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The Monmouth Civic Chorus (MCC) is an independent community chorus performing high quality music since 1949, recognized by national and community awards, drawing its members primarily from the Monmouth County, New Jersey community. Performances encompass choral classics; innovative programming, including premieres, rare and contemporary music, and musical theater; the popular annual Christmas concert, with selections from Handel’s ''Messiah'' and well-known holiday music; Christmas carols around the community; and collaborations with arts partners. MCC has performed on tour in many European countries, and at numerous performance venues in the Northeast, including Carnegie Hall and St. Thomas Church in Manhattan; the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C.; PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N. J.; and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N. J. The Monmouth Civic Chorus has experienced large concert attendance, positive reviews (“''Among the very best in the entire Northeast''”— Asbury Park Press), growing chorus membership, and successful fund-raising campaigns. In addition to concerts, MCC performs a variety of community outreach events, including recitals by outstanding musicians. MCC has provided annual scholarships to students of outstanding vocal promise for several decades, with some of the scholarship winners already going on to distinguished music careers. ==History== The vision of William Gordon Pagdin was responsible for the founding of the Monmouth Civic Chorus. Gordon was employed as an electrical engineer, but music was his love. He grew up surrounded by noted vocalists and conductors as a result of his father’s career in concerts, opera, and church music. Gordon's early introduction to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas prompted him to select ''Pirates of Penzance'' for the Chorus's first performance, in May, 1950 at the Carlton Theater (now the Count Basie) in Red Bank. MCC’s second performance, in January, 1951, was Handel’s ''Messiah.'' Two years after MCC’s inception, Gordon survived one of the worst train accidents in US history. Amazed that his life had been spared, he decided to direct one religious work each year. MCC continued to perform G&S and sacred works under the direction of its founder until 1962. When the late Felix Molzer took the baton as conductor of MCC, he brought his background as director of the Vienna Boys' Choir and professor of music in Vienna. Felix added operettas and musicals to the stage repertoire, from ''The Bartered Bride'' and ''Faust'' to ''The Most Happy Fella'' and ''Of Thee I Sing.'' MCC expanded its concert performances to new stages, among them the then-Garden State Arts Center with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henry Lewis. After a period in the 1960s when the MCC podium was occupied by several guest conductors, William R. Shoppell, Jr., a noted music educator and church musician, became MCC’s conductor in 1973. Under Bill’s direction, the performance schedule grew from a classical concert in the fall and a staged musical in the spring, to two concerts and a show in 1982-83. By 1987-88, the season increased to three concerts plus a stage production. The repertoire encompassed the masterworks of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Puccini, Verdi, and Berlioz, as well as the classic musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and Gilbert and Sullivan. Bill prepared the Chorus for several performances at Carnegie Hall as the "anchor choir" with choristers from all over the country, and at the celebration of the Statue of Liberty centennial in 1986. MCC began touring out of state under Bill's direction in 1981, performing Puccini’s ''Messa di Gloria'' by invitation at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C. This one-day trip led to performing tours of Europe, which continued under subsequent directors. Upon Bill Shoppell’s retirement in 1991, Mark Shapiro was appointed Artistic Director of MCC. A ''summa cum laude'' graduate of the Yale University Department of Music, Mark had recently returned from a seven-year residency in France. His leadership enabled MCC to tackle new challenges such as Verdi’s ''Requiem,'' Orff’s ''Carmina Burana'' and Rachmaninoff’s ''Vespers.'' The repertoire expanded to embrace languages and cultures from Spain to Denmark, along with a wealth of 20th-century American works. MCC also revived little-known gems of choral music, such as Mass settings by Dame Ethel Smyth, Vincent Persichetti, Roger Sessions and Anton Bruckner. The Smyth performance commemorated the centennial of the work's premiere in 1893.〔http://matawan.ididigital.com/TheIndependent/1993/1993-01-13/pg_0016.pdf〕 MCC recorded two CDs under Mark Shapiro’s direction, and performed at prestigious local venues including the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, and St. Thomas Church in Manhattan. MCC also performed at community events such as the Belmar Winterfest, Holmdel 9/11 memorial dedication, Holmdel Arts Festival at Bayonet Farms, and Prison Ships Martyrs Memorial Centennial Celebration in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn. Under Mark's direction, MCC increased its presentation of new music, including world and continental premieres, and performed innovative approaches to traditional music, such as musical portraits of famous historical figures. MCC received the ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award for the March 2007 world premiere of Jorge Martin’s concert opera ''Stronger Than Darkness,'' an adaptation of his opera ''Before Night Falls,'' based on the memoir by Cuban dissident Reinaldo Arenas. Dr. Ryan James Brandau was appointed Artistic Director beginning with the 2012-13 season, upon the departure of Dr. Mark Shapiro, who became the Music Director of the Cecilia Chorus of New York. Ryan's creative programming included ''I Have a Dream'' in March 2013, a concert honoring the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s iconic speech and the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation; and ''Vespers Fusion'' in May 2015, which intermingled movements from settings of the Vespers prayers by Mozart and Monteverdi. Ryan's own arrangements of holiday favorites are featured in the ''Christmas Suite'' performed in December 2015, and on MCC's most recent CD, released in 2014. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Monmouth Civic Chorus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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