McGRATHPR.com – Choral Art Society (CAS), the region’s community choral ensemble, presents “A Winter Day – Music of the Season, Secular and Sacred, Lively and Lovely”, on Sunday, December 5, 4 pm at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 465 First Parish Road, Scituate. The chorus is conducted by Artistic Director Danica A. Buckley, accompanied by CAS accompanist Ellyses Kuan, piano and Julie Reimann, cello (both of Duo Amie).
As a female conductor, supporting women creators of music, Artistic Director Danica Buckley is inspired to acquaint a broader audience with female composers. “Part of Choral Art Society’s mission is to feature contemporary and women composers, lyricists, and arrangers,” shares Buckley. “I’m grateful we are often able to champion that initiative in our performances!”
“A Winter Day’s” featured title work is written by Canadian contemporary composer Sarah Quartel, accompanied by piano and cello. The five-movement work celebrates the frigid beauty of Canada’s winters, much like we experience on the South Shore, as expressed in poems by Sara Teasdale, Lucy Maud Montgomery (of “Anne of Green Gables” fame), Melville Cane, as well as Quartel’s own writings. Each movement depicts the passing times of day, progressing from the cold darkness before dawn, continuing through the evening turning to dusk, followed by darkness. The imagery-filled work conjures up vivid, wintery images of swirling, dancing snowflakes. The concert culminates with delightful and joyous singalong songs of the season.
Members of Choral Art Society rehearse and perform masked and are fully vaccinated. As with other organizations, CAS asks our audience members remain masked through the entire performance and provide proof of full vaccination or a negative result from a PCR or rapid antigen test, taken within 72 hours of the concert. The seating will be comfortably spaced, with no standing room to sustain safety for all present, so advance ticket purchase is recommended to ensure admission.
Tickets for “A Winter’s Day”, can be purchase from a CAS member, at the door, or advance online at
tix.com. For more information about Choral Art Society, visit choralartsociety.org, or follow Choral Art Society of the South Shore on Facebook.
About Choral Art Society
The Choral Art Society (CAS) is a South Shore choral ensemble, founded in 1958, dedicated to the performance of all genres of choral music, from Renaissance to 21st century. A non-auditioned chorus, the Society performs challenging music for the enrichment and education of its members and audiences. A non-profit organization, CAS features more than 50 singing members from Scituate and surrounding towns. The ensemble rehearses and performs in Scituate, offering one winter and one spring concert each year. The Society provides an annual scholarship to one a graduating high school senior who pursues a degree in music. For more information, visit choralartsociety.org, or follow Choral Art Society of the South Shore on Facebook.
This performance is supported in part by grants from several regional Massachusetts Cultural Council chapters, the Scituate Education Foundation, South Shore Music Circus, as well as sponsorship by Coastal Heritage Bank.
Program:
A Winter’s Day
A Festive Pat-a-Pan
A Vaughan Williams Christmas
Deck the Halls Rag
Angels in Seven
Glow
Stopping By Woods on A Snowy Evening
Sing-Along (including Jingle Bells and other kid-friendly)
Welcome. Be Thou Welcome!
About Danica Buckley, Artistic Director, Choral Arts Society
Danica A. Buckley has been artistic director and conductor of the Choral Art Society of the South Shore since 2005. Under her leadership, the chorus performed a sold-out performance of Mendelssohn’s St. Paul in 2009, for the 200th birthday of Mendelssohn and the 50th anniversary of the Choral Art Society. Other performances have included a variety of programming from English part-songs to Viennese choral chamber music, to songs about the environment, and major works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Bach), Magnificat (Bach), Mass in Time of War (Haydn) , Dona Nobis Pacem (Vaughan Williams), all with the Choral Art Society Orchestra. She also directs the Simmons University Chamber Choir, Cape Cod Chorale, and Colleges of the Fenway Chorus and Orchestra. She has been an adjunct English professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology since 2007. Ms. Buckley holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Boston Conservatory, where she studied with Dr. William Cutter.
