DES Logo 2008 Down East Singers

Recent Performances

Luigi Cherubini's Requiem in C minor, Memorial Day 2008, performed in Rockland and Blue Hill, Maine. Composed in 1815, this work was especially admired by Schumann, Brahms and Beethoven and is the Requiem that was performed at Beethoven's own funeral.

Rachmaninoff Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, March 2008, with the Rachmaninoff Festival Choir, in Thomaston and Saco, Maine, and Cambridge and Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Contemporary Greek American composers -- Anna Gallos, Theodore Bogdanos, Tikey Zes, Constantine Limberakis, Stephen Cardiasmenos -- February 2008. With the Rachmaninoff Festival Choir as demonstration choir for Anthony Antolini's presentation at the ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) Eastern Division convention in Hartford, Connecticut.

Ottorino Respighi's Laud to the Nativity, December 2007. Performed in Rockport, with singers from Riley School and the Ashwood Waldorf School collaborating on the program. Laud to the Nativity, composed in 1930, is a melodious evocation of the manger scene as witnessed by the shepherds. Also on the program were Gordon Bok's Oh, I Am Calling and Moses Hogan's Music Down in My Soul.

Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass (Mass in D minor), Memorial Day 2007. Also on the program was Rachmaninoff's "The Angel" from Six Choruses for Women's Voices.

Gloria, John Rutter; Magnificat, Cesar Cui; Come, Bring with a Noise, Richard Francis, December 2006. Camden Hills Regional High School Chamber Singers and Women's Chorus collaborated with DES for these Feast Music concerts. Richard Francis is a composer living in Damariscotta.

John Rutter's Requiem, May 29, 2006. Written in 1985, this Requiem is described by the composer as " … intimate rather than grand, contemplative and lyric rather than dramatic, consolatory rather than grim, approachable rather than exclusive."

Sergei Rachmaninoff's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, on Spring Tour 2006 to Peabody, Massachusetts, and the San Francisco Bay area and in March 2007 at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation in Boston. A highly expressive, emotional setting of the Russian Orthodox morning worship service, written in 1910 and rediscovered and revived by Anthony Antolini in 1985.

Mozart's Missa Brevis in F, K 192, December 2 and 4, 2005. This "short mass" was written when Mozart was 18 years old for Salzburg Cathedral. Described by musicologist H. Abert as "the summit of Mozart's youthful masses," the Missa Brevis was performed in collaboration with the newly formed Odeon Chamber Ensemble. The concert also featured a rarely heard choral work by English composer Ivan Moody and movements from concertos by J.S. Bach and G. P. Telemann.

Mozart's Requiem, May 30, 2005. This immortal masterpiece, left unfinished at Mozart's death and completed by a devoted student, presents a gripping depiction of The Last Judgment and the repose of the soul.

Israel in Egypt, Handel's rarely heard oratorio for double chorus describing in vivid musical detail the events of the Passover story. Down East Singers joined with Bowdoin Chorus and Orchestra for this performance on May 1, 2005.

Vivaldi: Gloria, featured in December Feast Music concert with Odeon Youth String Ensemble, December 2004.

Dvorak: Requiem -- May 31, 2004

Kodaly: Pange Lingua and Missa Brevis; Myron J. Roberts: Storm on Lake Galilee and Oh Lord, We Beseech Thee -- March 12 and 14, 2004

Handel: Messiah (Christmas portion) with Midcoast Symphony Orchestra -- December 13, 2003

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