Kent Singers Concert Celebrates Spring

Kent Singers

The Kent Singers return for the Spring Concert of the 39^th season on April 15, 2012, at St. Andrew’s Church in Kent, and on April 22 at St. Mark’s Bridgewater. Both concerts are scheduled for 3 p.m.

The highly acclaimed group features singers from throughout Northwest Connecticut performing mostly four-part classical compositions. They have built a reputation for presenting some of the finest choral music. They are all volunteers, including Music Director, Mark Brooks.

The April 2012 concert features a mixed theme of Easter, Love and new life in Spring. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Motet 3, “Jesu, meine Freude” (Jesu, my great pleasure), sung in English, reflects the Easter theme. Bach wrote six motets and this one, Motet 3, is unique amongst all the others as it is a “Chorale” motet, using popular hymns of his day with texts from the Eighth Chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. Bach’s musical genius rested on a theological foundation and he has been referred to as “The Fifth Evangelist.”

The remainder of the program will be songs of new life, spring and love featuring great poets John Donne, Ronsard, Octavio Paz, Joseph Machlis, George Herbert, Robert Bridges and James Agee, with music by Dominick Argento, David Dickau, Hans Hassler, Orlando diLasso, Eric Whitacre, Williametta Spencer, Norman Dello Joio, William Bolcom and Samuel Barber.

The Kent Singers have performed in Kent, New Preston, Bridgewater, Sharon, Sherman, Washington and New Haven. They have expanded from a single concert in the fall and spring to five concerts per year.

The next performance will be the Faure Requiem with the Sherman Ensemble on June 10 at the Kent School Chapel in Kent, Conn.

Tickets for the April concerts are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and young adults, and children under 12, free. For more information call 860-619-8110, email info@kentsingers.org, or visit www.kentsingers.org.