Pilgrim Festival Chorus Presents FERNS AND FORREST

Pilgrim Festival Chorus (PFC), the region's principal community chorus, presents its spring season concert, Ferns and Forrest, on Saturday, April 7 at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, April 8 at 7:30 pm, at St. Bonaventure Parish, 803 State Road, Plymouth. The chorus, co-directed by William B. Richter and Elizabeth Chapman Reilly, will be accompanied by a professional 18-piece orchestra.

A celebration of life, Ferns and Forrest features John Corigliano's Fern Hill and Dan Forrest's sublime Requiem for the Living. These very diverse works, by two living composers, offer grand, sweeping atmospheric musical statements that conjure images of living nature.

Fern Hill, based on the 1945 poem by Dylan Thomas, reflects on the author's "young and easy" childhood summers spent on a farm in Wales. Corigliano's musical language evokes some of America's greatest composers, Copland, Barber and Bernstein, and captures the joy and pain of remembering the happy times of childhood. Fern Hill, composed in 1960, was later incorporated into the longer work A Dylan Thomas Trilogy, considered one of Corigliano's masterpieces.

Traditionally a mass for those who have passed away, in his Requiem, Dan Forrest chose to emphasize life for the living. His work highlights our struggles with pain and sorrow, while honoring those who have gone. The Requiem's five movements form a narrative, shifting from pleas for rest and mercy, to peace and hope. The Sanctus movement offers a depiction of the beauty and wonder of the universe, inspired by space. Forrest has created the work with a broad emotional range, one of his best-known compositions to date.

Since 1999, PFC has delighted South Shore audiences with classical programming. More than 70 vocalists of all adult ages fill out the ensemble, dedicated to authentic choral singing. In addition to the spring concert, PFC presents a holiday season concert each winter, an annual Messiah Sing in December, and summer concerts featuring pops-style programming.

Tickets for Ferns and Forrest are $20 for adults, $18 for senior citizens, and $15 for students over 14. Children age 14 and under are admitted free. Advance tickets may be purchased online at pilgrimfestivalchorus.org or from PFC members. To reserve tickets by phone, please call Gail at (781) 826-8416.

For more information, visit pilgrimfestivalchorus.org, or follow Pilgrim Festival Chorus on Facebook.

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.

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