Richard Coffey to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from Choral Arts New England

We are proud to announce that the Board of Directors of Choral Arts New England has unanimously selected Artistic Director Richard Coffey as the 2009 recipient of the Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award is presented annually by Choral Arts New England to individuals who have made exceptional contributions to choral singing and its culture within New England. It is significant to note that Rick is the youngest person ever to receive this recognition for lifetime achievement since the award's inception in 1994.

Choral Arts New England's Board Chairman, Peter Pulsifer, expounds on their choice: "We felt that Mr. Coffey clearly merited this recognition for his founding and distinguished leadership of CONCORA for 35 years (and counting), for his work with other choruses, including the Hartford Chorale, and for all that he has done to educate singers and choral conductors and, generally, to improve the quality of choruses in Connecticut and beyond."

As you may know, Rick founded CONCORA in 1974 as The South Church Choral Society, under the auspices of the Music Series at South Church. Renamed and reconfigured in 1985, CONCORA has since grown under his leadership to include the annual Summer Festival, which celebrates its 11th season next month (see accompanying article). Under Rick's direction, CONCORA also established the quartet CONCORA-to-Go, whose program "Around the World in Music" brings multicultural choral singing into the region's elementary schools and public libraries.

Choral Arts New England will present Rick with the Alfred Nash Patterson Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony to be held on October 18, 2009. Previous recipients of the award are Craig Smith, Robert de Cormier, Donald Teeters, Alice Parker, John Bavicchi, Roberta Humez, Mary Whitney Rowe, Blanche Moyse, George Kent, Allen Lannom, Florence Dunn, Daniel Pinkham, Lorna Cooke DeVaron, and Elliot Forbes.