The Oratorio Chorale is gearing up for its 2013-14 season with a new musical director, a schedule of shows and a call for auditions.
The Oratorio Chorale has a long and diverse history in the Midcoast cultural scene, with four decades of performances, 450 works performed by more than 100 composers, 300 “alumni,” six music directors and 35 current dedicated members on board.
The chorale is based in the Brunswick area, rehearses in Topsham and performs in locations from Bath to Portland, with most concerts in the Bath-to-Yarmouth area.
The chorale is managed by a volunteer board of directors made up mostly of singer members who share a love for choral music.
It also has active programs for recruitment, community outreach, marketing and fundraising.
The board of directors selected Emily Isaacson to succeed Peter Frewen as music director of the Chorale.
A Brunswick native, Isaacson is also music director of Boston City Singers’ upper high school division.
In 2004, she was one of two U.S. citizens awarded the St. Andrews Society Fellowship for graduate study in Scotland, where she earned a master’s degree in musicology from Edinburgh University. She earned a second master’s degree from the University of Oregon and is currently a doctoral candidate in choral conducting at the University of Illinois.
New member auditions are scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 7. Openings exist in all voice parts. To schedule an audition, call Rachael Bairstow at 329-5708 or email members@oratoriochorale.org.
The 2013-14 season starts with “Musical Fireworks,” with Jessica Petrus, soprano; Stephanie Kacoyanis, mezzo-soprano; John D. Adams, baritone; the Portland Brass Quintet; and Ray Cornils, organ, string ensemble, and timpani. It will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16, at Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Brunswick, and the following day at Woodfords Congregational Church, Portland.
The Oratorio Chorale was founded in 1974 by Bowdoin College alumnus and music scholar C. Russell Crosby, in part as an extension of the Bowdoin College Chorus and the old Brunswick Choral Society.
Frewen retired in June.
Oratorio Chorale 40th anniversary Season
Fall
“Musical Fireworks”: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov.b16, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Brunswick
Winter
Shakespeare in Concert: 3 p.m. Saturday,bMarch 8; 7:30 p.m., Sunday, March 9
Spring
Brahms Requiem: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, June 7, Studzinski Recital Hall, Bowdoin College, Brunswick
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