The Maine Music Society

5 days ago

This week we celebrate Independence Day with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s performance of Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” This selection is being shared by chorale member Randi Cornelio who finds it a source of comfort and inspiration in troubling times. As Randi explains, “Whether listening to it or singing it, this song always brings tears to my eyes. With everything that has been happening in our country lately, it is easy to get caught up in all of the negativity and let it bring us down. It helps to listen to something that reminds us to count our blessings and take a look at the beauty that is all around us.”
Randi, who has been singing alto with the Maine Music Society Chorale since 2018, lives in Turner and has worked as Accounting Director for Continuum Health Services in Lewiston for the past twenty years. When she is not at work, Randi enjoys puzzles, traveling, drawing, photography, and family gatherings with son Peter, daughter Sintija, dogs Brody and Angel, and cats Mitsy, Callie, Mollie, and Skittles.

Link: youtu.be/wZYl0AThQLk

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The Maine Music Society

3 weeks ago

This week’s selection, provided by Chorale member Cynthia DeSoi, is Shemekia Copeland’s “Ain’t Got Time for Hate.” It is a timely choice because, as Cynthia explains, “This music is incredibly relevant to the increasing recognition of the pain present in our multiracial society. We first heard Shemekia Copeland many years ago, when she was just 19 years old and opening for BB King, and have followed her career ever since. I love the blues, which resonate with me deeply. I love the energy of the music and the way it transforms life's sadness into a lifting of heart…. ‘Ain’t Got Time for Hate,’ her plea for racial justice and understanding, comes from a mother's heart, as she has a young son, but it is universal.”
Cynthia, who sings alto with the Maine Music Society Chorale, is a physician who is transitioning to a position as a Hospice and Palliative care physician for Androscoggin Home Health Care and Hospice after almost thirty years of private practice as a nephrologist. She lives in Greene, Maine, but also spends as much time as possible by the ocean at her family’s second home in Hancock, Maine. In addition to singing and being at the ocean, Cynthia enjoys fiber arts, traveling, gardening, skiing, and being outdoors as much as possible.

Link: youtu.be/_BHXA_cVx8w

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The Maine Music Society

4 weeks ago

This week chorale member Rick Rau shares a virtual performance of J.S. Bach’s “Bist Du Bei Mir,” recorded by his brother and himself this spring. As Rick explains, “[This is] a beautiful, expressive piece of music, very comforting. My brother (in New Mexico) is playing the piano. We played together all through school, and now we're playing remotely. It's great to reconnect through music.”
Rick, who sings baritone with the Maine Music Society Chorale, is an accomplished musician. He plays both clarinet and piano and also composes and arranges music. He sometimes arranges music for the chorale, including several of the Billy Joel and Elton John compositions that we sang in our May 2016 concert, “Piano Men.” Rick is a partially retired clinical psychologist and lives in Turner, Maine. His family includes wife Shelley, Adrienne and Lucas. When he is not engaged in musical activity, he may often be found woodworking.

Link: youtu.be/mtIGpJRSC5o

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The Maine Music Society

1 month ago

This week’s selection, from chorale President Susan Trask, is Bobby McFerrin’s arrangement and performance of the 23rd psalm, dedicated to his mother. Susan chose this piece because “I’ve always been a huge fan of Bobby McFerrin. He’s an astonishingly accomplished musician, with a HUGE vocal range. He sings all the parts in this song! When I heard this piece as I listened to the album [Medicine Music] for the first time, I sat down and wept, it was so beautiful. It seems especially appropriate in our current times….”
Susan has been singing alto with the Maine Music Society Chorale since it was begun. She is also a member of the Chamber Singers, is Secretary of the Maine Music Society Board of Directors, and is President of the chorale. In addition, she is noted for writing the music notes that are shared with audiences as part of our spring pop concerts.
Susan lives in Auburn with her husband Woody who also sings with the chorale. She is retired from a career as a teacher and literary coach in the Auburn schools and is now pursuing a “retirement career” as director of (and singer in) Androscoggin Harmony, a choir that sings for hospice patients at Androscoggin Home Healthcare and Hospice. When she is not involved with her various singing activities, she loves sewing, reading, word puzzles, sailing and kayaking.

Link: youtu.be/FrIISwwK9Y0

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The Maine Music Society

1 month ago

This week’s selection, from Chorale member Nancy Kelliher, is a very playful rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah by members of the College Church of Wheaton, Illinois. Nancy explains her choice this way: “It is fantastic to have such a wonderful piece to listen to. YouTube makes the world of music and performance available to all of us. To see the group present it while adhering to our new way of life with social distancing is very funny. They are definitely enjoying their crafty performance and humor.”
Nancy, who has sung alto with the Maine Music Society Chorale for the past five years, is an Occupational Therapist who lives in Lewiston. Her family includes husband Wally, twenty-somethings Tom and Rachel, and dog Jake. When Nancy is not singing or working, she enjoys being outdoors walking or riding her bicycle. Indoors, she enjoys working with fiber. She describes herself as a beginner at crocheting and knitting and says that she has “just ordered a loom to weave my way through all this time at home.”
Link: youtu.be/Ag6CYY0cbFc
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The Maine Music Society

2 months ago

This week’s selection, from Chorale member Jean Bass, is Ola Gjeilo’s “The Ground,” performed by the Central Washington University Chamber Choir. Jean explains her choice this way: “Of all the pieces we've sung in the Chorale, ‘The Ground’ … has filled my heart and soul the most. As its name suggests, it offers a solid ground of beauty, then gradually lifts the singers until we are soaring, before bringing us to a gentle rest. To be in the center of this beauty as it was being sung took me beyond myself.”
Jean Bass has sung alto with the Maine Music Society Chorale since 2012 and is also a member of the Chamber Singers. She is retired from a career as a church pastor, serving longest with a congregation in Bethel, Maine. She now lives in Brunswick where, in addition to singing, she loves to knit, read, walk and garden.

Jean is the in the back row of the photo - the one in black!

Link: youtu.be/4lf26JLbVF4

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The Maine Music Society

2 months ago

This week, chorale member Jean Potuchek is sharing Erik Linder’s performance of Sinead O’Connor’s ballad, “In This Heart.” Jean explains that “the song means a lot to me because I learned and performed it as part of a creative aging workshop at the Portland Public Library that brought me back to choral singing after more than four decades away. As a song about loss and grieving, hope and recovery, it speaks to our present moment, as does Erik Linder’s creativity in fashioning a choral performance alone. And I love the light touches as the various Eriks interact.”
Jean, who has been singing alto with the Maine Music Society Chorale since 2016, is retired from a career teaching sociology and women’s studies to college undergraduates. She is happily single and lives alone in a house tucked into the woods at the end of a dirt road in Poland, Maine. In addition to singing, her passions include gardening and learning new things. She is a Maine Master Gardener Volunteer, both teaches and takes courses at the Lewiston Senior College, and writes several blogs.
Link: youtu.be/1LAhL8EKlVs
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The Maine Music Society

2 months ago

Chorale member Karen McArthur has chosen to share a virtual performance of the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the piece we were working on when rehearsals and our March concert were abruptly cancelled by COVID-19. She chose it because “I very much missed collaborating with the local singers and orchestras and also because it is a virtual performance which builds on itself. Starting with only one instrument, it continues to build to the final measures of the piece culminating in full orchestra and vocals. The way they build the instrumentation section by section … epitomizes how music can bring us together and lift us out of ourselves.”
Karen sings alto with both the Maine Music Society Chorale and the Chamber Singers and is about to become the newest member of the Maine Music Society Board of Directors. She lives in Lewiston with family members Brad, Kevin, Kiera and Barbara. Karen works in Information Technology at Bates College. In addition to singing, her hobbies include costuming and sewing.
youtu.be/3eXT60rbBVk
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The Maine Music Society

2 months ago

Chorale member Karen Lipovsky has chosen to share her own rendition of the American standard, “Blue Skies.” She chose it because “This little ditty is one that the Maine Music Society Chamber Singers has worked on for the last couple of years…. It’s a happy song and seems to bring out the smiles of every one of us that sang it. Plus, it’s jazzy, and that always brings me joy.”
Karen sings soprano with both the Maine Music Society Chorale and the Chamber Singers. She lives in Monmouth, Maine with her husband John and their Great Dane, George. When she isn’t singing or practicing her profession as a veterinarian for dogs, cats, and other small furry creatures, Karen may be found engaging in one of her other pastimes: running, community theater, kayaking, and trying to train George.
youtu.be/ThqR5W5RKdA
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The Maine Music Society

2 months ago

The music selection David Blocher has chosen to share is “Lux Arumque” (Light of Gold), as sung by a virtual choir assembled by the composer and choral director Eric Whitaker. This was the first of Whitaker’s Virtual Choir projects, bringing together individual singers from all over the world to synthesize an amazing performance of blended voices. youtu.be/D7o7BrlbaDs

David chose this selection because it "captures the sense of connection and unity of purpose that inspires and sustains musicians as we come together to create beautiful sounds that are so much more than the sum of our individual contributions. During this time of social distancing, I really miss our rehearsals that recharge my batteries every week."

David is a baritone who has sung with the Maine Music Society Chorale for the past thirty years and is currently serving as Past President and Board Director for the Maine Music Society. David is retired from careers in software development and information technology management. He lives in an 1820s farmstead in Litchfield with his wife, artist Helen Warren. David’s hobbies include opera, mowing fields, wildlife and figuring out how things work. He is a volunteer at Androscoggin Home Healthcare and Hospice where he sings in the Androscoggin Harmony hospice choir and visits hospice patients in their homes.

(You can learn more about Virtual Choirs from Eric Whitaker’s TED talk at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NENlXsW4pM)

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