The Paul Madore Chorale, now in its 59th season of bringing challenging and engaging music to Boston’s North Shore, has announced its concerts for the spring.
On Sunday, March 16, 2025, a concert will be presented at 3 p.m. at the First Parish Church in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. Titled “Where Charity and Love Prevail” , the program includes two treatments of the 13th Century poem Stabat Mater, one by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi from the early 18th Century and the other by Josef Rheinberger from the late 19th Century; a modern treatment of the Eighth Century hymn Ubi Caritas ( Where Charity and Love Prevail) by Ola Gjielo; a chant by Hildegard von Bingen; and a piece from the 12th Century Codex Calixtinus ( songs and stories from the medieval Camino
de Santiago de Compostela). Tickets are $20 at the door or in advance from their website, www.thepaulmadorechorale.org.
On Sunday, May 18, 2025, a concert titled “Love’s Illusion” will be performed at 3 p.m. at the First Parish Church in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. Among other pieces, two song cycles set to quotes from Shakespeare will be presented; one is by Emma Lou Diemer, a prolific and delightful composer and keyboardist from the 20th Century; the other is by Matthew Harris, a composer and performer with a wide-ranging output of choral and orchestral music to his name. And the Chorale will present the premier performance of Fear No More by Prof. Ed Lundergan, a conductor and composer who is now based in Salem, MA, with text from a sonnet by Shakespeare.
The Chorale is a community chorus that has been singing in the Salem area since its founding in 1966. Now under the direction of René Minalga-Rheault, the group continues to present
challenging and engaging music to audiences around the North Shore. As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, the Chorale depends on donations from people in the communities it serves and grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. New singers are always welcome; tenor and bass voices are especially appreciated, but all singers are invited to join. Further information
about the Chorale can be found on their website mentioned above and on the group’s Facebook page, “PaulMadoreChorale”.
