Help us celebrate our 50th Anniversary Concerts!
Join us at the Colonial Theatre in Laconia on May 4th at 7:30 pm or the PSU Silver Center in Plymouth on May 5th at 3:00 pm.
Admission by donation
See Concert Program below
The 100-voice Pemigewasset Choral Society presents its 50th anniversary May concert series “Sweet Rivers”
Laconia concert - 7:30 pm, Colonial Theatre, Saturday May 4 Advance distribution of free tickets (general seating) for the Laconia concert will be available as of Tuesday April 30, 2024, at the box office (at 609 Main St in Laconia) or from the Colonial Theatre website. Donations to support the chorus are welcome at the door. Pemi Choral is very grateful to The Laconia Putnam Fund for its generous sponsorship of the performance at the Colonial Theatre.
PSU concert - 3:00 pm at the Silver Center in Plymouth, Sunday May 5 Admission is by free-will donation at the door. There are no advanced tickets necessary.
Program The concerts will feature a commissioned work celebrating the chorus’s 50th anniversary, composed by internationally recognized New England composer Moira Smiley. Her commission, “I Soared without Regret,” is based upon the poem “Flying” by former Plymouth State University professor Jane Babin, who died from ALS in 2015.
Accompanied by an 11-piece chamber orchestra, the choir will also be singing the beautiful Franz Schubert “Mass in G” with soprano soloist Janet Poisson and bass soloist Michael Gallagan.
“Shawn Kirchner’s composition ‘Sweet Rivers’ provided the title of the concert,” says Music Director Will Gunn, who fell in love with this piece when he first heard this arrangement. “It seems fitting to have a program dedicated to our namesake, the Pemigewasset River. Just as rivers converge and flow as one, so too do our voices combine with powerful harmonies that create a sound richer than any one individual.” The Abenaki word Pemigewasset means “swift current coming from the side,” describing the joining of the Baker River to the Pemigewasset.
“Pemi Choral is well-known for the wide range of musical genres it has performed over the past 50 years that include Broadway, classical, folk, standard and modern choral pieces, and holiday favorites,” says Gunn. “This concert honors the chorus’ broad repertoire with a diverse program of choral works that celebrate the joy music brings to our lives and the future of community singing.”
SWEET RIVERS PROGRAM
Will The Circle Be Unbroken? Traditional Appalachian arr. J. David Moore
As the Bridegroom to His Chosen John Rutter Soloist: Steve Anglea
I Soared without Regret Moira Smiley Text by Jane Babin (from her poem “Flying”) Orchestration by Laura Belanger
Lead with Love Melanie DeMore Soloists: Steve Anglea, Molly Milner, Barbara McCahan
The Wisdom of the Moon Susan LaBarr Words by Jan Richardson Soloist: Melissa Weeden
The Awakening Joseph M. Martin
INTERMISSION
Choral Dedication Robert Swift
Sweet Rivers Shawn Kirchner Orchestration by Ian Soderberg
Mass in G, D. 167 by Franz Schubert 1. Kyrie 2. Gloria 3. Credo 4. Sanctus 5. Benedictus 6. Agnus Dei
Soloists: Janet Poisson (Soprano) Michael Gallagan (Bass) AJ Coppola (Tenor)
Until I Reach My Home Traditional Negro Spiritual arr. Brandon A. Boyd Soloist: Molly Milner