Cantilena Chamber Choir

The Cantilena Chamber Choir

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UPCOMING CONCERT: CHRISTMAS AT HARVARD

The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present a Christmas program in the tradition of Harvard's Memorial Church . The program is dedicated in memory of John Ferris, Harvard's organist and choirmaster for over three decades who passed away this summer at age 82. The program will include works sung by the Harvard University Choir that appeared in the past Christmas services of Lessons and Carols at the church during Ferris' tenure. They include works by Bruckner, Handel, Ives and Sweelinck, and traditional carols in new arrangements. There will also be secular readings (both poignant and humorous) on the Christmas season as read by Stephen Booth, rector of the Trinity Parish in Lenox. The first program will be held on Sunday, DEC. 7th, at 3:00 pm at Trinity Church , 88 Walker Street , and the second concert (with readers John Wightman and Trudy Weaver) will be held on Sunday, DEC. 14th at 3:00pm at the Old Parish Church on Main Street in Sheffield . Featured on the December program is Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols, a work for Women's Choir and harp written in 1942 on the transatlantic voyage that brought Britten back to wartime England . The featured harpist is Susan Knapp Thomas. Arrangements of familiar carols and songs will also be performed, including The Coventry Carol, Personant Hodie, and music by Billings and Ives. Tickets are available at the door at $15 for adults and students are admitted free with a paying adult. Reservations (recommended) can be made by phone at 518-791-0185 or by email at satbchoir@yahoo.com.

Now in its fifth season, the 24-voice Cantilena Chamber Choir is the Berkshire region's premiere a cappella choir. It is comprised of singers from the Berkshires and Eastern New York area who possess good vocal training, sight-reading skills, and considerable choral experience who seek more challenging music in the choral repertoire. Past seasons have included performances with the Empire Brass, Aston Magna (Purcell's Dido and Aeneus) and the new England Baroque Soloists, a concert of works by Berkshire Composers, a special benefit for the Lenox Library with Shakespeare and Company's Annette Miller, and a a collaboration with Boston University's Tanglewood Two symposium at Williams College. This season it has collaborated with the New England Baroque Soloists for two concerts, October and May, and presented a special performance of Ron Perera's The Golden Door as a benefit for the Berkshire Immigrant Center.

Andrea Goodman is the founder and director of the Cantilena Chamber Choir. Last fall she was 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 and teaches music sight-reading for adults on Tuesday evenings in Lenox.

Photo taken October 2007