What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than with good music? The Chester River Chorale’s Chester Chamber Singers and River Voices will celebrate spring, mothers, and love in a special performance on Sunday, May 12 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church in Centreville.
“I can’t think of a better place to hold our Mother’s Day concert than St. Paul’s Church in Centreville,” says Douglas Cox, Artistic Director of the Chester River Chorale. “The beautiful sanctuary and vibrant acoustics are an ideal setting for our voices and our repertoire.”
Chester Chamber Singers
The Chester Chamber Singers and River Voices are the auditioned ensembles of the 85-voice Chester River Chorale, based in Chestertown. The Chorale attracts singers from various communities in Kent and northern Queen Anne’s Counties.
“As the concert title suggests, A Choral Bouquet on Mother’s Day will offer a varied mixture of musical styles and tonal colors, reminiscent of springtime flora in May,” says Cox. “We look forward to bringing the best of our diverse repertoire. Sacred songs of praise, modern Italian madrigals, jazzy settings from William Shakespeare’s songbook, American folk songs, and popular hits from Cole Porter and other great American songwriters.”
Cox will conduct the Chester Chamber Singers, an ensemble of about 24 singers. The group performs at each Chester River Chorale concert and has performed for the past several years at the Chestertown Tea Party Festival.
Michelle Sensenig is the Assistant Director of the Chorale and Director of River Voices, the Chorale’s a cappella community outreach ensemble. “River Voices is returning to some of our favorite literature for this concert,” she says. “We always look forward to sharing our best-loved pieces such as My Girl, It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got that Swing, and Ola Gjeilo’s Ubi Caritas.”
River Voices
Sensenig says that River Voices will debut a few new pieces as well. “One of my favorites, Bring Me a Little Water, Sylvie, first caught my eye when watching a video of the women of the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters Chorus perform this a cappella piece with body percussion,” she says. “We were able to arrange a choral session with a member of the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters Chorus, Chief Musician Rachel Sarracco of Queenstown. Rachel graciously and patiently taught our River Voices ladies how to clap and stomp while singing this simple tune. This song has already been loads of fun and we look forward to sharing it with an audience on May 12.”
River Voices is available to perform for community events. They will appear at the National Music Festival on June 15 with the Festival Orchestra and singers from the Festival’s inaugural vocal program.
The Mother’s Day concert is free (donations will be gratefully accepted and will go to the Chester River Chorale, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization) and open to all. More information about the Chorale and its ensembles can be found online at chesterriverchorale.org.
Robin Wood says
Thank you, Spy, for publishing such a nice write-up, with art!