A statewide chorale will give its first concert in southeastern Connecticut this weekend, bringing a program of spring music to the .
The Greater Middletown Chorale will perform at 4 p.m. on Sunday. General admission is $25, while the attendees over the age of 62 are admitted for $20. Students from age 10 through college pay $15, while children under the age of nine are admitted for free.
The chorale was established in Middletown in 1977, but today includes members from 35 different communities. Matt McCaffrey, president of the chorale and pastor of the Second Congregational Church, said the group includes some professional singers but mostly consists of people who enjoy singing. Members include a retired judge as well as lawyers and doctors.
“They come out on Tuesday nights because it’s something completely different from their regular lives,” said McCaffrey.
McCaffrey said he recently met with church leaders to discuss having the church be a more artistic venue, and that this led to the agreement to host the chorale for the concert.
The program includes Morten Lauridsen’s “Lux Aeterna” as well as other American spirituals and sacred music. In addition, Mystic harpist Allyn Bryson Donath will play an instrumental selection.
Joseph D’Eugenio, the chorale’s artistic director, said the group recently sang the featured program at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford. Last year, the group toured Italy and concluded with the same performance in Venice.
D’Eugenio said the chorale performs about five or six concerts a year, usually throughout the state.
“I think the most important thing is cultivating an esprit de corps in a group,” D’Eugenio said the preparation for the shows. “It’s really from there that the best music making can emerge.”
