Cantabile Chamber Chorale is pleased to present program notes regarding the musical selections performed at their concerts.
Preformed Saturday, December 2, 2023, at 7:30 pm
View Program Notes
Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Performed Sunday, December, 17, 2023 at 3 PM
Nicholas Music Center, 85 George St., New Brunswick, NJ
Cantabile joins with New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, Philomusica, and Highland Park Community Chorus for a musical celebration that includes new and old holiday favorites. And, in a grand finale, the choirs and orchestra join forces in Handel’s powerful “Hallelujah Chorus.”
Performed on Saturday, April 29, 2023, at 7:30 pm
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has” Margaret Mead
Read program notes from the concert.
What This Program Is About
Living sustainably is a process—we can take steps to reduce our individual impact on the earth and have an open awareness to how everything we do has an environmental impact. In this concert we explore themes about the climate crisis through the words of poets and music from composers who have spoken about the urgency of action toward conserving what resources are available on this planet. We will use the power of music and the immense cultural influence of musicians to address challenges of sustainability.
The Program
Saturday, April 29, 2023 at 7:30 pm
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Tickets are sold in advance only through our website
Cantabile presents an evening of music for choir and instrumentalists (piano, string quartet). The concert features a new work by Augusta Read-Thomas, FREEDOM: To be free and Sky Bound (2022) In Memoriam Rosa Parks. This piece was commissioned by Cantabile in remembrance of our alto friend Marilyn Wilt. Other works by William Byrd, Eric Whitacre, Johannes Brahms, J. David Moore, Sarah Quartel, Andrea Ramsey, and Philip Lawson.
Program notes and more detailed information about this concert will be available here on December 3rd.
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Concertgoers will enjoy a world premiere by Eric Ewazen, Nothing Gold Can Stay and On the Death of the Beloved. Artistic Director Rebecca Scott says, “It is such a joy to bring another brand-new work by Eric Ewazen, to life. For over thirty years Eric’s music has always been an integral part of our repertoire. Dedicated to the memory of alto Jan Foley, Eric artfully sets poetic texts by Robert Frost and John O’Donohue, exploring the cycles of life and death.” Other selections feature R. Nathaniel Dett’s Let Us Cheer the Weary Traveler, The Road Home by Stephen Paulus, Zoltán Kodály’s Esti Dal, and others, with piano and flute accompaniment by local artists Lynne Stallworth and Anita Gould. Guest artist Aideen O’ Donnell’s distinctive voice and musicianship on the Irish harp will create a powerful sound and will entertain the audience with an original and memorable performance.
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ
TRAVELING concert – Program Notes
Sing Sweetly, Sing Gently
Saturday, December 4, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ
To read full program notes and see ads from business supporters for December 4, 2021 concert
Cantabile singers have met regularly on ZOOM and been in frequent communication throughout this period of isolation. During this season we will continue our mission of culturally diverse programming, eclectic repertoire, and premieres of newly commissioned works.
Oftentimes we have been frustrated by our inability to make music together in the ways we have done for years. We offer these virtual videos to our community. This our collaboration to create art. For many of us it has been therapeutic. It is a meaningful way for us to keep singing and to get that fulfillment that making music provides. We hope these virtual videos give you a glimpse of the joy we receive from singing.
On Dec. 5, 2020 Cantabile Chamber Chorale published the premiere of its virtual video, Reflections.
We hope this virtual performance will give you a glimpse of how much we enjoy singing together. We miss singing in person for you and we miss every one of you!
Watch Reflections on our YouTube channel.
In 1997 Cantabile Chamber Chorale commissioned composer Scott Steidl to set the text from a Quaker prayer. We premiered, “We Give Them Back to You Dear Lord,” in Milltown, NJ in memory of Jean-Louis Hubert, a French chorister we met while performing with Ensemble Vocal des Quatres Saison in Rodez, France.
Watch it now on our YouTube channel.
William Grant Still is often called the “dean of African-American composers.” Cantabile traveled to Italy in 2001 and performed this setting of religious sentiment to words by Verna Arvey, the wife of William Grant Still.
Watch it on our YouTube channel.
Our program of songs support the creativity of our hearts and minds to be people of character – contributing love, support, and beauty to our communities and our earth. Program features harp, piano, flute, classical guitar, cello, dancer, and the premiere of a new piece from Emma Lou Diemer which was commissioned by Cantabile.
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ
Activity session providing opportunities for families to participate with their children ages 14 and under and to be a part of the musicmaking through touch and movement.
Free Admission
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ
Choral performance celebrating commencement of Phase II of the Elmwood Cemetery chapel restoration.
Elmwood Cemetery Chapel
425 Georges Road
North Brunswick, NJ 08902
Sunday, September 8, 2019 at 4:00 PM
Our program touches on themes of human perseverance, earth conservation, and unrequited love in hauntingly beautiful melodies and lighter jazzy rhythms. The selections reflect how singing fulfills the emotional and spiritual needs for people as individuals and within their
communities.
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 7:30 PM
We are the Boat, We are the Sea
Contemporary songs of love, compassion, and global unity with selections highlighting the Spanish heritage of Mexican and Puerto Rican composers.
Christ United Methodist Church
485 Hoes Lane
Piscataway, NJ 08854
December 1, 2018 at 7:30 pm
Spring Songs & Sonnets
Inspired by the 100th year of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, Cantabile presented a concert of excerpts from Bernstein’s music, some cool jazz selections by George Shearing and George Gershwin, and a few small-group madrigals. Featured guest artists: New Brunswick High School Concert Choir, directed by Jennifer Emery.
Peace Hope Love
The program featured diverse sounds and colorful timres with several movements from The Peacemakers by Karl Jenkins extolling world peace, while Jake Runestad’s The Hope of Loving comprised six settings of mystical poems exploring the idea of love and its manifestation in our lives.
December 2, 2017
Christ United Methodist Church
About the concert (pdf)
Romance and Rhythm
The program is filled with music from The Romantic Period-beautifully extended harmonies, multi-vocal lines, rhythmically free phrases, and extreme dynamics. Other selections emphasized pulsing rhythm with natural percussive sounds and instruments, dance rhythms and patter sounds. Cantabile was thrilled to join with the New Brunswick High School Concert Choir in singing the arrangement of Tres Canciones Populares Mexicanas, which was commissioned from Marco –Adrian Ramos.
April 29, 2017
Christ United Methodist Church
About the concert (pdf)
Homeward Bound
We performed this program, especially the “Hostias” section of the Mozart Requiem, the Karl Jenkins Benedictus and The Road Home by Stephen Paulus, to honor the memory of our dear piano accompanist, Lloyd Arriola, who died in August 2016 at the age of 45.
December 3, 2016
Christ United Methodist Church
Spring Equinox: A Time for Balance
We look to the arts to give us energy and to restore balance and the enjoyment of life. Music is one of the most easily accessed of all the arts and is participated in by most everyone, whether by performing or listening. Each melody, each poem performed aimed to encourage, give energy, and of course to entertain.
Saturday, April 30, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Christ United Methodist Church
Winter Solstice Cover art by Jack Sarhage
We performed the music of Tallis, Rossi, Monteverdi, Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Barber, Bartok, Bernstein, Stravinsky and others. The program reflected how works by these Classical Masters have helped mankind transition from darkness toward light through the ages.
Saturday, December 5, 2015 at 7:30 p.m
Christ United Methodist Church
We Hear America Singing
The concert featured a celebration of music composed by Leonard Bernstein, a performance of Four Lyrics of Inspiration, composed by Eric Ewazen, and Dawn to Dusk in Song, a collection of madrigals that move with the hours of the day.
Saturday, April 25, 2015 at 7:30 p.m
Christ United Methodist Church
About the Concert (pdf)
Listen to the Concert
Promises
Cover art by Jack Sarhage
PROMISES:Worldly and Spiritual
Cantabile presented a sampling of choral music signifying the multiple characteristics of a promise. The program included selections by contemporary composers, Paul Mealor, Arvo Pärt, Ola Gjeilo, David Biedenbender, Daniel Schreiner, Henry Laws, Andrea Ramsey, and works by Classical masters J.S. Bach and Charles Ives.
Saturday, December 6, 2014
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert (pdf)
B-R-I-D-G-E-S
This concert showcased the themes of innovation, diversity, and liberty in celebration of the Sesquarcentennial (350th) anniversary of the State of New Jersey. The celebration of choral music that has its sources in New Jersey featured classical, pop, ethnic, sacred, and contemporary selections. The concert’s title “BRIDGES”, underscores the wide range of music that has its connections and roots in New Jersey for the past 350 years. We were joined by select members of the Middletown High School South Choir.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert (pdf)
Harmony of Two Cultures
Cantabile was joined by special guest artists Zizhu Ensemble who performed their traditional Chinese instruments and music. The program included works by Benjamin Britten, W.A. Mozart, Eric Whitacre, Chen Yi, and Nan-Chang Chien.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert (pdf)
SECOND SPRING: Songs for a Silver Jubilee
We returned to more favorite songs performed by Cantabile during the past 25 years in celebration of our Silver Jubilee anniversary. The program also introduced the premiere of Second April, a Cantabile commissioned choral cycle, by Eric Ewazen.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert (pdf)
ENCORE: Songs for a Silver Jubilee
Artistic Director Rebecca Scott included a variety of favorite pieces from past concerts, including several works commissioned and premiered by Cantabile. We were delighted to welcome Cantabile alumnus Cantor Anna West Ott to the podium to conduct current and past Cantabile members in a performance of Ernst Bloch’s Silent Devotion and Response.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert (pdf)
FANCY FREE: Ballads, Mouth Music & More
The music is straight from the heart with vivid lyrics, lively melodies, and tantalizing rhythms, featuring everal songs composed and arranged by Gwyneth Walker, with works by Donald Patriquin, Gabriel Faure, and Herbert Howells.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
ANCIENT SPIRITS~MODERN INSPIRATION
Artistic Director Rebecca Scott conducted Cantabile in an entertaining exploration of the connections between modern choral music and Christian and Jewish music traditions.
We began with old chants and melodies which turned into prayers for peace and contentment at the holiday time, and then to requests for blessings at the New Year.
We ended with new songs inspired by the old traditional texts, set in respectful classic form by Mozart and in the jubilant, free expression of contemporary sound by John Rutter.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
LOVE IS ALL THERE IS: Beloved Romantic Melodies
The Heart Tree by Sally Duke who is our soprano section leader and one of our soprano soloists. Painting is another creative outlet for her and brings her much joy.
She has recently started painting as a pass time and she offered to do our cover for this program since our professional artist, Jack Sarhage has been away. We are very grateful to her.
Sally has caught the essence of the Romantic spirit playing on our childhood memories of the first love, which could not be said aloud, but only be carved in The Heart Tree!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
Psalms and Carols of Majesty and Mystery
Artist Jack Sarhage has brought together the different elements of today’s music. He depicts a
Christmas Eve in a broken and chaotic world, struggling to awaken to the possibility of the birth of love and light while trying to hold on to faith in goodness and peace.
The ten Virgins from the parable of Jesus. The five wise virgins are ready with their lamps lighted but the five foolish virgins, who forgot to bring oil for their lamps, are locked out and remain in the dark. The sheep with the shepherd are facing out towards the viewer, perhaps inviting us to come into the story or asking, are you ready?
Jack Sarhage has been creating artwork for Cantabile Chamber Chorale since its inception. We are very grateful to him for sharing his artisan’s insight and skill with us.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4, 2010
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
Hope of Spring
Our spring concert provides a rare chance for audiences to hear THE CUBAN MASS by Enrique Ubieta, the only internationally known Cuban liturgical work of its kind.
The concert will also feature Ruth Scott Clark’s Spring Rhapsody(1933); Emma Lou Diemer’s In One of the Stars (2006), which was commissioned and premiered by Cantabile to honor the life and in memory of Cantabile member Leila Eutermarks; and Robert L. Pearsall’s Lay a Garland (1840) an eight part a cappella madrigal. Other highlights include Irish folk tunes, jigs, and reels and a few English madrigals performed by small group ensembles.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 24, 2010
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
If You Can Talk You Can Sing (If You Can Walk You Can Dance)
Come and share our lively and inspiring music from around the world as we sing in diverse languages with distinct harmonies and rhythms. If You Can Walk You Can Dance, (If You Can Talk You Can Sing) is a contagiously joyful song by Elizabeth Alexander based on an old Zimbabwean proverb.
Totus Tuus by Henrk Górecki is a mystical contemporary setting of an a cappella motet venerating Mary, and in a lighter vein, you will be bemused by the world premiere of What You Will Learn About the Brobinyak, the third piece composed by Eric Sessler (text by John Ciardi) for Cantabile.
3:00 p.m. Sunday, December 6, 2009
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert (pdf)
All in Green – Cherish our Earth
Cantabile stirs your emotions with music inspired by the beauty of the earth and reverence for its creator. Hear excerpts of The Creation by F.J. Haydn, a masterful and dramatic setting about the creation of the world.
You’ll be moved by Schaffe in mir Gott by Johannes Brahms, an acappella setting of a text drawn from Psalm 51, and you’re sure to enjoy the world premiere of Dodi li va’ani lo, the third piece written for Cantabile by composer Gerald Cohen.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28, 2009
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
Spring Awakening: Turn the World Around
Our concert begins with an exploration of classical music styles and poetry forms dealing with themes of war and peace. Intensely poignant medleys of songs.
Our concert begins with an exploration of classical music styles and poetry forms dealing with themes of war and peace. Intensely poignant medleys of songs about wars long past provide vivid reminders that music connects us with the past while retaining its relevance in today’s world. A moving Shaker hymn provides the hope that “not one of them is forgotten before God”.
It’s time for a Spring Awakening and so our songs turn to thoughts of love. Songs and sonnets, musical settings old Gaelic poems, and a rousing rhythmic African folksong provide a variety of moods for awakening to the promises of spring and love.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, 2007
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
Celestial Spring
We dedicate this program to Leila Eutermarks, remembering her gifts to us: kindness, courage, music, laughter. Cantabile commissioned Emma Lou Diemer to compose In One of the Stars to celebrate the life and in memory of Leila Eutermarks. The piece is a setting of the closing passages of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Our program title Celestial Spring comes from the featured work by Bruce Lazarus commissioned for Cantabile by artistic director Rebecca Scott.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 29, 2006
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 13, 2006
Bridgewater United Methodist Church, Bridgewater, NJ
About the concert
Winter Sky
As we sing tonight, the low winter sun sets early. To the north, beneath the handle of the Little Dipper and riding the back of Taurus, shine the Pleiades, dozens of tiny gems surrounding the Seven Sisters. This brilliant cluster, pictured on our cover courtesy of a telescopic photograph, can still be viewed by eye wherever the screen of electric light has not smeared night’s vivid darkness.
In this season of natural darkness, human imagination and faith create festivals of light, such as Hanukkah — a feast of miraculously burning oil lamps — and Christmas, which anticipates both the return of the sun and the birth of a son. Like stargazing, so also poetry and music still conjure this sense of anticipation and hope. Tonight, Cantabile presents music and texts to evoke winter’s dark and celebrate festivals of light.
7:30 p.m. Sunday, December 3, 2003
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
I Dream a World
Tonight’s texts, like dreams, are woven of memory, vision, and imagination. Such dreams have long inspired great music. The flow of inspiration continues into our time, indeed into this season.
Our audiences may recognize several prominent contemporary American composers. We performed Lauridsen’s “O Magnum” and Susa’s Six Joyce Songs last year, and Susa’s Carols and Lullabies in an earlier winter program. Cantabil eis especially pleased to be performing Eric Ewazen’s “The Bells” once more. The work was premiered in 1982 by Rebecca Scott and the Juilliard Pre-College Chorale, and was presented in New York by Cantabile in 1989.
We have the privilege to present world concert premieres of two new madrigals, or part-songs, by California composer David Avshalomov. They are selections from a growing cycle comprising over 40 settings of Blake’s visionary Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 15, 2003
Christ United Methodist Church, Piscataway, NJ
About the concert
Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.
For information on events, go to MiddlesexCountyCulture.com
Made possible by funds from Middlesex County, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
