Penobscot Bay Singers Annual Spring Concert with the Mount View Chamber Singers April 1, 2012

On March 31 at 7:00 at the Belfast Unitarian Universalist Church and
> on April 1 at 3 pm at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in
> Belfast, the Penobscot Bay Singers and the Mount View Chamber Singers
> will offer a diverse program of short choral works. PBS will feature
> all American composers or arrangers and the MVCS will offer some
> American works and some European. Linnea Johnson will accompany the
> PBS, Richard Dostie, directing, while the MVCS will perform a
> capella, directed by David Stevenson. A $12 donation per adult would
> be appreciated.
>
> This concert will be a real spring tonic with pieces ranging from
> sweet and inspirational spirituals and ballads to rowdy sea chanties,
> a rousing modern shape note work by P. Dan Brittain and the rich
> harmonies of Randall Thompson's "the Best of Rooms". No tonic is
> effective without a dose of bitters, and Alice Parker's (a noted
> arranger for Robert Shaw) arrangement of the Irish ballad, "Johnny I
> Hardly Knew Ye" fills the bill. Some madrigals performed by the Mount
> View Singers will lift spirits again with romantic lyrics and
> intricate melodies. Daniel Gawthrop's setting of William Cullen
> Bryant's "The Earth, the Air, the Deep" will put everyone in a proper
> spring-time mood: "Look on this beautiful world, and read the truth in
> her fair page.. Still the green soil, with joyous living things
> swarms."
>
> This is the fifth year that the two choruses have joined together for
> a spring concert. While the music each group offers is sometimes
> similar, the students are selected for the chorus and work hard at
> perfect pitch and blend, rehearsing many hours to memorize the music.
> The Penobscot Bay Singers is a community chorus with considerable
> music background and ability represented in its ranks, but is
> comprised of many people who come to weekly rehearsals straight from
> work. They give up an evening a week for thirteen weeks (usually)
> before each concert, concentrating on doing justice to the music and
> enjoying the challenge of performance. Mt. View's group membership
> changes as Freshmen join and Seniors leave, but there's a core that
> usually lasts for three years. Penobscot Bay Singers also has a core
> of members, some now in their senior years, who provide continuity for
> the organization and enjoy exchanging memories with director Dostie
> who was a charter member himself in the Coller Chorale that was the
> Singer's predecessor.(Stevenson also sang with the Chorale.)Other PB
> singers come and go as family, work and health permit. Both groups
> offer accomplished and often inspiring concerts and the older group
> is happy to show the younger that the joys of choral performance can
> last a life time.
>
> The Penobscot Bay Singers have one more concert in this, their 39th
> season: June 8 and 9, their traditional Pops at the Boathouse in
> Belfast. The Mt. View Chamber Singers will perform in an exchange
> concert at Mt. View on March 27 at 6:30 and in Brooks at the Marsh
> River Theater on May 20, at 7 pm as well as being part of the Olde
> Tyme Radio Show and the annual Pops concert at Mt. View on April 5,6&7
> and May 29, respectively.
>
> Both groups welcome donations to help in the purchase of music, and
> other expenses not covered by member dues (PBS), school budgets (Mt.
> View) and concert income. Donations may be sent to the 501(3)(c)
> Penobscot Bay Singers at PO Box 5, Belfast, Maine 04915. Donations for
> the Chamber Singers should be so designated and sent to Mount View
> High School, 577 Mount View Road, Thorndike, Maine 04986.