originally published: 04/14/2024
(FREEHOLD, NJ) -- Now in its Sparkling 75th Anniversary Season, the award-winning Monmouth Civic Chorus presents All that Sparkles on Sunday, May 19, 2024 at the First Presbyterian Church of Freehold. Showtime is 4:00pm.
The program includes a guided tour through the rich and diverse musical moments of one of Monmouth County’s longest-lived arts organizations. Join MCC as we highlight some of your favorite numbers throughout the decades and celebrate what’s to come — a sparkling future of music-making with you.
MCC president Hillary Critelli says, “Some of our singers and audience members have had the pleasure of experiencing some of these pieces as performed by MCC multiple times over the decades - we are thrilled to share a contemporary take on choral classics we know and love from the last 75 years!" With a nostalgic mix of selections from classical composers like Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Vivaldi to fan favorites Gilbert and Sullivan and Golden Age titans Frank Loesser and Rogers and Hammerstein, there’s something for everyone in this show, from our earliest supporters to first-time fans.
Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau adds, “Monmouth Civic Chorus has an extraordinarily rich musical tradition. From its very first year, 75 years ago, the group has explored many different pockets of the repertoire, from classical choral masterworks and shorter works for chamber choir to favorite musicals and operettas. It was a fun challenge to look at that history and choose a program of highlights and favorites. All the pieces on our May concert tap into those cherished memories.”
The performance will take place at the First Presbyterian Church of Freehold, 118 West Main Street, Freehold, NJ. Tickets for general admission seating are $40 adult, $35 senior, $30 group (10 or more), $15 student. Tickets and information about the concert and Virtuoso Fund opportunities to directly support this programming are available at monmouthcivicchorus.org or by calling (732) 933-9333.
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Artistic Director Ryan James Brandau has broad experience conducting a variety of choral and orchestral ensembles. In addition to his work with Monmouth Civic Chorus, he serves as Artistic Director of Princeton Pro Musica and Amor Artis, a chamber choir and orchestra in New York City. He has also served on the faculty of Westminster Choir College, where he has worked with the Symphonic Choir, which he has prepared for performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and the New Jersey Symphony. He remains active as a choral arranger, composer, and clinician, whose arrangements and compositions have been featured by choral ensembles across the globe. Ryan received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the Yale School of Music. Prior to pursuing graduate study in conducting, Ryan attended the University of Cambridge in the UK as a Gates Scholar, earning an M.Phil. in historical musicology. He received his B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University.
Monmouth Civic Chorus makes the music that moves you. The Chorus has been called “near-flawless” (Asbury Park Press), “alive and evocative” (The Star-Ledger) and “superior” (Red Bank Green). MCC is the proud recipient of the 2008 ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award, the 2010 Spinnaker Award for Arts and Culture from the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce, and a third-place winner of the 2018-19 American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music.
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