choir Archives - Ensemble Companio

(Un)Common Ground – Season 14 President’s Message

November 15, 2024/in Announcements, President's Message /by Communications Chair

Dear friends,

Welcome to Season 14! A few highlights…

This weekend we’ll be heading to SUNY Schenectady for our third rehearsal of the season. We’ve welcomed a cohort of phenomenal new Companios and have already revisited some familiar spots–South Presbyterian Church and the public library in Dobbs Ferry, NY, and First Parish in Brookline, MA–as well as exploring a new and lovely space at Wellesley College. Later in the season, we’ll return to William Floyd High School for a workshop with their talented young singers. Our Artistic Director Erik Peregrine has brought us another transportative program, (Un)Common Ground, which celebrates our connections to our environment and each other. At its center is a brand-new work by Forrest Pierce, Fire in the Meadow, which we have the privilege of premiering after participating in a commission consortium earlier this year. We can’t wait to share it all with you at our spring concerts!

Of course, all art exists in context, and I composed this message in the leadup to Election Day here in the US. Amid the uncertainty, chaos, and acrimony in the public sphere, I am galvanized by the knowledge that there are also choirs. Beyond the power and catharsis of music in its own right, a choir gives a refreshing example of a healthy civic body. It’s not always easy and we make (many) mistakes, but choral singers show up. Choral singers reach out to help their neighbors. Choral singers work to achieve harmony and to share the stories told by dissonance. Our ability to live these practices, in and out of the rehearsal room, is more necessary than ever.

With that in mind, I invite you to join me in supporting Ensemble Companio as we continue our season and begin planning our fifteenth anniversary celebrations. This month, we’re launching our annual fundraiser, Drive to Sing: Celebrating Our Legacy and Shaping Our Future. Your contribution will directly sustain the adventurous and deeply moving artistry you’ve come to know and love, support new commissions by underrepresented composers, and help us be a source of joy, connection, and resilience for years to come. Also, speaking of our fifteenth season, if you or someone you know would like to join (or rejoin) our musical community, we’d love to hear from you (audition information here).

We are so grateful to you, our wider community, for the consistent outpouring of time, talent, and treasure which has allowed us to reach this milestone. We seldom, if ever, know what the future holds, but one thing I do know is that we choral singers in our millions (and Companios in particular) will keep turning up, week after week, month after month, season after season. Our pencils will be sharpened (or tablets charged) and our hearts will be open. We will keep seeking–and finding–(un)common ground.

Warmly,

Emily Higgins
President, Ensemble Companio

A Holiday Message from the President

Dear Friends and Family,

The end of the year is upon us, whether we’re ready or not.

I’ve finally come to believe what my parents have been telling me for years: the more living you do, the more quickly time passes. It’s for this reason that, regardless of whether or not I’m in the right “mood” for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I’ve made an effort in recent years to immerse myself in the season. Even when I feel that December has arrived too early—when I haven’t finished all my tasks at work or accomplished my goals for the year—it’s being surrounded by family and friends, enjoying good food and wine, sitting near a fire in the fireplace, and hearing joyful music that make the season real. Once I’m truly “tuned in,” gratitude comes easily for the year’s opportunities and friends, for my successes, failures, and lessons learned.

Ensemble Companio has much to be thankful for in 2014: several fabulous new singers; a fantastic master class with world-renowned American composer, arranger and conductor Alice Parker; the chance to perform in new cities and venues; and an ever-growing circle of support from our audiences and fans. We are grateful for the opportunities we’ve had the privilege of sharing with one another and look forward to what the future will bring.

Alice Parker and Director Joseph Gregorio celebrate a wonderful master class at Swarthmore College. (Photo: Ben Lowe)

In my experience, new possibilities for Ensemble Companio have occasionally arisen from unlikely places. This autumn, I had the great fortune to travel to Portugal and Switzerland for work. While in Carouge, a town just south of Geneva, I found myself in an illustrator’s studio looking for a thank-you card. When I explained that I was in a choir and wanted to thank someone who had given us advice, the artist’s face lit up and she began to ask me all sorts of questions about Ensemble Companio: How large was the choir? How long had we been in existence? What sort of music did we sing? And would we be performing in Switzerland? I was delighted at her warm, immediate interest! As I answered her queries as best I could in my rusty French, I explained that we were a regional American choir, but that one day we did indeed hope to perform outside the Northeastern US.

One day.

We’d love to present concerts in such places as Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco, and yes, perhaps even Europe and Asia. In fact, we’ve received invitations to perform in many of these places already. We don’t currently have the financial means to tour, but it’s definitely on our wish list (along with many more immediate things, like paying for music licensing fees, venue rental, and singers’ childcare during rehearsals). As you’ve undoubtedly seen, last month we kicked off our first annual Drive to Sing to raise $10,000. Thanks to your generosity, we’re well on our way to meeting that goal by the end of our 2014-2015 season. The Matching Gift Challenge has provided an additional incentive to give before the end of the year, and I do hope you’ll consider it.

A gorgeous choral thank-you card from Switzerland! (Card: Percho)

In the near future, however, we will do our utmost to bring you authentic, inspiring performances of the finest choral music in locations throughout the Northeast. Our rehearsals through the 2015 concert season will include:

January 10-11, 2015 at Union Memorial Chapel at Union College in Schenectady, NY
(we’ll present a free mini concert Sunday at 12:30pm)

February 7, 2015 at West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood, NJ
February 8, 2015 at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung, NJ

March 7, 2015 at Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wilton, CT
March 8, 2015 at Atria Stamford in Stamford, CT (we’ll present a free mini concert at 11:30am)

We always welcome your listening in on our rehearsals. As a reminder, our Saturday, March 21, 2015 concert will be in Brooklyn, NY, and our Sunday, April 19, 2015 concert will be in Ridgewood, NJ. As soon as we finalize our May 2015 concert, I will let you know!

Happy Holidays from Ensemble Companio! (Video: Ben Lowe)

Thank you once again for your enthusiasm and support for Ensemble Companio—we are ever so grateful for you. As always, I look forward to reading your thoughts and suggestions at president@ensemblecompanio.org. May you find yourself surrounded by family, friends, and beautiful music this holiday season.

Warmest wishes,

Cailin

A New Bridge

November 10, 2014/in Inside Ensemble Companio /by Joseph Gregorio

We built a wonderful new bridge last weekend.

Thanks to a grant from ACDA-PA, Ensemble Companio was fortunate enough to welcome the legendary composer, arranger, conductor, and song-leader Alice Parker for a three-hour workshop with us at Swarthmore College. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our singers to receive guidance from a master teacher and luminary in the fields of choral music and folk singing. Alice opened her heart and mind to us, and led the singers with supreme generosity and authority in impromptu singing of folk music and in her own arrangements of American hymn tune Wondrous Love and French folksong Auprès de ma blonde.

This is Your Chance!

July 20, 2014/in Announcements /by Ensemble Companio

We’re recruiting tenors and basses for our 2014-2015 season! If you are (or someone you know is) a talented singer and love(s) to travel, please let us know by sending us a message using the form below. We can’t wait to hear from you! Read more

A Peek Inside Ensemble Companio

July 19, 2014/1 Comment/in Inside Ensemble Companio /by Ensemble Companio

I came to Ensemble Companio as a mid-season replacement – an always nerve-wracking experience. Would I be able to learn all of the music in time for performances? Could I fit in with an established group that had already been working and performing together? At the first rehearsal, everyone in the group welcomed me with open arms, and I immediately felt like we were all old friends. The weekend intensive rehearsals have become a welcome retreat that I look forward to all month. And the music-making? In my 15 years of choral singing, both professionally and not, I have never experienced an equal to the quality of the singing we do in EC. I have never attempted to sing choral music from memory before, and now that I have, using the score almost feels like cheating! There is something truly magical that happens when 24 people come together to make music with nothing but Joe’s skilled baton between us and the audience. We listen, we communicate, we connect with ourselves and the audience in a way that’s truly exciting!

Telling the Forest From the Trees

July 17, 2014/in Inside Ensemble Companio /by Ensemble Companio

There are a handful of important life skills that I’ve come to value as I am decidedly in the adult phase of my life (my three small children are a constant reminder of this fact). Being able to manage expectations – others’ as well as our own – is up there. As is the ability to tap into our reserves of patience and poise when they seem to have run out. Another important skill is the ability to tell the forest from the trees and vice a versa. Myself, I am more of a tree person. I am detail oriented and hands-on. I am impulsive and short sighted. It takes a lot of work for my brain to zoom out and look at the big picture. Thankfully, the officers of Ensemble Companio consist of a lot of forest people. Our founder and director, Joseph Gregorio, has a fine-tuned sense of perspective. Read more

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