Category: Uncategorized

By Sarah Kelsick Singing in a musical community like Rochester, NY, you have an abundance of opportunity to learn and perform a variety of music.  You always try to find a personal connection to each piece to keep it fresh and enjoyable for both you and your audience.  For what seemed to me the first…

By Maggie Symington, Concentus Member It’s always exhilarating and sad when we reach the culmination of a season’s practice and finally perform. Months of rehearsals go into preparing for our concerts – I actually calculated the rehearsal-hours this season: 40, spread over 16 Sunday evenings. Of course, very few in the group attended every rehearsal…

By Maggie Symington, Concentus Member Why does anyone bother to attend a live classical concert?  It seems obvious that if Bruce Springsteen or Coldplay came to town, the hall (or, more likely, stadium) would be sold out.  But a choral concert?  Or the symphony orchestra?  Why not just stay home and listen to a CD,…

By Kathy (Cronin) Grant, Concentus Member Mention The Planets and it seems that a vast majority respond with comments about their favorite movement or where they most love to be while listening to Holst’s work (outside on a mountaintop or on the open water on a boat at night are commonly mentioned.)  Gustav Holst’s favorite work seems…

By Maggie Symington, Concentus Member It’s not often that a singer gets the opportunity to chat with the composer of a piece she’s singing – he or she is either inaccessible or dead.  So I was excited to learn that Richard Wilder, composer of Where Is My Love?, which will be premiered at Concentus’ June concert,…

By Maggie Symington, Concentus Member My non-musician husband once asked me what purpose the conductor serves in a concert.  He understands that an ensemble needs someone to prepare the group, but he can’t understand what function the person with her back to the audience at a performance serves. Because he’s a guy, I tried a…

By Johanna (Johnson) Rehbaum, Concentus Member I moved to Rochester two and a half years ago to serve as a pastor of two small, Lutheran churches in Webster. One of the first things I did upon arrival was search for a women’s choir to join. I had been blessed with this sort of community in…

By Johanna (Johnson) Rehbaum, Concentus Member As a pastor in the Rochester area, this season is a pretty busy one for me. While I love Christmas preparations at my church, the time I spend preparing for Concentus Christmas concerts is for me a sacred time. The music we sing, some ancient and some contemporary, is…

By Kara Juszczak, Concentus Member and Stage Manager When people have asked me about being a therapist and a musician, I’ve always said that they are just two of my passions, two parts of me that I love, two skills I am good at….   Recently, when discussing positive self-care with a group of graduate level…

By, Sharon DiTucci I have been a community fan of the Concentus Womens Chorus for a few years now, and recently joined their board when a vacancy opened.  My daughter Kara is a member so I have had the great pleasure of attending most of their public appearances over the years.  The joy and admiration…