Choral Audition Request Form, we will follow-up with an audition date and time.

2011-12 SEASON OVERVIEW

In December, we celebrate the holiday season with a performance the Vivaldi Gloria, with chamber orchestra and soloists. One of the true high points in Vivaldi's prolific output, the Gloria conveys the unprecedented joy and drama of that magical moment in the Christmas story when the angels bring their greetings to the shepherds. In the second half of the December concert, we will intersperse chorales from the Bach Christmas Oratorio with solo and choral movements from Part III of Handel's great oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus. Part III of the Handel focuses on the institution of Hanukkah by Judas Maccabaeus, and the movements selected from each piece focus on images of light, joy, and peace common to both Christmas and Hanukkah.

On April 22, 2012 the Maryland Choral Society has partnered with Earth Day Networks to celebrate Earth Day with a performance of Paul Winter's Missa Gaia.  This eclectic and exuberant piece combines a contemporary setting of the Mass with sounds drawn from nature (wolf calls, whale songs, sounds of the sea, and more). The Missa Gaia blends these sounds with influences from the worlds of jazz, gospel, African, and Brazilian music. Originally written as the service music for the annual Blessing of the Animals at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York (where it is still performed every year on St. Francis Sunday), the piece has taken on a life of its own as a concert work. We will be joined for this performance by singers from other area choruses, several Grammy award winning vocal organizations, Paul Halley (co-writer of the Missa Gaia) and the Keramion Ensemble Band.

We conclude the season with a performance of Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem.  This piece, written in the years just prior to the outbreak of World War II, blends the poetry of Walt Whitman with the cry for peace ("Dona nobis pacem") embodied within the Agnus Dei.   This piece will be performed in a rarely-heard version for strings and piano, a reduced orchestration made by the composer himself.