2011-2012 Season

Missa Gaia

Saturday, October 8, 2011, 8:00 pm
Salem Covenant Church, 215 East Mountain Street, Worcester

The Master Singers join forces with the WPI Festival Chorus and the WPI African Percussion Ensemble, all under the direction of John Delorey, to present the much loved and celebrated Missa Gaia, created by Paul Winter in 1980, and performed annually at St. John the Divine in NYC. The program will feature two additional works, Ubi Caritas, and Sound Over All Waters, by former Paul Winter Consort member, the noted pianist and improvisor Paul Halley

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Boar's Head Festival

Saturday, December 10, 2011 [Snow date: Sunday, December 11], 4:00 pm
Wesley United Methodist Church, 114 Main St, Worcester

Celebrate the winter solstice and welcome the yuletide, with this Renaissance-styled pageant, as the Master Singers present traditional carols, and modern and ancient choral music for the season, accompanied by brass and organ, and joined by the Worcester Children's Chorus and the Shrewsbury Ringers, all in period costume. Once again a troupe of Morris Dancers, as well as swordsmen and armor from the renowned Higgins Armory will also be featured, and the festival will conclude with a jolly reception in Brewer Hall. Much of the repertoire will also be included in the Master Singers' newest recording, available for purchase at this year's event.

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King David

Sunday April 1, 2012, 4:00 pm
Temple Emanuel, 280 May Street, Worcester

Arthur Honegger's dramatic oratorio tells the epic tale of David, the passionate musician, poet and warrior, who began life as a shepherd and became the King of Israel. This "symphonic psalm," originally created as incidental music for René Morax' play Le Roi David in 1921, quickly established the young Swiss composer's reputation with a score that matched in energy and sweep this monumental story of the Hebrew Bible. Honegger later combined Morax' narrative with the incidental music to create the work as it is best known today, scored for narrator, chorus, orchestra, and soloists. Featured performers will include Roger Brunelle as narrator and tenor Stanley Wilson.

Preceding the concert at 3:00 PM, Rabbi Matthew Berger will present an informative lecture about the fascinating figure of David, and his significance in the history of Israel. description

This concert is sponsored in part by a grant from the Alfred Nash Patterson Foundation, and is the Gould Music Festival concert of Temple Emanuel.

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Voices from the Bluegrass

Sunday, May 20, 2012, 4:00 pm
Salem Covenant Church, 215 East Mountain Street, Worcester

Carol Barnett's The World Beloved: a Bluegrass Mass features the chorus and soloists in an energetic, eclectic work with a bluegrass band. Also on the program will be Gwyneth Walker's The Great Trees, with clarinetist Chester Brezniak and pianist Olga Rogach joining the chorus and soloists in evocative settings of texts by the Kentucky poet Wendell Berry, celebrating the beauty and spirituality of nature.

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