GMChorale 2024 - 2025 Season A Choral Journey of Triumph and Reflection
Join us for this extraordinary season as we explore these masterpieces, each offering a unique and compelling glimpse into the human soul through the power of choral music. From the triumphant to the contemplative, this season promises to be an unforgettable celebration of the enduring legacy of choral art.
Mozart
Requiem
We conclude our season with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s deeply moving Requiem. Left unfinished at his death in 1791, the Requiem stands as one of the most profound and poignant works in the choral repertoire. Its haunting melodies, dramatic contrasts, and heartfelt lamentations make it a powerful meditation on life, death, and redemption. From the intense “Dies Irae” (Day of Wrath) to the serene Lacrimosa, Mozart’s Requiem offers a transcendent experience that resonates with audiences on a deeply emotional level.
Festival of Carols
Saturday, December 14, 2024 at 5pm
The Chancel Choir of First Congregational Church with GMChorale
Handel
Dettingen Te Deum
We open our season with the grandeur and jubilation of G.F. Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum. Composed in 1743 to celebrate the British victory at the Battle of Dettingen, this masterful work is a thrilling blend of ceremonial pomp and intricate choral craftsmanship. With its vibrant orchestration, majestic choruses, and jubilant exclamations, the Dettingen Te Deum is a powerful proclamation of praise and thanksgiving, promising to uplift and inspire.
Bach
Gloria in excelsis deo
(BWV 191)
Our journey continues with J.S. Bach’s magnificent BWV 191. Often referred to as the Gloria in Excelsis Deo, this piece is a sublime example of Bach’s genius, showcasing his unparalleled ability to weave intricate counterpoint with expressive harmony. Originally part of his Christmas liturgy, BWV 191 bursts with festive energy and devout joy, reflecting the glory and solemnity of the sacred text. It is a work that not only honors the divine but also celebrates the human spirit’s capacity for reverence and exultation.
GMChorale 2023 - 2024 Season
Festa Exultate!
GMChorale invited guests to the fall mainstage concert, “Festa Exultate!” at the Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center in Middletown on Sunday, November 12, 2023, at 4:00pm. As the exclamation mark suggests, this program of festive music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras was joyful and energetic.
Alchemy, GMChorale’s chamber ensemble, will ushered in the festivities with several works from the Renaissance, sung a cappella. The main chorale, Elm City Girls Choir, and Orchestra New England joined the celebration with Händel’s magnificent anthem “Zadok the Priest”. Next on the program was Bach’s incomparable “Magnificat in D,” balanced by Purcell’s ethereal “Jubilate Deo in D.” The concert built to a rousing conclusion with not one, but two, Händel choruses: “Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite” and “Hallelujah Chorus.” The singers were breathless by the end, and so were audience members!
Schubert Mass in E-flat No. 6 and Brahms Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny)
Joe D’Eugenio leads, GMChorale, Saecula Singers, and Orchestra New England in this performance of soaring works by Brahms and Schubert, featuring soloists Meredith Hansen, soprano, Meredith Ziegler, mezzo-soprano, Jack Anthony Pot, tenor, and mark Womack, baritone at the Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, Middletown, CT Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 4:00pm.
GMChorale 2022 - 2023 Season
Festival of Carols
First Congregational Church, Cheshire, CT
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 5:00pm
GMChorale will once again join the vibrant Chancel Choir of Cheshire’s First Congregational Church and singers from the Cheshire community to welcome the holiday season with the 19th Festival of Carols, the much-loved annual presentation of seasonal readings, choral anthems, and the singing of traditional Christmas carols by everyone gathered in the beautifully decorated, candlelit, historic sanctuary of this classic New England church. The music is directed and accompanied by Joseph D’Eugenio, Artistic Director of the GMChorale and Director of Music at First Congregational Church.
Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms
With Joe D’Eugenio, GMChorale, Alchemy, Elm City Girls Choir, Orchestra New EnglandMark Womack, Baritone Soloist and Sherezade Panthaki, Soprano SoloistSanto Fragilio Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, Middletown, CT Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 4:00pm
Spring, 2023, GMChorale will present another choral masterwork, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). This sacred, non-liturgical piece turned the requiem on its head by deviating from traditional texts and shifting the focus from shepherding the deceased to comforting the living. Ein Deutsches Requiem will be presented with full symphony orchestra.
An Evening at the Mansion
Featuring Alchemy and Harmonia
Thursday, October 13, 2022 at 6:00pm
Wadsworth Mansion, Middletown, CT
Join Alchemy and Harmonia string ensemble as they present instrumental and vocal chamber music by Renaissance and Baroque composers at Middletown’s beautiful and historic Wadsworth Mansion. Works include music by Hassler, de Rore, and selections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The concert is preceded by a cocktail hour hosted by the chorale’s Board of Directors to kick off the 2022–2023 season. This event is open for all to gather and enjoy an evening of refreshments and music, and to celebrate the beginning of a new season with GMChorale. In lieu of tickets, there is a $25 suggested donation opportunity at the door.
Gloria by Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons by Martin Sedek
With Joe D’Eugenio, GMChorale, Alchemy, Elm City Girls’ Choir, and Orchestra New EnglandSanto Fragilio Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, Middletown, CTSunday, November 13, 2022 at 4:00pm
GMChorale presents a unique pairing of baroque and contemporary music with Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, composed c.1716 in Venice performed alongside Martin Sedek’s The Four Seasons: A Cantata composed in 2015 in the United States. The latter is set to sonnets, translated into English by the composer, that Vivaldi originally set to accompany his instrumental work: The Four Seasons. Audiences will be delighted to hear the baroque and contemporary styles in conversation and juxtaposed against one another for a uniquely GMChorale musical event.
GMChorale 2021 - 2022 Season Creations Bounty
The Creation: An Oratorio by F. Joseph Haydn
Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, Middletown, CT
Sunday, May 1, 2022 at 4:00pm
GMChorale crowns its 45th season with Franz Joseph Haydn’s late-classical masterwork, The Creation. A rarely performed choral masterwork, The Creation has enchanted audiences for generations since its premier in Vienna in 1798. Inspired from the oratorio tradition of Handel, The Creation celebrates the creation of the world as described in the Book of Genesis, the Biblical Book of Psalms, and in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Audiences will be transformed by the brilliant tone-painting and monumental choruses of the work as they hear light emerge from darkness, the foaming billows of the seas, and Adam and Eve, the graceful consort and the spouse adored before the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. GMChorale will be joined by Alchemy, Elm City Girls’ Choir, Orchestra New England, and internationally-renowned soloists Sherezade Panthaki, Dann Coakwell, and Mark Womack, for a monumental production not to be missed.
Festival of Carols
No Tickets, Free Will Offering
First Congregational Church, Cheshire, CT
Saturday, December 18, 2021 at 5:00pm
GMChorale will once again join the vibrant Chancel Choir of Cheshire’s First Congregational Church and singers from the Cheshire community to welcome the holiday season with the 18th Festival of Carols, the much-loved annual presentation of seasonal readings, choral anthems, and the singing of traditional Christmas carols by everyone gathered in the beautifully decorated, candlelit, historic sanctuary of this classic New England church. The music is directed and accompanied by Joseph D’Eugenio, Artistic Director of the GMChorale and Director of Music at First Congregational Church.
With Joyful Heart: An Afternoon of Choral Favorites
Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, Middletown, CT
Sunday, November 14, 2021 at 4:00pm
GMChorale presents its first MainStage concert with Elm City Girls’ Choir and the debut performance of Harmonia, the chorale’s new string chamber ensemble. Audiences will return to the Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School for an afternoon of choral classics, including Schubert’s Mass in G, Bach’s Cantata BWV 4 (Christ lag in todesbanden), and Mozart’s Ave verum corpus and Sancta Maria. Additionally, a commissioned arrangement of composer Ellen Gilson Voth’s nationally-recognized piece, Across the Empty Square, will be premiered to acknowledge the impact of COVID-19 on our global society.
Related Events This Fall
Concert for Caring, featuring Alchemy
Saturday, October 16, 2021 at 7:00pm
First Congregational Church, Cheshire, CT
Alchemy, Elm City Girls’ Choir, and Saecula singers unite for an evening of choral music to benefit Cheshire Food Pantry and Cheshire Human Services with a free-will offering and collection of non-perishable items. The performance will include the music of Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Mozart, along with American hymns and folksongs such as Shawn Kirchner’s rousing arrangements of Bright Morning Stars and Unclouded Day.
Across the Empty Square: A Conversation with Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth, Composer and Joseph D’Eugenio, Artistic Director
Monday, November 1, 2021 at 7:00pm
Free Online with Zoom
Meet composer Ellen Gilson Voth with Music Director Joseph D’Eugenio as they present Ellen’s new nationally-acclaimed piece, Across the Empty Square. The music and its text is a monument to current times and the pandemic, and explores how we can make progress against hate, fear, and isolation. Ellen embeds traditional melodies, such as How Can I Keep from Singing, into the piece with a seamless and integral nature. Across the Empty Square will be a featured piece during our Memorial Music Sunday service.
Memorial Music Sunday
Sunday, November 7, 2021 at 10:00am
First Congregational Church, Cheshire, CT
This year’s annual service of remembrance will honor the memories of those who we have lost with J.S. Bach’s Cantata BWV 4, Christ lag in todesbanden (Christ lay in death’s bond’s) and Mozart’s Ave verum corpus. Additionally, composer Ellen Gilson Voth’s new arrangement of Across the Empty Square will be premiered with Harmonia string ensemble and organ. This arrangement acknowledges and gives voice to the impact of COVID-19 on our community and global society.
GMChorale 2020 - 2021 Season Season of Choral Enrichment
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, GMChorale was faced with the great challenges that many arts organizations encountered across the world. While we could not conduct in person rehearsals and performances, we found this challenging time as an opportunity to brush up on our individual skills, learn a lot and launch a new arm of our great arts organization.
During this time we held virtual rehearsals via zoom, our Messiah Watch Party, January Speaker Series, and launched our Young Musicians Initiative.
GMChorale 2019 - 2020 Season Richly Artistic and Emotionally Moving
New Every Morning
Featuring a newly-commissioned choral work by PETER NIEDMANN
And music by Rutter, Conte, Forrest, Mulholland, and others
Sunday, November 10, 2019, 4:00 pm Pre-concert talk at 3:15 pm
Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center Middletown High School
200 La Rosa Lane, Middletown CT $10-$45 at www.gmchorale.org
With Joy of Heart and Gladness
Choral Classics with String Orchestra, The Elm City Girls’ Choir, & The Saecula Singers
BACH Cantata 4 & Motet 6
MozART Laudate Dominum (from Solemn Vespers)
MOZART Divertimento in D (K.136/125a)
HANDEL Concerto Grosso in D (HWV 323/V)
SCHUBERT Mass in G
MASCAGNI Intermezzo (from Cavalleria Rusticana)
SUNDAY, APRIL 26, 2020, 4:00 PM Pre-concert talk at 3:15pm
Santo Fragilio Performing Arts Center Middletown High School
200 La Rosa Lane, Middletown CT $10-$45 at www.gmchorale.org
Soirées Musicales
Four performances!
Featuring Brahms Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 65
And evocative choral music by Rossini, Elgar, Finzi, and others Allan Conway and Joseph D’Eugenio, Piano and Organ
Saturday, October 19, 2019, 7:00pm
with the Saecula Singers Tom Brand, Music Director First Congregational Church of Cheshire i11 Church Drive, Cheshire, CT Free-will donation
Sunday, October 27, 2019, 4:00pm
Essex Meadows 30 Bokum Road, Essex, CT Free admission; registration required at 860-581-4660
Sunday, March 1, 2020, 4:00pm
Bethany Lutheran Church 50 Court Street, Cromwell, CT Free-will donation Reception follows
Saturday, March 21, 2020, 8:00pm
Asylum Hill Congregational Church 814 Asylum Avenue, Hartford CT $20 at www.ahcc.org
GMChorale 2018 - 2019 Season
GMChorale 2017 - 2018 Season
GMChorale 2016 - 2017 Season
GMChorale 2014 - 2015 Season
