Category: Uncategorized

By Nina Varon, Concentus singer Mother. Cancer. This didn’t happen to me. It happened in the poem; to the poetess. It’s just a piece of music, called Cassiopeia. So why is everybody crying at the rehearsal? We all know that music is powerful: extracting our feelings, often on a subconscious level, it works miracles. A subtle…

By Concentus Alto Maggie Symington Concentus Womens Chorus’ 2016/2017 season is turning out to be our year of brass and harp. At the holidays, we were privileged to sing a work with four brass instruments and harp. I remember a friend’s disappointment that the French horn was not among them, but guess what? We’ll have…

By Reverend Johanna Rehbaum, Concentus member When I found out I was pregnant with my second child back in April 2016, one of my first thoughts was, “Oh no, will this interfere with my Concentus Concert?” (To answer your question: yes, I do have my priorities straight!) I quickly calculated the due date, then spoke…

By Maggie Symington, Concentus member The second time I sang Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols was in 1984 with the New Amsterdam Singers (NAS), in NYC. Also on the program was a work I hadn’t heard before but I loved so much I practically memorized it: Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata. Since I don’t intend to sing in…

Concentus Team for Make Every Woman and Girl Count 5K When Susan Latoski, the Executive Director of the Women’s Foundation of Genesee Valley and former Concentus board member, reached out to Concentus to participate in the 5K walk/run to raise money for this worthy non-profit, of course we said “yes”! Kathy Grant, Kate McCurdy, and Maggie Symington accepted…

By Johanna Rehbaum, Concentus member It was my junior year in college as a music major, and I was taking what everyone knew was the hardest class in the major: music history. The class was notorious for having difficult professors—my friend had to resubmit a paper once because she had used the phrase “from whence”…

By Maggie Symington, Concentus Member This Spring, Concentus’ conductor Gwen Gassler has again delighted the chorus with a diverse repertoire, from early music (Ave Regina Caelorum, by Guillaume Dufay, 15th century) to a song by one of our favorite local composers, Philip Silvey (Assistant Professor of Music Education at the Eastman School of Music); from…

By Maggie Symington As many of you know, Concentus held its inaugural fundraiser at the end of September, on a beautiful evening, in the cafeteria of the Allendale Columbia School. We held extra rehearsals over the summer to prepare our repertoire, and several alumnae accepted our invitation to join us for the opening and closing numbers (and…

By Kathy Cronin Grant Concentus was honored to participate in a fundraising luncheon event for Willow Domestic Violence Center, formerly known in our community as Alternatives for Battered Women.  Supported by approximately 400 attendees, the Willow Center’s annual spring event serves as one of their major efforts to raise both awareness of the burden of…

Please join Concentus for a fundraiser at Alex and Ani. Thursday, March 12, 2015 from 6-9pm. By Kara Juszczak Since joining Concentus in 2007, I have been so touched by the passion and positive energy of our members.  Many of us have experienced some major life event(s) during the time we have been members.  For me, I’ve…