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Practice begins January 10th

Tuesday, January 10th marks the beginning of the Athens Choral Society's Spring season. We will be peforming John Rutter's "Mass of the Children" and Paul Moravec’s " Songs of Love and War" featuring trumpeter Brandon Craswell. Practices are Tuesday evenings from 7pm-9pm at the Athens Area Council on Aging. A map to the rehearsal space can be found here.

 

Mass of the Children

Many people believe that "Mass fo the Children" is John Rutter's most powerful composition. The blending of children and adult voices has been called "mesmerizing". The text is that of a standard Latin Miss Brevis (a Mass without a Credo section) with several English poems included. The work was completed in 2003 and first performed at Carnegie Hall. It was the first major work that Rutter completed after nearly two years of silence following the tragic death of his son Christopher. While not written as an elegy for his son, Rutter says that "more than one person has come up to me and said they can sense Christopher written all over it." As is typical with a Rutter work, the piece includes flowing melodies, interesting rhythms, and harmonies with a "pop" feel to them.

Songs of Love and War - an Athens premiere
for Baritone Solo, SATB Chorus, Trumpet & Strings

The Choral Society premiere's Movavec's "Songs of Love and War" a powerful 1997 piece, written using letters sent to and from soldiers in four American wars: Vietnam (son to mother), World War II (wife to husband), World War I (a Marine's condolences to a fallen comrade's mother), and the Civil War (husband to wife). Moravec, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize in Music, wrote the piece to include a trumpet solo, here performed by Brandon Craswell.


Athens Choral Society is one of Athens' few non-audition community choirs. The group is directed by Stephen Mitchell and accompanied by Sara Lorusso.


Our director, Stephen Mitchell, loved Brian Eno's "This I Believe" essay "The Key to a Long Life" about singing - read it here!

 

Archived News:

Fall 2011, Rheinberger's Star of Bethlehem
Summer 2011, Athens Choral Society sings the 60's: Three Days of Peace, Love, and Memories
Spring 2011, Athens Choral Society's 40th Anniversary Concert
Fall 2010, A Baroque Christmas
Summer 2010, Athens Choral Society Goes Country!
Spring 2010, Cherubini's Overture to Faniska (orchestral) & Requiem in C minor

Fall 2009, Carols and Lullabies
Summer 2009, "Back to the Fifties"
Spring 2009,
An Evening of Beethoven
Fall 2008, Magnificat
Summer 2008, "I'll Be Seeing You"
Spring 2008, Puccini's Messa de Gloria
Fall 2007, "Choral Masterworks"
Summer 2007, "Pirates of the HMS Mikado"
Spring 2007, An Evening of Brahms
Fall 2006, Mozart's 250th Birthday Celebration
Summer 2006, Hooray for Hollywood!
Spring 2006, Haydn's Creation
Fall 2005,
For Unto Us a Child is Born (Bach) & Fantasia on Christmas Carols (Vaughn Williams)
Summer 2005, From Broad Street to Broadway
Spring 2005,
Music for Royal Occasions
Winter 2005, Athens Choral Society is Happy to Welcome Our New Director!

 


* *For entire story, see press.htm