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About the Cincinnati Choral Society
Since 1974, the Cincinnati Choral Society, an auditioned ensemble of experienced singers, has been offering varied and audience-engaging programs of challenging repertoire to the greater Cincinnati area and beyond. In addition to performing alone, CCS often collaborates with the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.
CCS has appeared in many local venues as well as in Carnegie Hall, Paris, and London. The group has performed under the baton of John Rutter, and has presented regional premieres of choral works by contemporary composers, including Rene Clausen, Howard Helvey, and Alice Parker. CCS rehearses at Indian Hill Church and is auditioning singers of all voice parts. To request an audition, and to find out more about the organization, please visit https://cincinnatichoralsociety.org/.
Historical Highlights:
2017 World premier of a work commissioned by the Cincinnati Choral Society, Have you ever seen a ray of sunlight? with music by Cincinnati native Jordan Lenchitz and text by Mercedes Goldberg, winner of a local high school poetry competition sponsored by CCS.
2015 Philip Clary becomes Artistic Director of the Cincinnati Choral Society.
2014 Dr. Douglas Belland retires after 20 years of dedicated service as Artistic Director.
2013 Cincinnati premiere of Sonnet 29 by Howard Helvey, with Mr. Helvey conducting.
2012 Members of the Cincinnati Choral Society participate in the closing ceremonies of the World Choir Games, held in Cincinnati.
2003 European tour, performances at All Hallows by the Tower, London, and Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris.
2002 Regional premiere of Holocaust Cantata by Donald McCulloch. Appearances at the Art Institute Concert Series.
2001 World premiere of A Lenten Soliloquy for Chorus and Chamber Orchestra by Douglas K. Belland.
1999 Solo debut (by invitation) at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
1996 Memorial concert for cable broadcast, dedicated to the victims and and survivors of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April 1995.
1995 Participation in the opening celebration of the Aronoff Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Cincinnati.
Mission, Vision, and Values of the Cincinnati Choral Society*
*so-ci-e-ty (noun) an organization or club formed for a particular purpose or activity.
The “purpose” of the Cincinnati Choral Society is:
The Cincinnati Choral Society, an auditioned ensemble of experienced singers, offers varied and audience-engaging programs of challenging repertoire, often collaborating with other accomplished performers in the greater Cincinnati area.
The Cincinnati Choral Society will attract high caliber singers whose dedication to artistic excellence will inspire the community, providing cultural and emotional enrichment through choral performance.
Excellence
We expect excellence from ourselves and all with whom we partner.
Commitment
We show dedication to the choral tradition and our organization by rehearsing rigorously and performing passionately.
Partnerships
We foster a sense of community through artistic collaborations with a variety of vocal, instrumental, and dance ensembles; in particular, our ongoing partnership with the Blue Ash Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.
Self-Governance
We succeed by being supported and governed by members of our singing society.
CCS Board of Directors
Joe Hoskins, President
Sue Speno, Vice President
Vivienne Carlson, Secretary
Gil Linz, Treasurer
Philip Clary, Artistic Director
Lisa Peters, Assistant Conductor
David Doster, Webmaster
Paul Korn, Past President
Erin Russell, Singer Logistics Coordinator
Financial Supporters
This concert is sponsored by the generous support of our Sustaining Members and by an Arts and Culture Grant from Hamilton County as administered by ArtsWave. This grant was made possible by the American Rescue Plan in recognition of the need to support the rebuilding of Hamilton County’s art sector following over $140m in lost revenue due to pandemic-related closures and cancellations.
Sustaining Members as of November 1, 2022
Vivienne Carlson
Donald and Donna Ferguson
Joe Hoskins
Felicia Jevitt
Paul Korn and Marcie Strasser
Lynn Carter-Edmands
Michael and Nancy Harward
Lori Klinedinst
David and Martha Seagram
Gifford Blaylock
Charles Broge
Don and Elaine Hordes
Jerry and Ruth Paul
Mark and LaVerne Schneider-
Sue Speno
Fansheng Kong
Angela Hopkins
Gay Rogers
Erin Russell
Everett Bruce
Diane Byrne
Jeff Clark
Barbara Wallace
Armstrong Chapel
Indian Hill Church
In Memoriam: Chuck Broge (1951-2022)
Charles Walter “Chuck” Broge passed away peacefully at age 71 on Friday, August 12, 2022, following a heart attack. Born on March 29, 1951, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to the late Robert and Janet (née Woodley) Broge, he is survived by a large, loving family. Chuck worked for many years as a research associate for the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, where he studied heart cell mitochondria and co-authored dozens of scientific articles on the topic. He resided in Switzerland County, Indiana, in an area so rural that his siblings used to joke that he had to get closer to the Amish schoolhouse to get a better cell signal. Chuck had many interests in both the sciences and the arts. More than anything else, Chuck loved the outdoors. An avid hiker, he spent many years trekking through the mountains of Colorado, and in his encore career, he enjoyed caring for lawns. But Chuck also loved classical music, spending over thirty years as an active member of both the Faith Lutheran Church Choir in Finneytown and the Cincinnati Choral Society. Chuck’s dependability and dedication to excellence are as greatly missed by the Cincinnati Choral Society as his tenor voice. We dedicate these performances of John Rutter’s Requiem to his memory.
Program Notes
A gifted organist, pianist, and conductor as well as a composer, Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) began performing in public when he was only ten years old, and composing when he was about fourteen. From 1861-1865, he taught piano at the School of Classical and Religious Music in Paris, where he was beloved by his students because he introduced them to the works of contemporary composers that more tradition-bound faculty members eschewed. It was during this time and with his young students in mind that Saint-Saëns began composing Carnival of the Animals, a delightfully witty suite depicting a variety of creatures— human and otherwise. The suite was not completed until 1886, however, and never published nor publicly performed in its entirety during Saint-Saëns’s lifetime. According to music journalist Jessica Duchen, Saint-Saëns was “concerned that its frivolity would damage his reputation as a serious composer.” However, he did allow an exception for one movement: “The Swan,” whose sedate elegance contrasts significantly with the comic character of the rest of the suite. Originally scored for cello and two pianos, “The Swan” will be performed at this concert in an arrangement for cello and harp.
Saint-Saëns would likely consider many of John Rutter’s enormously popular anthems and Christmas carols “frivolous,” but Rutter’s larger works ensure that his reputation as a “serious” composer remains secure. In 2005, a reviewer for the London Evening Standard wrote: “For the infectiousness of his melodic invention and consummate craftsmanship, Rutter has few peers.” In Requiem, composed in 1985, Rutter’s mastery of both melody and craft is on full display. Dedicated to his late father, Rutter’s tender Requiem does not even reference the traditional Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), let alone include a dramatic setting of that tenebrous text, as did Mozart, Berlioz, and Verdi. Instead, Rutter quotes a medieval Easter chant along with John 11:25-26 (“I am the resurrection and the life”) at the end of the fifth movement, signifying his focus on life, hope, and peace. “I am sure that Faure’s Requiem crystallized my thoughts about the kind of Requiem I wanted to write,” Rutter explained: “intimate rather than grandiose, contemplative and lyric rather than dramatic, and ultimately moving towards light rather than darkness.” For members of the Cincinnati Choral Society, performing John Rutter’s contemplative, quietly passionate Requiem has been the perfect way to remember our late colleague Chuck Broge, a contemplative, quietly passionate man.
—Philip Clary and Nancy Harward
CINCINNATI CHORAL SOCIETY
and Chamber Orchestra
Philip Clary, Artistic Director
“The Swan” from Carnival of the Animals (1886)
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Requiem (1985)
John Rutter (b. 1945)
All English translations by John Rutter
from Missa pro defunctis
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion: et tibi redentur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet.Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
Grant them rest eternal, Lord our God, we pray thee: and light perpetual shine on them forever. Thou, Lord, art worshipped in Sion: thy praises shall ever be sung in all Jerusalem.
O hear us, O Lord, hear thy faithful servants’ prayer: to thee shall all mortal flesh return. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Lord have mercy.
Psalm 130
Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord,
hear my voice.
O let thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss: O Lord, who may abide it?
For there is mercy with thee: therefore shalt thou be feared.
I look for the Lord: my soul doth wait for him: in his word is my trust.
My soul fleeth unto the Lord; before the morning watch, I say, before the morning watch.
O Israel, trust in the Lord, for with the Lord there is
mercy: and with him is plenteous redemption.
And he shall redeem Israel from all his sins.
from Missa pro defunctis
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis sempiternam requiem.
Blessed Jesu, Lord, I pray in thy mercy grant them rest.
Lord our God, we pray thee, grant them eternal rest.
from Missa pro defunctis
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt Caeli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in nominee Domine.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and majesty.
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Latin text from Missa pro defunctis
English texts from the Burial Service,
1662 Common Book of Prayer
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.
Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world: in
thy mercy, grant them rest.
Man that is born of a woman hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery. He cometh up, and is cut down like a flower; he fleeth as it were a shadow.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem. In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may we seek for succour?
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.
I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing.
He shall feed me in green pasture, and lead me
forth beside the waters of comfort.
He shall convert my soul: and bring me forth in
the paths of righteousness, for his Name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff comfort me.
Thou shalt prepare a table for me, against them that trouble me; thou has anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full. But thy loving- kindness and mercy shall follow me all of the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
English text from the Burial Service (slightly altered)
Latin text from Missa pro defunctis
I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours; even so saith the Spirit.
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine: cum sanctus tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Light eternal shine upon them, Lord, we pray: with saints and angels ever dwelling, for thy mercy’s sake, may they rest in peace.
Grant them eternal rest, Lord our God, we pray thee, and light perpetual to shine on them for ever.
CCS November 2022 Chorus
Tonya Hampton
Kelly Haney
Angela Hopkins
Hannah Kauffman
Gay Rogers
Dorothy Russell
Erin Russell
Sue Speno
Diane Byrne
Nancy Harward
Felicia Jevitt
Pam Parker
Lisa Peters
Martha Seagram
Giff Blaylock
Dave Doster
Don Ferguson
Joe Hoskins
Jeff Schneider
Bill Shuler
Carl Donisi
Michael Harward
Don Hordes
Paul Inderhees
Paul Korn
Jerry Paul
Dave Seagram
Don Stolper
Peter Stork
Philip D. Clary, Artistic Director
A native Cincinnatian, Phil Clary is also the Director of Music at Indian Hill Church and a teacher in the Music Department at Indian Hill High School. Phil is a member of the Cincinnati Fusion Ensemble, comprised of nationally and internationally renowned singers, based in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. His professional choral experience also includes singing with the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati for 17 seasons. Mr. Clary earned a Bachelor of Music Education in Vocal Music from Northern Kentucky University and a Masters in Educational Leadership from Xavier University. He also completed a year of Choral Conducting studies with Dr. Stephen Coker at the University of Cincinnati (CCM). Phil and his wife Erin enjoy travel, theater, and good restaurants. They are active in the foreign exchange program YFU (Youth for Understanding), having hosted several high school and college students who have come to the U.S. for educational and cultural experiences.
Lisa Peters, Assistant Conductor
Lisa Peters is a graduate of Ithaca College School of Music in Ithaca, New York, where she received a Bachelor of Music Education with an emphasis in Choral Music. In addition she holds a Master’s Degree in Education with Music Emphasis from Xavier University. Originally from the state of Vermont, Ms. Peters taught high school choir in the Cincinnati area for 30 years, first at Amelia High School and then at Walnut Hills High School. Since her retirement from public school teaching, Ms. Peters has stayed active as a local choral educator. She held the adjunct choral director position at Mount Saint Joseph University for three years. Presently, she is on the staff of the Cincinnati Boychoir, where she is a conductor as well as the director of their music literacy program.
Kelly Haney, Soprano Soloist
A native of Northside, Kelly Haney (née Koch) attended Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts from fourth grade through high school, then continued her music education at Bowling Green State University. She worked as a vocal instructor at Five Towns College in Dix Hills, New York, for three years before returning to Cincinnati in 2000. A long-time member of the Vocal Arts Ensemble, Kelly lends her voice to several other area choral groups and often performs as a soloist. She and her husband, Stacy, choral director at Anderson High School and organist at Armstrong Chapel, are the parents of three daughters.
Jefimija Zlatanovic, CCS Accompanist 2022
Jefimija Zlatanovic was born in Serbia, where she began music education at the Academy of the Arts in Novi Sad, specializing in piano before devoting herself fulltime to the organ. In 2013, she came to the U.S. to pursue a bachelor of music degree in organ performance from the University of Indianapolis, where she graduated at the top of her class in 2017. In 2019, Jefimija received a master of music degree from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied under Christopher Young. Jefimija has performed solo recitals at Christ Church Cathedral and Northminster Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis, First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington and Evansville, and St. Francis Seraph in Cincinnati, and has held many principal organist positions throughout her career. Jefimija currently serves as flue voicer and assistant organ builder at M.P. Rathke Inc., an organ-building shop in Cincinnati. She lives with her husband, Jim, and their two felines, Henri and Jiji, and spends her free time hiking, reading, painting, knitting, and traveling.
CCS Chamber Orchestra November 2022
FLUTE Adrienne Gudelsky
OBOE Peggy Grant
CELLO Kaylie Eriksen
HARP Elizabeth Motter
TIMPANI William Mullen
GLOCKENSPIEL Conor Gallagher
CINCINNATI CHORAL SOCIETY
Cincinnati’s Premiere Community Choir and Performing Ensemble
Come sing with us!
The Cincinnati Choral Society is always welcoming to new members, people who share our love of good music and good fellowship.
For more information about ways to participate and how to schedule an audition, please visit:
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on financial support from CCS members and friends in our community.
Please consider becoming a Sustaining Member of CCS at one of the support levels described below.
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