Cantilena Chamber Choir

The Cantilena Chamber Choir

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The Cantilena Chamber Choir

A Special Performance from
Edith Wharton’s Parisian Salon

featuring music by Ravel, d’Indy & Poulenc

Saturday, March 13, 2010, 4:00pm

AT

2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, MA •

In the Drawing Room

Please join us for a reception following
the performance

Tickets $40
Space is limited; please purchase tickets
in advance by calling (413) 551-5111.
www.EdithWharton.org

Photo: Edith Wharton at the Mount

The Cantilena Chamber Choir will recreate a concert similar to those given by Edith Wharton in her Parisian salon to raise money for the Belgian War relief effort of World War I. The concert was inspired by the framed autographed manuscript score of a choral section of The Legend of St. Christophe by French Composer Vincent D’Indy that hangs on the wall on the third floor of the Mount. The choir has chosen to perform this and other works by a few of the most famous French composers of the time who had been guests of Ms. Wharton for these concerts. The concert will feature all a cappella music including the Sept Chansons by Francis Poulence, the Trois Chansons by Maurice Ravel, and other rarely heard works for choir by Camille Saint Saëns and Vincent d’Indy.

Now in its sixth season, the Cantilena Chamber Choir is the Berkshire region's leading a cappella group. It is comprised of 24 singers who possess vocal training, good sight-reading skills and considerable choral experience. For the past two seasons it was heard on a special WMHT Christmas Eve radio broadcast of Lessons and Carols recorded at the church. The Choir has collaborated with the New England Baroque Soloists, Aston Magna and The Empire Brass, and appeared a second time this December with The Empire Brass at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington. Past season highlights include a concert of works by Shostakovich, an all-Berkshire composer concert, and special benefits for the Lenox Library and the Berkshire Immigrant Center. It has also performed with Shakespeare and Company’s Annette Miller, Berkshire Theater Festival’s Jonathan Epstein, and presented several programs for children. The Choir is in residence at Trinity Church in Lenox.

Andrea Goodman is the founder and director of the Cantilena Chamber Choir. She has been a visiting professor of conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music where she also directs the women's choir. During the summer she serves as the Director of the annual summer Saratoga Choral Festival. She has prepared choirs for the Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, and has previously served as Director of the Concord Chorus (MA), Director of Choirs at Skidmore College and New York University. Her guest appearances have included the Aspen (Colo.) Music Festival, the Festival de Musique Sacree in Fribourg, Switzerland, and the Festival of White Nights in St. Petersburg, Russia. Dr. Goodman holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting.

Photo taken October 2007