Pilgrim Festival Chorus Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Works of Mendelssohn and Bach Tonight

Pilgrim Festival Chorus (PFC) celebrates their 15th anniversary as the region's principal community chorus with a spring concert, Looking Forward, Looking Back: An Anniversary Celebration Featuring Works of Mendelssohn and Bach, tonight, April 26 at 7:30 pm at The Church of the Pilgrimage (COTP), 8 Town Square in Plymouth.

Looking Forward, Looking Back offers works composed for specific anniversaries by two of the giants of classical music. Bach's Cantata 79, Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild, celebrates the Reformation of 1517. Mendelssohn's Lobgesang (Song of Praise) was commissioned in 1840 for the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press. It is rarely heard in this area, conceivably from a reluctance to perform the work apart from the first three movements of Symphony 2, of which it is a part. Performing these two works together is logical, not only because of the anniversary theme but because both have a similar overarching sense of exuberant joy, albeit in the language of different eras. And, since these works project both a thanksgiving for the past and a celebration of the future, they are entirely appropriate as a culmination of 15 years of choral excellence on the South Shore.

The Chorus will be conducted by long-time PFC Music Director, William B. Richter, accompanied by orchestra and the church's impressive Roche-Woodbury organ played by PFC accompanist/assistant director, Elizabeth Chapman Reilly. The concert will feature a number of professional soloists as well.

In its 15th concert season, the PFC numbers more than 80 vocalists, of all adult ages, dedicated to authentic choral singing. Since 1999, the chorus has delighted South Shore audiences with classical programming including the Brahms German Requiem, Haydn'sCreation, and Mendelssohn's Elijah, as well as contemporary works such as Jenkins's The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace and last spring's performance of the ever popular 20th century work, Orff's Carmina Burana. Balancing these major productions are PFC's winter concerts of short seasonal works, an occasional collaboration with the Plymouth Philharmonic Orchestra, the annual Messiah Sing, and summer concerts with pops-style programming.

Tickets are $20.00 for adults, $18.00 for senior citizens and $15.00 for students over 14. Children under the age of 14 are admitted free. Advance tickets may be purchased online at www.pilgrimfestivalchorus.org, and are available at the Plymouth Center for the Arts, 11 North Street, Plymouth 508-746-7222; and from PFC members. To reserve tickets by phone, please call Gail at (781) 826-8416. Complimentary refreshments will be served in the church hall immediately following the performance. For more information on the concert or PFC, please visit their website at www.pilgrimfestivalchorus.org, or follow Pilgrim Festival Chorus on Facebook.

About Pilgrim Festival Chorus

The Pilgrim Festival Chorus (PFC) is a volunteer, not-for-profit singing group dedicated to performing choral music in public and private concerts; to providing music education to its members and the public; and to encouraging and promoting the performance of quality choral music. The PFC is funded in part by grants from many of the region's Cultural Councils, local agencies supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information about PFC, please visit www.pilgrimfestivalchorus.org, or follow Pilgrim Festival Chorus on Facebook.

Photo Credit: Denise Maccaferri

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