#MySGCSMemory, continued
/St. George's Choral Society memories keep coming in, and we are thrilled to share them with you. You can submit #MySGCSMemory here.
“My St. George’s memory goes back to the performance of Noye’s Fludde—probably sometime in the 60s. I didn’t dream that some years later I would be living in St. George’s neighborhood. Soon after we settled in I attended a Christmas Candlelight service. In the program there was a note inviting anyone to join the Choral Society. In fear and trembling I braved Ken Dake’s audition—and made it. It was a great singing with Ken, Harry and Matthew.”
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“We were members of the St George’s Choral Society in the golden days of Charles Henderson and Calvin Hampton. Our first concert was a joint program of “Elijah” with Frederick Swann on the organ, done both at St. George’s and at Riverside Church. 300 voices.
The group did four or five concerts each year with an orchestra made of of the finest freelance musicians in the city. Then there was the Christmas Gala. Most programs were packed to the gills. We did most of the important choral works of Haydn and Mozart. Henderson dragged us through Britten’s “Cantata Misericordium.” We were background for concerts by the organist E. Power Biggs who recorded several albums on the great organ. We did the Beethoven “Choral Fantasia” twice. Also Brahms’ “Requiem.”
Under Calvin Hampton we did Carmina Burana twice, once with orchestra and once as intended with two pianos and percussion. Most memorable was Frank’s “Les Beatitudes,” a monumental work, especially since there was a lot of French for us to do.
One think I see different from amateur choral groups today is that there were a lot of singers under 40. In fact the rules requested that those over 65 join the audience. We had no officers, no dues, and the church provided everything for us. ... Thankfully the group today perpetuates the glorious name even though it does not [perform in] St. George’s wonderful space.”
