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SEVEN DECADES OF EXCELLENCE
The
North Shore Choral Society, a 120 member community
chorus, has been a prominent musical force serving
the North Shore and beyond
for almost 75 years. The Society's repertoire ranges
from the traditional to the avant-garde. Few choruses,
whether professional or amateur, have as distinguished a track
record of presenting such a variety of music. The chorus
has been invited to perform at Ravinia with the Ravinia Festival
Orchestra. The Society
features outstanding soloists, and some of the area's finest
musicians play in the orchestras engaged for the performances.
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selected history in PDF format
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This season we welcome our
new Music Director, Dr. Julia Davids. Dr. Davids enjoys
a thriving career as a versatile musician. She holds
degrees in Education, Conducting and Voice Performance
from the University of Western Ontario (London, ON),
the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) and Northwestern
University (Evanston, IL). |
As a soprano soloist, Dr. Davids is an avid performer and recitalist, having
appeared with Opera Atelier, the Vancouver Cantata Singers, the Toronto Chamber
Choir, the Toronto Consort, the Guelph Chamber Choir, the Aradia Ensemble, Publick
Musick, the Callipygian Players, Ars Musica and others. Recent engagements include
Messiah with the Saint Cecilia Singers. Dr. Davids has served as voice adjudicator
and conducted workshops on vocal pedagogy with many groups. She is on faculty
at Loyola University, Chicago, IL where she teaches voice and conducting and
directs the Loyola Chorus.
Dr. Davids is a proud founding member of the Canadian Chamber Choir, Canada’s
national choral ensemble providing a professional-level choral environment for
Canadian singers, conductors, and composers. Artistic Director of the CCC since
2004, Dr. Davids has led the ensemble on concert and workshop tours of Ontario,
Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan. She is currently Director of Music Ministries
at Trinity United Methodist Church, Wilmette. A native of London, ON, she now
resides in Skokie with her husband, baroque violinist Martin Davids, and their
two children. |
| Sharon Rich Peterson has served as accompanist for the NSCS from 1979 to 1989 and 1994 to the present, having lived in Norway with her family in the interim. During those five years she was accompanist at the Royal Academy of Music in Oslo and developed a specialty in Scandinavian Piano repertoire which she had begun two years earlier in Sweden. |
| Sharon is a graduate of North Park College and Northwestern
University and has given several benefit concerts for NSCS. She has
accompanied the Lyric Opera Chorus and has been Music Director of the
Lyric Opera Center for American Artists's touring production of "The
Magic Flute." She was the Swedish and Norwegian Language Coach
for the 2006 season of the Steans Institute at Ravinia, working with
Swedish Baritone Håkan Hagegård. She currently accompanies
Chicago Symphony Chorus and at Northwestern University. Active as recitalist
and vocal coach, Sharon is also organist at North Park Covenant Church
and North Park Theological Seminary. |
North Shore Choral Society Leaders
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To view a single job description, click on the job title
Julia Davids, Music
Director
Sharon Rich Peterson, Accompanist
Len Barker, General Manager
Board of Directors (2009-2010)
David Hunt, President
Julie McDowell, VP—Operations
Tom Keller, VP—Concerts
Yael Wurmfeld, VP—Public
Relations
John Darrow, VP—Fundraising
Gary Hendrickson, Treasurer
Nancy Friday, Secretary
Steve Warner, Anthony Green, Anne Harkonen
, Directors at Large
Operations Chairs
Membership/Database,
Anthony Green
Music Librarian, Bruce
Gladfelter
Social, Yael Wurmfeld
Concerts Chairs
Box Office Manager,
Jamie Godshalk
Concert Manager, Scott Paine
Tickets, Anne Harkonen
House Manager, Ron Tolisano
Public Relations Chairs
Art, Milly Silverstein
Archivist, Melinda
Kwedar
Community Relations,
Karen Rigotti
Desktop Publishing,
Ellen Pullin
Mailings, Kent Fuller
Publicity, Lenore
Dupuis assisted by Marj Lundy
Programs, Marcia Bollo
Webmaster, Jim
Miller
Fundraising Chairs
Patrons, Steve Warner
Program Ads, Mary
Ann Kissock, Dorothy Scott, Renata Lowe
Store Benefit Days,
Harry Vroegh
Section Coordinators
1st Soprano, Julie
McDowell
2nd Soprano, Maria
del Rosario Gomez
1st Alto, Myra Sieck
2nd Alto, Antje Draganski
Tenor, David Crumrine
Bass/Baritone, Ronald
Dahlquist
Assistant Treasurer
Lucinda Fuller
Legal Counsel
Kathryn Skelton
Tax Issues Consultant
John Darrow
A
Short History of the North Shore Choral Society
Founded
in 1936, the North Shore Choral Society is the oldest choral
organization on the North Shore . Now in its seventieth season,
the Society is an independent, self-governing body, incorporated
as a non-profit organization in 1978. It takes this as its
credo: The North Shore Choral Society explores, studies,
and performs a wide range of choral music for the enrichment
and enjoyment of its singers and audiences . To achieve
this goal, the Society prepares and presents three or more
concerts each year, relying on authentic performances that
use not only the composers' original vocal scores but also
their designated instrumentations.
The North
Shore Choral Society was born in Winnetka as a men's chorus.
Soon, however, its director, Lawrence Yingling, was persuaded
to lead a mixed chorus, whose initial appearance was on December
18, 1932. But the first rehearsal of the musical organization
which still goes by that name today was held on March 3,
1936, under the direction of Madi Bacon, who received an
annual salary of $250. Two concerts were given each season,
accompanied by a string quartet, piano, or organ. Early spring
concerts were held in an outdoor garden. In 1945, the chorus
welcomed back ex-servicemen and others who had been too busy
to sing during the war.
John Halloran
succeeded Bacon in 1946. Two years later, the Society began
presenting a weekly fifteen-minute radio program. A special
feature of a 1950 concert was a motet set to an Edna St.
Vincent Millay poem by Bain Murray, a senior at Oberlin College
from Winnetka . Under the leadership of the next director,
Alden Clark, the Society regularly presented its two annual
concerts at the North Shore Country Day School and was often
joined by the local Flute and Fiddle Club for its Christmas
programs. Alice Parker was prominent in the Society as accompanist
and arranger. After a two-year period with Barbara McFadden
at the helm, Vincent B. Allison took over the director's
role and changed the programming from a large number of shorter
works to major choral compositions, such as Bach's St. Matthew's
Passion and Brahms' German Requiem .
Nineteen
sixty-five was a watershed year for the North Shore Choral
Society, which was plagued by a small chorus and dwindling
attendance. But, largely through the efforts of a Women's
Board, the Society was revitalized. The new director, Ronald
Schweitzer, initiated a three-concert season with Tuesday
rehearsals and Sunday performances, as is the case even today.
And it was during his tenure that the Society selected the
Parish Church of St. Luke's in Evanston as its primary venue.
The first challenge for the next director, Richard Rosewall,
was to prepare the chorus for a performance of Rossini's Stabat
Mater with the Lake Forest Symphony under the baton
of Victor Aitay, to whose fast tempos Rosewall strongly objected--but
in vain.
From 1973
to 1984, David Larson led the Society. Perhaps the most glorious
concert during the Larson years was the performance of Haydn's The
Seasons , with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra
and with a grant from the Illinois Arts Council for the first
time. Mr. Larson did double duty when he directed from the
harpsichord after the accompanist cut her finger along with
some meat that very morning. In 1978, the Society became
a not-for-profit organization in order to continue applying
for grants. The following year the Society's current accompanist,
Sharon Rich Peterson, was engaged. When Larson took a year's
leave of absence to teach in Japan , James Winfield took
the helm.
Donald Chen
became the North Shore Choral Society's tenth and current
music director in 1984. Chen put his own stamp on the repertoire
of the Society by presenting rarely heard works in at least
one of the annual concerts: Milhaud's Les Amours de Ronsard and Miracles
of Faith , Argento's Jonah and the Whale ,
Bernstein's Chichester Psalms , Schickele's Concerto
for Piano and Chorus: The Twelve Months as examples.
In 1988, the part-time position of General Manager was established.
And, beginning in 1991, rehearsals were held
in the Unitarian Church of Evanston. Gala celebrations were
held to celebrate the Society's fiftieth and sixtieth anniversaries.
In 2000, the present formal dress code was initiated. For
several summers, the Society sang under Erich Kunzel at the
Ravinia Festival. A highlight of the 2004-2005 season was
a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with
the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra. At present, NSCS is celebrating
its seventieth season with a unique program featuring works
by Brahms, Shostakovich, Schumann, and Orff-and collaborating
with the Northbrook Symphony Orchestra and the Agape Handbell
Ringers.
The North Shore Choral Society entered a new phase in its
long and proud musical history when Dr. Chen announced his
plan to retire at the end of the 2008-2009 season. After a
two-year search for his successor, the Society welcomed its
new music director, Dr. Julia Davids, beginning with the 2009-2010
season. Julia's energy and enthusiasm, not to mention her musical
capabilities, have, in a short time, convinced the Society
that their choice was the right one. We feel certain that she
will continue to fulfill the Society's mission statement: The
North Shore Choral Society explores, studies, and performs
a wide range of choral music for the enrichment and enjoyment
of its singers and audiences.
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history in PDF format
Other
Information
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