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Chorus News

The Battle for the Baton is over, and we thank all those who supported the CPC while joining in the fun of choosing the conductor of the final number in the concert. And the winner is: BARBARA KELLNER! Congratulations to Barbara and to all the voters.

Singathon
The Singathon in the Mall on February 9 gave CPC a welcome opportunity to bring its music to a broader than usual audience in an informal setting where questions were welcomed and no restrictions were placed on how to listen, when to come, and when to leave. It may well have been the first time for many of the young children who were listening to actually hear quality music in a quality performance. About 80 chorus members participated, including all the Chamber Singers. This link will tell you how to keep the Singathon spirit alive.

Spring Happenings
Our season-ending concert, highlighting music of Spain and Latin America, was welcomed by an enthusiastic audience in the Jim Rouse Theatre on Saturday, May 4. Barbara Renton's popular pre-concert lecture reviewed the history of Spanish and Latin American music and the contributions of the featured composers. The CPC Chorus and Chamber Singers; Magdalena Duhagon, classical guitarist; Laura Whittenberger, soprano; Kihyun Moon, baritone; and James Farlow, tenor performed music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Alberto Grau, Javier Busto, Antonio Estevez, Ferenando Sor and others. Jared Denhard began the concert with a pair of traditional Galician pipe marches and the Lexington Brass offered many Spanish and Latin American numbers throughout the evening. The suite for guitar and soprano, Seguidillas Boleros by Fernando Sor, was of particular note as Magdalena Duhagon and Laura Whittenberger achieved an exciting blend of the underlying guitar and high soprano rhythms and melodies so characteristic of Spanish music. Alison Gatwood gave evidence of the popularity of Ernesto Lecuona's piano solo Malagueña Closing the concert was the conducting debut of our Battle for Frances' Baton winner, Barbara Kellner! An exciting conclusion for CPC's 36th season!

CPC's 36th Season
began with a sparkling performance of Carmina Burana and continued with our annual Messiah, in a performance which has been called spectacular by one of our audience, both of these in the Jim Rouse Theatre. A week later came the annual Noël, sung by the Chamber Singers in the more intimate surroundings of Christ Episcopal Church, and then on the appropriate evening, the New Year's Eve Soirée in an even more intimate and private setting. Singathon came to the Mall in Columbia in early February, with both the CPC Chorus and Chamber Singers sharing the day with soloists Alison Gatwood and Robert Barnett and a constantly changing audience of shoppers enjoying a respite from their travails. Lots of children, many of whom seemed to be entranced by the joyous sounds coming from the local singers filling the spacious center court of the Mall. In March, came the Maryland debut of the Pulitzer Prize winning The Little Match Girl Passion, by contemporary American composer David Lang, scored for percussion instruments and small chorus. The music is demanding of the performers as it draws the audience into a retelling of the familiar Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale in the form of a series of "simple" chants that use some of the features of Bach's St. Matthews Passion to make a kind of equilibrium between suffering and hope. The audience responded warmly to this performance and to the Fauré in which local young soprano Juliana Kaiser returned and baritone Kihyun Moon debuted. The season concluded with a concert of music from Spain and Latin America, back at the Jim Rouse, the first Saturday in May, with the above mentioned "Battle for Frances' Baton" concluding the night and the happy 36th season.

At the Spanish Concert

Baton Winner, Barbara Kellner

Frances Dawson, Barbara Kellner, and the Baton