As part of Chorale’s offerings this year, we’re thrilled to launch our Music in Response series which focuses on musical works that emerged in times of crisis or, in some way, speak to our vulnerability and coping through times of crisis. On Oct. 11 we will start with a close look at a J.S. Bach cantata (BWV 25), with a dynamic speaker and Bach expert, Chris Shepard. However much or little you know of Bach and his music, this presentation will have an enormous amount to offer to everyone.

Please click below for direct FacebookLive! Link:

https://www.facebook.com/events/700951754163787/

Dr. Chris Shepard is the Artistic Director of CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists), the Worcester Chorus (Worcester, MA), the Masterwork Chorus of New Jersey, and Director of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Stamford, CT. In 2001 he founded the Sydneian Bach Choir & Orchestra in Sydney, Australia, the biennial Sydney Grammar School Bach Festival and from 2005 to 2008 was Music Director of Sydney Grammar School: Bach 2010.  Under his direction, the ensemble performed over seventy-five cantatas, as well as the two Passions (BWV 244, BWV 245), the B Minor Mass (BWV 232), and the Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248).  His dissertation on the performance history of Bach’s Mass in B minor in New York City (1900-1980) received the 2012 Julius Herford Dissertation Prize from the American Choral Directors Association.

Dr. Ellen Gilson Voth leads an active career as conductor and composer, educator and keyboard artist. In addition to her role as Artistic Director of the Farmington Valley Chorale, she served for seven years as Artistic Director of Novi Cantori, a professional chamber choir based in Springfield, MA. Recently she has served on the music faculty at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, CT, as well as Westfield State University in Westfield, MA. Ellen currently serves on the Board of the CT chapter of the American Choral Directors Association as well as Vice-Chair of Choral Arts New England, a grant-awarding agency supporting the choral arts in the six New England states.

A regularly commissioned composer, Voth’s works are published by Oxford University Press, ECS Publishing, Colla Voce, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and frequently appear at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. Her recent awards and recognitions include the Michigan Choral Commission Consortium prize and also being a finalist in the 2020 Raymond Brock competition for professional composers sponsored by ACDA. She is a frequent guest conductor and clinician, an active pianist and organist, and a singing member of CONCORA. She received her doctoral degree (DMA) from The Hartt School, University of Hartford.