2023-24: Our 54th Year of Great Choral Music


Spring Concert 2024

The Cappella Cantorum Masterworks Chorus and Cappella Orchestra, together with featured soprano soloist Lisa Williamson and the Select Singers from Lyme-Old Lyme High School, will perform The Peacemakers (composed by Sir Karl Jenkins) on Sunday, April 21, 2024. The concert will take place at First Church of Christ in Saybrook, 366 Main Street, Old Saybrook, beginning at 3pm.

In The Peacemakers, Jenkins sets to music the words of peace from religious texts, poets and iconic, world-changing figures such as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Anne Frank and the Dalai Lama. One line from the Persian mystic poet Rumi sums up the ethos of the work: ‘All religions, all singing one song: Peace be with you’.

Simon Holt, Music Director of Cappella Cantorum, will conduct the performance. The Select Singers are directed by Kristine Pekar, Lyme-Old Lyme High School Choral Director.

Tickets are now available for online orders, and will be available soon for purchase through chorus members.

Click Here to Order Tickets

 


Each year, Essex Savings Bank generously donates 10% of its after-tax income to non-profit organizations in its service area.

Cappella Cantorum is honored to be among the organizations selected in 2024 to receive a portion of these funds as a grant, based on the number of votes cast by bank customers.

If you are an Essex Savings Bank customer, you can vote online through their Mobile Banking App at www.essexsavings.com, or in person at any Essex Savings Bank location.

Please vote for Cappella Cantorum and encourage your friends and family members to vote for us as well. Your votes will help us keep the community filled with music through our Masterworks Concerts, SummerSings, Messiah Sing or Listen, and more.

Thank you for your support!

 


Messiah Sing or Listen 2023

Here’s a picture of this year’s happy ensemble and director after completing the 2023 Messiah Sing or Listen with a sold-out audience at the Kate. Pictured from left are: Spencer Hamlin (tenor), John Ong (bass), Rachel Abrams (alto), Lisabeth Miller (soprano), Simon Holt (conductor), and Blake Hansen (accompanist). Thank you all for making this a wonderful holiday experience!

 

Messiah Sing or Listen – December 17, 2023

 

 


Winter Concert 2023

The 2023 Winter Concert was a tremendous success!  Cappella Cantorum Masterworks Chorus performed Magnificat (composed by John Rutter) and The Many Moods of Christmas (arranged by Robert Shaw) on Sunday, December 3, 2023, with featured soprano soloist Abigail Paschke.

The Masterworks Chorus and Cappella Orchestra was conducted by Simon Holt, Music Director of Cappella Cantorum and the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, as well as the Founder and Artistic Director of Salt Marsh Opera.

Photos from the concert and reception are now posted in the Photo Gallery, and the full concert video is available in the Video Gallery.  Enjoy!

Photo Gallery              Video Gallery


International Tour Chorus 2024

Welcome aboard to our new International Tour Manager, Elana Vasi-Smith! Elana is working with Pat Hill (who has managed these tours since 1981) and the International Tour Committee to plan Cappella’s 2024 travel adventure, which will include Austria, Bavaria, and Switzerland.

A read-through and potluck was held on January 28th to get to know some of the music and our fellow travelers. The group sounds wonderful together already! Weekly rehearsals for the Tour will begin in April 2024, followed by a Pre-Tour Concert in Madison, CT and European travel in late June 2024.  Dr. Jeremy D. Milton, Director of Choral Music for Old Saybrook High School, is this year’s International Tour Music Director, and the Tour Accompanist is Anna Jedd.

Email Elana at info@cappellacantorum.org if you would like to learn more about this wonderful adventure. Even if you missed the Fall Information Meetings and the January 28 read-through, you can still join the Tour Chorus (last date to join is March 15th). Contact Elana to get all the details. Non-singing spouses/guests are also welcome to travel with the group!

 


SummerSings 2023

The 2023 SummerSings Series was incredibly popular. What a fun way to keep the music going! Click on these links to see excerpts from each event:

SummerSing #1     SummerSing #2    SummerSing #3    SummerSing #4    SummerSing #5



 

Cappella Cantorum is the premiere non-auditioned community choral group of the Connecticut Shoreline and lower Connecticut River Valley. Our primary purpose is to give singers of all ages the opportunity to learn, perform and share great choral music.