Category Archives: Concerts at St. Mary’s

Concerts and other special musical events

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church, Norwalk
is pleased to present a concert by

TECSO
The Trombones of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra

performing works by Haydn, Beethoven, Premru, Brahms, Bach, Perotin, and Bruckner

Sunday, 22 May 2016, 3:00 P.M.
$15 general admission | $5 students & seniors

St. Mary's warmly invites you & your family
to its annual service of
Advent Lessons & Carols
Friday, 11 December 2015, 7:00 p.m.

The St. Mary's Choir
El Coro Hispano de Santa María
The St. Mary's Student Schola

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David J. Hughes, Organist & Choirmaster
Charles A. Weaver, Associate Director
Welder Gomez, Spanish Choir Director
William V. Riccio, Jr., Assistant Organist
Robert Rudesill, Assistant Organist
Samuel A. Schmitt, Student Schola Assistant Director

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Venite adoremus!

Bring your family & friends to prepare in your hearts a home
for Our Lord this Christmas! This simple & beautiful service,
in which readings from sacred scripture alternate with sung meditations,
illuminates a season of  joyful expectation.
Chants of Advent, choral motets, & congregational hymns
will culminate in Adoration & Benediction of Our Lord
in the Most Blessed Sacrament. A festive reception will follow.

For further information:
203-866-5546 x115
music@stmarynorwalk.net

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church, Norwalk
is pleased to present its annual benefit concert in honor of St. Cecilia

The St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum
David J. Hughes, Director

Sunday, 15 November 2015, 4:00 P.M.
$25 general admission | $15 students & seniors

All proceeds go to support the work of the St. Cecilia Society throughout the year.
A festive wine & cheese reception will follow the concert.

Charlotte Dobbs, soprano
David Hughes, piano
music of Karg-Elert, Copland, and Hughes

Copland: Twelve Songs of Emily Dickinson
Hughes: Song Cycle on Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins (premiere performance)

Sunday, 17 May 2015, 4:00 P.M.

General Admission: $15 / Students: $10

A festive reception will follow the recital.

Click here for a PDF flier.

Praised in Opera Now for her “angelic lyric soprano voice", Charlotte Dobbs brings luminous sound and incisive musicianship to a broad repertoire that encompasses Bach, Mozart, and the bel canto masters, as well as the second Viennese school and contemporary composers.

Charlotte made her New York Philarmonic debut in a new song cycle by the Swiss composer Michael Jarrell, as well as debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a concert of works of Mozart and the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah. She joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for Bach’s Magnficat under Jeffrey Kahane. She also was featured in recital at Caramoor, Collage New Music in Boston, and with the Claring Chamber Players for Faure’s La Bonne Chanson.

On the operatic stage, Charlotte made her debut with New York City Opera in VOX, a concert performance of new operas, as well as covering Governess in their production of The Turn of the Screw. Charlotte made her European debut in as Corinna in Il viaggio a Reims at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, and returned to Italy to sing Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia under the auspices of the Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini and Teatro Aligheri in the theaters of Jesi, Fermo, and Ravenna. She also made her debut in 2009 with the Chicago Opera Theater, singing Servilia in La clemenza di Tito with Jane Glover in a new production of Christopher Alden. Under the baton of Lorin Maazel, she appeared as Governess in the Chateauville Foundation’s production of The Turn of the Screw. Other recent operatic credits include Amina in La Sonnambula, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, the title role in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta, Nuria in Ainadamar, and Countess in Le nozze di Figaro with the Curtis Opera Theater, as well as the title role in Iphigenie en Aulide, Elettra in Idomeneo, and Juno in La Calisto at Juilliard. Charlotte also joined renowned theater group The Civilians for their production Paris Commune at Arts Emerson and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

She appeared recently with Music of the Baroque in Chicago, in a concert performance of Dido and Aeneas and other works of Purcell, as well as several recital appearances at Caramoor. She also recently made her debut with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, singing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony under the baton of Jeffrey Kahane. She appeared in recital with Mitsuko Uchida at the Marlboro Music Festival, performing Schoenberg's Book of the Hanging Gardens. Also at Marlboro, she gave her first performance of Schoenberg's Second String Quartet, which was reprised with the Saratoga Chamber Players. She has been featured in three programs with the New York Festival of Song, most recently “The Sweetest Path” at Caramoor and Merkin Hall. Miss Dobbs made her Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall debuts in Nielsen's Third Symphony with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Alan Gilbert.

Born in Massachusetts, she has received an M.M. from both Juilliard and Curtis and a B.A. from Yale, where she majored in English and Music.

Sharon Levin, flute
Gerard Reuter, oboe
David Hughes, piano
music of Telemann, Marcello, Quantz, Corrette, Gaubert

Sunday, 15 March 2015, 4:00 P.M.

General Admission: $15 / Students: $10

A festive reception will follow the recital.

Click here for a PDF flier.

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Sharon Levin has performed in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Switzerland, Germany, Israel, and the U.S.A. She has appeared at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, NYC in 1988, 1989, (1991 at Merkin Concert Hall), 1996, 2000, 2002 and 2008 performing solos and chamber music. She has appeared on national television in Brazil, Costa Rica and Ecuador and has been interviewed and performed on New York's WQXR radio with harpist, Karen Stern. Sharon Levin has won awards from Artists International in 1988, 1989 and 1991 with harpist, Karen Stern and in 1996 as a soloist. She has performed as a concerto soloist in Brazil, Ecuador, France, Connecticut and New Jersey. Since 1988 she was the principal Flutist with the New Jersey Pops Symphony Orchestra until they dissolved in 2002.

Ms. Levin has been performing for over 30 years with harpist, Karen Stern. As the Levin/Stern Duo, they performed in Europe, South America, Central America and the U.S.A. They perform recitals, concertos, educational lecture/performances and for private special occasions.

Her Ecuadorian group, Trio Pasional, consisting of flute and two guitars recorded two CDs called "Mi Ultimo Beso" (My Last Kiss) and "Reir Llorando" (To Laugh Crying). She hopes this music will heighten the public's awareness of the need to conserve the rain forests and the cultures with which they coexist. Some of Trio Pasional's performances have been at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, CAMI Hall, NYC, The New York Flute Club Flute Fair, and recently at the International Flute Festival in Costa Rica. Other performances include The Newark Museum, (NJ), The Union County Arts Center, (NJ), First Night in Summit, (NJ), The Jefferson Auditorium, Virginia, and at various metropolitan colleges, universities, and diplomatic events. Sharon has spent several years studying Ecuadorian Mestizo Music and created a publication of this style music for Flute and Piano with the help and talent of pianist, Allison Brewster Franzetti.

She has explored Brazilian Chorinho music and spent several years studying this style as well. She performs Chorinhos with guitarist, Tiberio Nascimento.

Ms. Levin has a Master's Degree from Manhattan School of Music and prior to that she studied in Paris, France where she was awarded the "Certificat de Musique de Chambre" from the Ecole Normale de Musique. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY. She has given several Master Classes in Spanish in Costa Rica and Ecuador, and has translated for Master Classes in Costa Rica for other flute Artists. In August of 2005 Ms. Levin gave a lecture/performance on Ecuadorian Mestizo Music at the National Flute Association Convention in San Diego. In 2006 she published Ecuadorian Mestizo Music for Flute and Piano. Ms. Levin performs and teaches at the International Flute Festival in Costa Rica. She was conductor of the Young Artists and Young People's Flute Choirs of the Stamford Young Artist Philharmonic from 2006 - 2010. Ms. Levin performs regularly in the north east region and teaches privately.

Sharon Levin teamed up with Westport guitarist, Gene Pino, and they created Duo Del Norte. They perform a blend of Latin American music with Classical, Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic and Great American and International Standards. They perform for recitals, ceremonies and celebrations.

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"Reuter clearly held the spotlight...richly earned... with a brilliant performance." - The Washington Post

Gerard Reuter has enjoyed a varied and distinguished career as soloist, conductor and in chamber music, touring the United States, Europe, India and Africa. He is a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet and was a founding member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, An Die Musik and the Chelsea Chamber Ensemble. His many guest appearances at music festivals in the United States have included Caramoor, Marlboro, Tanglewood, LaJolla, Malibu, Tucson, Round Top, the Chamber Music Festival of the Library of Congress, Grand Tetons, Bar Harbor, and Market Square Concerts’ Summerfest;and in Europe at the Flanders and Dartington festivals, as well as the International Musicians' Seminar at Prussia Cove. As a soloist, in New York he has appeared with the Jupiter Symphony, the Soviet Emigré Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuoso, Orchestra of the Bronx and in Washington, DC with the National Chamber Orchestra. He has been heard on major radio stations throughout this country and in Europe. He has recorded for Sony, New World, Summit, Telarc, Columbia, Musical Heritage Society and in concert for the Voice of America.

As a recipient of the Pro Musicis Foundation's International Award, Mr. Reuter has been presented in recitals in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Boston as well as in major cities in Europe and Asia. Mr. Reuter has served on the faculties of New York University, Mannes College and Sarah Lawrence College.

Increasingly active as a conductor, Mr. Reuter directs The Wind & Brass Ensemble of the Stamford Young Artists Philharmonic. As a guest he has conducted the Jupiter Symphony, Riverside Symphony, Claremont Strings, New York Mandolin Orchestra, the St Joseph’s Choir (Danbury, CT) in performances of Handel’s Messiah and the Requiems of Duruflé and Rutter, and the Schenectady Symphony, of which Albany’s “Times-Union” reported: “The Schenectady Symphony Orchestra under Reuter were in fine form…[he] led a fine, rollicking, crisp performance.”

James Wetzel, organ
works of Bach, Mendelssohn, and Franck

Sunday, 22 February 2015, 4:00 P.M.

General Admission: $15 / Students: $10

A festive reception will follow the recital.

Click here for a PDF flier.

Pittsburgh-born James D. Wetzel has been the Organist and Choirmaster of the Church of Saint Agnes in Manhattan since 2010, directing one of the most respected Catholic music programs in the nation. The church’s professional Schola Cantorum sings for over 120 liturgies annually, including the weekly Tridentine Latin Mass. James is the Assistant Conductor and accompanist for the Greenwich Choral Society in Connecticut, accompanist for the New Choral Society in Scarsdale, New York, and holds a post as Assisting Organist at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine where he formerly served as Organ Scholar for two years under Bruce Neswick. Also, he is an adjunct lecturer at Hunter College where he directs the Chamber Singers and teaches organ.

Mr. Wetzel is also active as an organist and continuo player; recent highlights include performing at the Berkshire Choral Festival, with the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and with the American Classical Orchestra in Alice Tully Hall. He is a board member of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Catholic Artists Society, is music advisor to the New York Purgatorial Society, and is a member of the Saint Wilfred’s Club for Organists in Manhattan.

Mr. Wetzel earned a bachelor’s degree in organ performance from The Juilliard School where he studied with Paul Jacobs and was the first person ever to graduate with a master’s degree and a post-graduate professional studies certificate in choral conducting from Manhattan School of Music under Kent Tritle. He also studied privately with Donald K. Fellows and Robert Page. Additionally, James spend a year studying Early Christianity and Apologetics at Columbia University.

The St. Cecilia Society of St. Mary Church presents the
2015 CONCERT SERIES

At a glance:

Sunday, February 22nd
4:00 P.M.
James Wetzel, organ
works of Bach, Mendelssohn, and Franck

+

Sunday, March 15th
4:00 P.M.
Sharon Levin, flute
Gerard Reuter, oboe
David Hughes, piano
works of Telemann, Marcello, and Quantz

+

Wednesday, April 1st
8:00 P.M.
Tenebræ
The St. Mary’s Schola Cantorum
The St. Mary’s Student Schola

+

Sunday, May 17th
4:00 P.M.
Charlotte Dobbs, soprano
David Hughes, piano
works of Karg-Elert, Copland, and Hughes

+

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