The Monmouth Civic Chorus
Dr. Mark Shapiro, Artistic Director
Close to Perfect, Close to Home

In this issue:

MCC Announces Messiah Soloists
A Note from the Conductor
MCC in the News
MCC to Hold Auditions
What's on your mind?

Monmouth Civic Chorus Announces Messiah Soloists

A quartet of accomplished soloists will join the Monmouth Civic Chorus and orchestra in the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah on Sunday, December 18, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at the Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, New Jersey. Seasonal favorites will round out the holiday program under the baton of Artistic Director Dr. Mark Shapiro. Former MCC members are invited to join us on stage for the Hallelujah Chorus.

Soprano Rebecca Nathanson recently returned from Opera Santa Barbara where she covered Musetta in their production of Puccini's La Bohème and was a studio artist. She was an apprentice artist at the Santa Fe Opera, where she covered Marguerite in Gounod's Faust and sang in their Apprentice Scenes Program. She sang Marguerite in a new production of Faust for Indiana University Opera Theater. In 2010, she made her professional debut at Opera North as Musetta in Puccini's La Bohème and sang Lucy in performances of Menotti's The Telephone. Ms. Nathanson was a winner of the 2010 Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition. In 2009, she was a Studio Artist in residence with Wolf Trap Opera, where she sang the role of Lola Markham in Douglas Moore's Gallantry. Other credits include Guenevere in Camelot with the Janiec Opera Company at Brevard and the roles of Josephine, Elsie Maynard, Aline, Pitti-Sing, and Phyllis from the Gilbert and Sullivan canon with the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society. Ms. Nathanson studied at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music as a student of Carol Vaness.

Mezzo-soprano Carla Jablonski has been hailed as a "seasoned and multi-dimensional" young performer, with "appealingly burnished tone" as described by The New York Times. The Pittsburgh native made her Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall singing Five Songs by Charles Ives arranged for orchestra by John Adams. She returned to the Tully stage to sing the role of Fileno in Handel's Clori, Tirsi, e Fileno under the baton of Maestro Nicholas Mcgegan. She recently made her Carnegie hall debut in Handel's Messiah, and will be singing El Amor Brujo with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Recently, Ms. Jablonski sang in a co-production between the Metropolitan Opera and The Juilliard School conducted by James Levine and directed by Stephen Wadsworth. She sang the role of La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi and reprised the role with Central City Opera Company. Other highlights include Mère Jeanne in Dialogues des Carmélites, Mrs. Jones in Kurt Weill's Street Scene and Thelma Yablonski in John Musto's Later the Same Evening. Ms. Jablonski has been featured in New York Festival of Song, sang in the New York premiere of Xenakis's microtonal opera Oresteia and is a regular featured member of American Opera Projects. She received her Masters Degree from The Juilliard School and has sung with Wolf Trap Opera Company, Chautauqua Opera and Central City Opera. Awards include a Drama Desk in theatre, ASCAP, Bori Grant, and Novick Career Advancement Award.

Tenor William Ferguson appeared with the Santa Fe Opera as Caliban in the North American premiere of Thomas Adès' The Tempest, and with Opera Australia singing Truffaldino in a new production of Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges. In New York, Ferguson has performed Beppe in I Pagliacci at the Metropolitan Opera as well as the title role in Candide and Nanki-Poo in The Mikado at New York City Opera. Additional credits include appearances at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Opera Omaha, Virginia Opera, Gotham Chamber Opera, and Opera Company of Philadelphia. He holds both a Bachelor's and Master's of Music degree from The Juilliard School. A passionate concert and recital performer, Mr. Ferguson has appeared with The American Symphony Orchestra, BBC Orchestra (London), Boston Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (England), Houston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Musica Sacra New York, National Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Opera Orchestra of New York, Oratorio Society of New York, Orchestra of St. Luke's, and Radio Filharmonisch Orkest (Netherlands).

Russian-American baritone Aleksey Bogdanov is a recent alumnus of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera. Recent engagements include The Glimmerglass Festival as Escamillo in Bizet's Carmen and Bernard De Voto in the world premiere of A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck by Jeanine Tesori. During the 2012 season, Mr. Bogdanov will return to Washington National Opera as Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. He will also make his National Symphony Orchestra debut in Beethoven's Fidelio, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach. The 2012 summer season will mark his return to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Escamillo in Carmen. Mr. Bogdanov recently performed with the Washington Concert Opera, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera Merola Program, Opera North, Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he made his professional debut in William Walton's Troilus and Cressida. Mr. Bogdanov was the First Prize Winner of the 2011 Florida Grand Opera YPO Voice competition, as well as their Junior Grand Prize Winner in 2009. He is also the recipient of the 2011 Richard F. Gold Career Grant.

Concert tickets are $45 for premium seating ($40 seniors, $35 groups, $10 students), and $25 regular seating ($22 seniors, $20 groups, $5 students). Season subscribers get priority for premium Messiah seats. Subscriptions are $75 for the season (student subscriptions $20). Call (732) 933-9333 or visit www.monmouthcivicchorus.org.

The Monmouth Civic Chorus is the proud winner of the 2010 Spinnaker Award for Arts and Culture from the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce, and the 2008 ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award, given to only one chorus in North America each year. Critics have acclaimed the Chorus as "close to perfect" (Asbury Park Press), "sonorously impressive" (The Star-Ledger) and "exceptional" (Red Bank Green).

A Note from the Conductor

My final holiday concert as Music Director of the Monmouth Civic Chorus is a distinctly emotional experience. Counting this evening's performance, MCC and I will have celebrated this season together twenty-one times. Over the years our joint understanding of its meaning has only grown richer.

At the beginning of winter we seem always to experience a heightened awareness of the passage of time. We have changed our clocks; now we bundle up and put the kettle on, bracing ourselves for the shortness of the days, the chill of frosty nights. The early afternoon dark makes us keenly mindful of time's recurring cycle: it is "that time of year" again. (And again the ritual crossing of fingers: no snowstorm, please, on the day of our concert.) Stoically enduring the shortness of the days, we await the arrival of a new spring.

As humans have throughout history, we brighten the season with light, and with music. We counter its inherent gloom by making it festive, decorating it with color and sound. Time spent indoors – at the hearth, or whatever nowadays passes for a hearth – strengthens our ties to friends and family, the irreplaceable precious ones whose spirits are our constant inner companions.

This is why, as much as anyone, I love the holiday favorites: Christmas carols, Hanukah songs, new arrangements of old tunes and texts. Singing will always grace our lives for as long as people have voices, and I cannot imagine what someone could invent to outdo the magnificence of actual human voices raised together in song. As every singer well understands, the experience is mythic, transcendent. It goes deeper than we can say, reaching us at that pre-conscious level of soul where we sense only the necessity and rightness of what we're doing.

Nor do I ever tire of Handel's Messiah. Whenever it is on the program, I cannot wait to hear the first chords. I know I will be immediately and completely won over by the music's radiant beauty, its expressive range, its effortless technique, and its ineffable rightness for the voices and instruments.

My two decades with the Monmouth Civic Chorus have been a life-changing experience. I am so humbled and grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from this organization, these singers. MCC taught me much of what I know about life; this has been a gift that I can never adequately repay. I hope listeners will join us for my "farewell" concert: Verdi's Requiem on March 10, 2012. That will be a powerful night of celebration and reflection, and as Verdi's masterpiece always is, a profoundly exhilarating musical experience.

~ Mark Shapiro

MCC in the News

Catch up with us in the local media:

Red Bank Green has an article about MCC with a video of our Bach B Minor Mass concert. They said we've "challenged audiences and vocalists alike with new, unfamiliar, even experimental programming that would be the envy of many big-city chorales." http://www.redbankgreen.com/2011/12/joyous-majestic-indoor-voices-please.html

The Star-Ledger published an interview with Dr. Mark Shapiro on Sunday, December 11. Out of several Messiah performances listed, including those at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, MCC's was singled out as "particularly meaningful." http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/2011/12/hallelujah_its_messiah_season.html

The Asbury Park Press also ran an interview with Dr. Shapiro the same day, remarking that this performance will be "bittersweet" because it's his last Messiah with MCC. http://www.app.com/article/20111210/NJENT01/312100016/Say-farewell-Hallelujah-Civic-Chorus-director

Monmouth Civic Chorus to Hold Auditions

Experienced singers are invited to audition for the award-winning Monmouth Civic Chorus by appointment on Tuesday evenings beginning in November.

Interested singers are encouraged to attend a rehearsal. Auditions and rehearsals are held on Tuesdays at Trinity Episcopal Church, 50 White Street, Red Bank, New Jersey. For an audition appointment or more information, visit www.monmouthcivicchorus.org and click Sing with Us, e-mail membership@monmouthcivicchorus.org, or call 732-933-9333.

What's on Your Mind?

We'd love to know what you think about our concerts and our newsletter. Visit our web site, be our friend on Facebook, or e-mail marketing@monmouthcivicchorus.org to send us your comments.