NEWS and UPCOMING EVENTS:

• CONCORA Founder Richard Coffey Celebrated in Print

  In respone to CONCORA’s March 30th performance of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, area media have honored Maestro Coffey for his 40 years of bringing the best of choral music to the greater Hartford community.

  The Hartford Courant‘s March 29th editorial states: “CONCORA Maestro Coffey Taking Final Bow.” Click here to read the editorial.

  Jeffrey Johnson, classical music critic for the Courant, in a Special to the Courant article, features an interview he conducted with Maestro Coffey last Friday. His piece appeared in the Friday, March 28th paper. Click here to read Mr. Johnson’s article.

• CONCORA Announces Three Finalists for Artistic Director

  CONCORA announces an update to the selection of three finalists for Artistic Director, one of whom will succeed outgoing CONCORA Artistic Director, Richard Coffey, in the 2015-16 season.

  Maestro Coffey, who founded CONCORA 40 years ago and has served as its sole Artistic Director, stepped down after CONCORA’s performance of J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra on March 30, 2014.

  The three finalists are Richard Giarusso, conductor of the Maryland Choral Society and the Georgetown Chorale; David Hodgkins, conductor of Coro Allegro in Boston and The New England Classical Singers in Andover, MA; and Christopher Shepard, conductor of the Worcester Chorus and the Dessoff Choirs in New York City.

  Andrew Megill, who was previously named as a finalist, has withdrawn his name from the search process following his recent appointment as director of choral activities at the University of Illinois, Champagne-Urbana.

  Each finalist will conduct CONCORA in a public concert in the fall of 2014. In January, 2015, CONCORA expects to announce its new Artistic Director, who will take the podium in the fall of 2015.

  Click here for additional information about the finalists and the search process.

• Summer Festival 2014 – Musical Pairs: Music of Europe and America
  Festival: Sun. July 20 to Sat., July 26, 2014
  Public Concert: Sat., July 26, 2014, 4:00 PM
  Dr. Pamela J. Perry, guest conductor

  Bethany Covenant Church
  785 Mill Street, Berlin, Connecticut

  The 2014 Summer Festival brings renowned choral conductor, Dr. Pamela Perry, to our Summer Festival podium for the first time. She has chosen a wonderful program of six “pairs” of pieces, the first half from Europe and the second half from America.

  Highlights include “Komm, Jesu Komm” by J.S. Bach, “Verleih’ uns Frieden” by Felix Mendelssohn, and the “Sanctus” from Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.

  Rehearsals will be Sunday afternoon, July 20; Monday evening, July 21; Wednesday evening, July 23; Friday evening, July 25; and Saturday morning, July 26.

  The public concert is at 4:00 PM on Saturday, July 26, 2014.

  Application forms will be available shortly.