Our first concert of the season brough Singers Companye back to our beautiful sanctuary! September 29, 2024 was a delightful evening of stunning choral music!
Singers Companye Program 9.29.24
Singers Companye Insert 9.29.24
Singers Companye Facebook Page
Singers Companye Spotlights a Choral Masterpiece in Anniversary Season.
One of northeast Ohio’s premiere choral ensembles, Singers Companye, will open their 25th anniversary season, featuring Dan Forrest’s global sensation, Jubilate Deo, on Sunday, September 29 at 5 pm as part of the concert series at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Massillon. This modern work is a brilliant statement about diverse cultures, that demonstrates how music is a vehicle for building community. Sung in seven languages (English, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese and Spanish), the spectacular multi-movement celebration is a setting of Psalm 100. The ensemble’s Artistic Director, Samuel Gordon, is conducting this program and will be joined by the organization’s VoxMix Collective.
The program opens with a new works by American choral composers, one of which has been composed by Samuel Gordon. The opening set, Birds, Bees, Buds & Trees, is a spot-on tribute to the beauty of nature and the nourishing environment it creates for all humanity. Jocelyn Hagen’s sparkling Trees Need Not Walk the Earth opens the program. The music is set to a David Rosenthal poem that creates a perfect segue to Gordon’s new setting of Redbuds on a poem written especially for Singers Companye by the conductor’s niece, Crystal Gordon Gilchrist. Composer Paul John Rudoi is a champion of Vachel Lindsay’s poetic humor and he has set the poet’s Two Old Crows, using a theatrical approach to delivering the humor of Lindsay’s verse. One of America’s most gifted choral composers, Jacob Narverud, is the talent that provides the other two works, Sunflower on a poem by William Blake, along with a touching setting of Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen of The Wizard of Oz fame.
The program features two outstanding young artists who are part of the VoxMix Collective. They are Canadian violinist, Maude Cloutier and cellist Brendon Phelps. Joining them for the Forrest work are: Ian Wenz, flute; Alexandra Piepenbrink, oboe; Brian Medellin, clarinet; Dan Frackler, horn; Dean Wagner, organ, Nancy Paterson, harp, Andy Flanagan, percussionist; Jeff Sonoda, keyboards and Amy Sauriol, the ensemble’s principal collaborative pianist. Vocal soloists include: Merissa Coleman, Olivia Beal Newcomb, Mikhaila Nobel-Pace, and Laura Williams, sopranos; Sarah Hutchins, alto; and Patrick Fields, baritone.
Described by the Washington Post as an ensemble with “unfailingly beautiful tone and charm,” you won’t want to miss this opportunity to bring some exciting, fresh sounds to your listening experience. Singers Companye is Choir-in-Consortium at Bath United Church of Christ. As part of the anniversary season, the ensemble will present the full 2024-25 season as part of their artist residency at First Methodist Church in Cuyahoga Falls. All concerts are open to the public at no charge and both are part of the concert series at those churches. Singers Companye is part of Crooked River Musical Arts, a non-profit public charity.
