The Phoenix Rises
2023 CONCORA SUMMER FESTIVAL

WHEN:      Sunday - Saturday, July 23 - 29, 2023
WHERE:    Bethany Covenant Church, 785 Mill Street, Berlin CT
COST:        General - $300 ($275 if registered by June 23); Student - $100
After a 4-year hiatus, the CONCORA Summer Festival returns, with a particularly exciting set of repertoire.  The theme of the concert is THE PHOENIX RISES.  The music of the concert remembers heart-wrenching events of the twentieth century, but always with a message of hope for unity and reconciliation.

The anchor of the concert is the new 30-minute choral suite from Craig Hella Johnson's  Considering Matthew Shepard, remembering the brutal murder of a young gay man in Wyoming.  CONCORA performed the whole work with singers from UCONN to great acclaim in 2019.  We also present the five spirituals from Michael Tippett's A Child of Our Time, which juxtaposes the injustice of slavery with the horrors of Kristallnacht, one of the earliest events leading to the Holocaust.  Two recent works complete the program, each bearing the message of future change: Hope, by Debra Scroggins and I Dreamed of Rain by Jan Garrett.​

This year's festival begins on Sunday, July 23rd and runs to Saturday, July 29th, with the following rehearsal schedule:   Sunday, July 23 - 3:00-6:00 pm - rehearsal; 6:00 pm dinner
Monday, July 24 - 7:00-10:00 pm - rehearsal
Wednesday, July 26 - 7:00-10:00 pm - rehearsal
Friday, July 28, 7:00-10:00 pm - rehearsal
Saturday, July 29, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm - "dress" rehearsal; 3:00 pm concert
​
We are also offering workshops again this year, which proved very popular in recent years: 

  • Monday, July 24 - 6:00 pm - Broadway Workshop with Mark Mummert.
    • ​ You are encouraged to work up that solo you've always wanted to sing, and present it for our class and coach!
  • Wednesday, July 26 - 6:00 pm – Conductors’ Workshop with Chris Shepard
    • For even experienced conductors, fermatas pose special difficulties. Chris will work through techniques for approaching these pesky markings, and then selected participants will get to conduct a vocal ensemble of CONCORA members and festival participants in music of their choice.
  • Friday, July 28 - 6:00 pm - Vocal Health with Patricia Doyle, MA, CCC-SLP
    • The return of our most popular class.  Let Trish, one of CT’s most prominent speech pathologists, guide you through maintaining your vocal health throughout your life, and the added techniques you'll need in our post-Covid world.​
REGISTRATION INCLUDES:
  • A week of music-making with CONCORA and Artistic Director Chris Shepard, culminating with a performance on Saturday, July 29 at 3 pm
  • All festival music
  • One Seat for Dinner on Sunday, July 23 at 6 pm
  • One Guest Ticket to the culminating concert on Saturday, July 29 at 3pm
  • Admission to Three Classes:
           * Broadway Master Class with Mark Mummert, Monday, July 24 at 6 pm
           * Conducting Master Class with Chris Shepard, Wednesday, July 26 at 6 pm
           * Vocal Health with Patricia Doyle, MA, CCC-SLP, Friday, July 28 at 6 pm

REPERTOIRE:
  • Michael Tippett - Five Spirituals from A Child of Our Time
  • Debra Scroggins - “Hope”
  • Jan Garrett - “I Dreamed of Rain”
  • Craig Hella Johnson - Choral Suite from Considering Matthew Shepard

DAILY SCHEDULE:
Sunday, July 23
    2:00 pm - Registration 
    3:00 - 6:00 pm - Rehearsal
    6:00 pm - Dinner

Monday, July 24
    6:00 pm - Broadway Master Class with Mark Mummert
    7:00 - 10:00 pm - Rehearsal

Wednesday, July 26
    6:00 pm - Conducting Master Class with Chris Shepard
    7:00 - 10:00 pm - Rehearsal

Friday, July 28
    6:00 pm - Vocal Health with Patricia Doyle, MA, CCC-SLP
    7:00 - 10:00 pm - Rehearsal

Saturday, July 29
    10:00 am - 1:00 pm - “Dress” Rehearsal
    Lunch on your own, call TBD
    3:00 pm - Concert, “The Phoenix Rises”

​OTHER INFORMATION
  • Anyone who would like to sing in the Broadway Master Class (Monday) or conduct in the Conducting Master Class (Wednesday), should check the box on the registration form.  You will be contacted separately to discuss your repertoire selection.
  • Additional Dinner seats are available for purchase.  The cost is $30.  These additional dinner tickets must be purchased in advance.
  • Additional Concert Tickets are also available for purchase, at a cost of $20.  Concert tickets may also be purchased during the Festival Week, and at the door on Saturday.
  • We are trying to bring our Summer Festival experience to as many young people as we can.  To that end, Student Registration is only $100.  If you’d like to help us help them, please consider making a donation to defray the costs of their festival experience.

About the CONCORA Summer Festival

The Summer Festival offers adults and select high school and college singers from the community an opportunity to join with CONCORA in rehearsing and performing great choral works. Past Festival repertoire has included a variety of great choral masterworks: arrangements by Robert Shaw and Alice Parker, the Requiems of Brahms, Fauré, and Duruflé, Part II of Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Orff's Carmina Burana, selections from Bach's cantatas, Schubert's Mass in G, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms.  
Participation in the CONCORA Summer Festival is open to adult singers from the community, along with select high school and college-age singers. The Summer Festival Chorus spends a week with Chris Shepard and CONCORA singers, preparing and performing great choral works.

​Interested singers may sign up for CONCORA’s mailing list to receive notice about application, registration requirements and fees, etc. Qualified high school and college-age students are eligible to apply to attend the festival on full scholarship as Choral Scholars. If you are interested in participating as a Choral Scholar or know a qualified student who would appreciate this opportunity, be sure to sign up for our mailing list to receive early notice of scholarship opportunities. 

Comments from past Festival Participants

"One of the highlights of my summer. Working with Chris is amazing. And this year, I met several women who all want to stay in touch between now and next year's festival."

"Chris's direction makes the music come to life."

"It was a great experience, Chris offers so many helpful suggestions for singers and the music selections are great."

"Tremendous! I learned so much and the long rehearsals just flew by!"

"This was an exceptional experience in so many ways. I feel honored to have been a participant."

The 2019 Summer Festival Chorus

A History of the CONCORA
Summer Choral Festival

2023 - The Phoenix Rises
2020 - Virtual Summer Festival
2019 - Music For Choir and 4-Hand Piano
2018 - Wonderful Town! A Bernstein Centenary
2017 - Exploring the Great Choral Masterworks
2016 - A Serenade to Music: Choral Settings of Shakespeare
2015 - Come, Let us Sing with Melody! (with Guest Conductor Joseph D’Eugenio)
2014 - Musical Pairs: Music of Europe and America (with Guest Conductor Dr. Pamela J. Perry)
2013 - Johannes Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
2012 - Music of Celebration and Solace
2011 - Choral Classics Plus!
2010 - Choral Songs of Life and Love
2009 - Maurice Duruflé: Requiem
2008 - The Contemporary Choral Song
2007 - Great Music for Strings and Choir
2006 - Carl Orff: Carmina Burana
2005 - Music for a Sacred Space
2004 - Great Music for Double Choir
2003 - Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony IX, with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra
2002 - George Frideric Handel: Messiah, Part II
2001 - Johannes Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
2000 - Music of America, a program of choral music by American composers
1999 - A Tribute to Robert Shaw, honoring the legendary maestro and his choral legacy