History
In 1977 a group of Middletown singers founded the Greater Middletown Chorale with the help of a $250 grant from the Middletown Commission on the Arts. Laurence Jamison first led the Chorale; other directors have included Richard Winslow, Larry Allen, Pamela Perry, Christopher Shepard, and Bruce Fifer. A predominantly amateur group, the Chorale includes some professionals as vocal coaches and singers. Most members come from the greater Middletown area, but some from as far away as Waterbury, Farmington, Windsor, Manchester, and Old Saybrook.
Under its current Artistic Director since 1998, Joseph D’Eugenio, the Chorale has expanded its geographical reach, repertoire, and impact. It now typically presents four concerts a year, one of them a benefit gala. In addition, the Chorale sometimes joins in events offered under outside auspices, such as those of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Performances have been scored “Excellent” in reviews by the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism / Arts Division. Members of the Hartford and New Haven Symphony Orchestras, who often join the Chorale when musical selections call for orchestral accompaniment, have also praised its work.
Based at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Middletown, the Chorale has also sung at many other venues, including the State Capitol building and the Governor’s Residence, and has taken part in concerts in Hartford’s Bushnell Hall and New Haven’s Woolsey Hall. In 2005 the Chorale was a featured ensemble at the Connecticut convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Waterbury. It has offered joint concerts with the Wesleyan Singers, the Naugatuck Valley Community College Chorale, and the Coginchaug Regional High School Chamber Choir. Thousands enjoyed the Chorale’s singing at both of Governor Rell’s inauguration ceremonies.
The Greater Middletown Chorale performs major works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and Dvořák’s Mass in D, as well as smaller works from the classical choral repertory. It has featured Middletown composers Asahel Benham, Henry Clay Work and Reginald deKoven, among other local and regional composers. The Chorale premiered a requiem by Hartford’s Edward Diemente, and co-commissioned a cantata by Vermont’s Erik Nielsen. Works by Neely Bruce, Gwyneth Walker and Colin Britt have also had their first hearings in the Chorale’s concerts. A commissioned work by Ellen Gilson Voth, Lux Aeterna, receives its premiere performance in May 2007.
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