Monmouth Civic Chorus

Monmouth Civic Chorus in concert at the Count Basie Theatre, Red Bank, New Jersey (2003). Photo courtesy: Glenn Gargone.

The Monmouth Civic Chorus (MCC) is an independent community chorus performing high quality music since 1949, recognized by national^[1] and community^[2] awards, drawing its members primarily from the Monmouth County, New Jersey community.^[3] Performances encompass choral classics; innovative programming, including premieres,^[4][5] rare and contemporary music, and musical theater^[6]; the popular annual Christmas concert, with selections from Handel’s Messiah and well-known holiday music; Christmas carols around the community^[7]; and collaborations with arts partners. MCC has performed on tour in 11 European countries, and at numerous performance venues in the Northeast, including Carnegie Hall and St. Thomas Church in Manhattan; the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C.; PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N. J.; and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark, N. J.

Dr. Mark Shapiro is the Artistic Director and Conductor, known for his selection of challenging music the chorus can master, ability to bring new interpretations to familiar music, ear for musical detail, creative teaching techniques, and sense of humor and fun.^[8] Chorus members enjoy the challenge of meeting Dr. Shapiro’s exacting standards while learning and laughing with him. Singers improve their linguistic skills by singing many works in the original language, including Czech, Danish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Slavonic, and Spanish. Weekly 2 ½ hour rehearsals, strict rehearsal attendance policy, entrance auditions, musically experienced section leaders, professional accompanists and orchestras, and exceptional guest artists, combine to create an outstanding experience for members and audiences. Dr. Shapiro will conclude his 20-year tenure with the Chorus with the 2011-12 season. The Chorus congratulates Dr. Shapiro on his appointment as Music Director of the St. Cecilia Chorus and Orchestra in New York City.

The Monmouth Civic Chorus has experienced large concert attendance, positive reviews (“Among the very best in the entire Northeast” -- Asbury Park Press), growing chorus membership, and successful fund-raising campaigns. In addition to concerts, MCC performs a variety of community outreach events, including recitals by outstanding musicians. MCC has provided annual scholarships to students of outstanding vocal promise for several decades, with some of the scholarship winners already going on to distinguished music careers.

History

The vision of William Gordon Pagdin was responsible for the founding of the Monmouth Civic Chorus. Gordon was employed as a chemical engineer, but music was his love. He grew up surrounded by noted vocalists and conductors as a result of his parents’ careers in concerts, opera, and church music. Gordon's early introduction to Gilbert and Sullivan operettas prompted him to select Pirates of Penzance for the Chorus's first performance, in May, 1950 at the Carlton Theater (now the Count Basie) in Red Bank. MCC’s second performance, in January, 1951, was Handel’s Messiah.

Two years after MCC’s inception, Gordon survived one of the worst train accidents in US history. Amazed that his life had been spared, he decided to direct one religious work each year. MCC continued to perform G&S and sacred works under the direction of its founder until 1962.

When the late Felix Molzer took the baton as conductor of MCC, he brought his background as director of the Vienna Boys' Choir and professor of music in Vienna. Felix added operettas and musicals to the stage repertoire, from The Bartered Bride and Faust to The Most Happy Fella and Of Thee I Sing. MCC expanded its concert performances to new stages, among them the then-Garden State Arts Center with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henry Lewis.

After a period in the 1960's when the MCC podium was occupied by several guest conductors, William R. Shoppell, Jr., a noted music educator and church musician, became MCC’s conductor in 1973. Under Bill’s direction, the performance schedule grew from a classical concert in the fall and a staged musical in the spring, to two concerts and a show in 1982-83. By 1987-88, the season increased to three concerts plus a stage production. The repertoire encompassed the masterworks of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Puccini, Verdi, and Berlioz, as well as the classic musicals of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and Gilbert and Sullivan. Bill prepared the Chorus for several performances at Carnegie Hall as the "anchor choir" with choristers from all over the country, and at the celebration of the Statue of Liberty centennial in 1986.

MCC began touring out of state in 1981, performing Puccini’s Messa di Gloria by invitation at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C. This one-day trip led to a performing tour of Austria and Germany in 1984. More tours under the direction of Bill Shoppell took MCC to the British Isles in 1987, and to Austria, Switzerland and Italy in 1990.

Upon Bill Shoppell’s retirement in 1991, Mark Shapiro was appointed Artistic Director of MCC. A summa cum laude graduate of the Yale University Department of Music, Mark had recently returned from a seven-year residency in France. His leadership enabled MCC to tackle new challenges such as Verdi’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana and Rachmaninoff’s Vespers. The repertoire expanded to embrace languages and cultures from Spain to Denmark, along with a wealth of 20th-century American works. MCC also revived little-known gems of choral music, such as Mass settings by Dame Ethel Smyth, Vincent Persichetti, Roger Sessions and Anton Bruckner.

MCC toured Eastern Europe in 1993, directed by Mark Shapiro, and Scandinavia in 1996, under the baton of then-Assistant Conductor Steven Russell. MCC recorded two CDs under Mark Shapiro’s direction, and performed at prestigious local venues including the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, and St. Thomas Church in Manhattan. MCC also performed at community events such as the Belmar Winterfest, Holmdel 9/11 memorial dedication,^[9] Holmdel Arts Festival at Bayonet Farms,^[10] and Prison Ships Martyrs Memorial Centennial Celebration in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn.^[11]

In recent years, MCC has increased its presentation of new music, including world and continental premieres, and performed innovative approaches to traditional music, such as musical portraits of famous historical figures. MCC received the ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award for the March 2007 world premiere of Jorge Martin’s concert opera Stronger Than Darkness, an adaptation of his opera Before Night Falls, based on the memoir by Cuban dissident Reinaldo Arenas.

Selected Repertoire

Current Season

The 2011-12 season features three subscription concerts:

• Messiah and More, the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah plus spirituals on December 18, 2011 at the Count Basie Theatre, 99 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, NJ 07701
• Verdi Requiem on March 10, 2012, also at the Count Basie Theatre
• Brahms on May 20, 2012 at the First Presbyterian Church, 255 Harding Road (Tower Hill), Red Bank

The Chorus will also collaborate with Cabaret for Life in a non-subscription event:

• Titanic, the Tony-award winning musical, on October 29 at 8:00 and October 30 at 2:00, at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center, in the Jewish Community Center, 100 Grant Avenue, Deal, NJ

The 2010-11 season was a “Year of Bach.” The season included Bach: The Man and His Music in November 2010, selections from Bach's Christmas Oratorio paired with the Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah in December 2010, and the Mass in B Minor on April 30, 2011. Bach & Friends, a documentary film by Michael Lawrence, was screened on April 6, 2011.

Premieres

• Sphaera (Bubble) by French composer Guillaume Connesson, May 2009, North American premiere^[12]
• The Wallabout Martyrs by Gilda Lyons, text by Walt Whitman,^[13] and Brooklyn Bones by Alvin Singleton, text by Patricia Hampl, November 2008,^[14] both world premieres
• Stronger Than Darkness, a Cuban-American concert opera by Jorge Martin, March 2007, world premiere of concert version^[15][16]
• Golden Gate, a contemporary musical by Richard Pearson Thomas and Joe Calarco, May 2008, world premiere of semi-staged version^[17][18]
• I Sing the Body Electric by Brooklyn-based composer and conductor Vince Peterson, April 2010, dedicated to Mark Shapiro^[19]
• Secheresses (Droughts) by Francis Poulenc, June 2003, world premiere of English translation by Mark Shapiro^[20][21]

Innovations

• Lincoln Bicentennial Tribute concert, February 2009, presented free of charge, with songs, narrative, Lincoln quotes and stories, and a period dance.^[22][23]
• Concert portraits of the lives and works of great artists, with dramatic skits and readings, including Shakespeare, June 2006^[24] and June 2007^[25]; Franz Liszt, November 2007; and J. S. Bach, November 2010.
• Voices of the Young by Tom Cipullo, April 1999,^[26] and Fill My Dreams, Stir My Soul by Paul Siskind, June 2001, based on MCC's student poetry contests with the winning poems set to music by commissioned composers and performed by MCC, with funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.^[27]

Rare and Contemporary Music

Rare and contemporary music performed by the chorus includes: Mark Adamo, No. 10: The Supreme Virtue; Dominick Argento, Peter Quince at the Clavier and Jonah and the Whale; Samuel Barber, Prayers of Kierkegaard; Leos Janacek, Otcenas (Our Father); Ulysses Kay, Song of Jeremiah; Trond Kverno, Missa in Sono Tubae (Mass with the Sound of Brass); Franz Liszt, A Munka Hymnusza (Workers' Chorus); Zdenek Lukas, Requiem; Kirke Mechem, Las Americas Unidas (The United Americas); Peter Mennin, Symphony No. 4, The Cycle; Paul Moravec, Songs of Love and War; Carl Nielsen, Springtime on Funen; Vincent Persichetti, Mass; Roger Sessions, Mass; Dame Ethel Smyth, Mass in D; and Igor Stravinsky, Les Noces (The Wedding).

Musical Theater and Opera

• Original musical revues sampling a variety of composers, such as American Folk, May 2010.
• Fully staged performances of musical theater classics by Gilbert and Sullivan, Frank Loesser, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, and George and Ira Gershwin.
• Ragtime, book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, October 2009, performed in collaboration with Cabaret for Life, which supports people with HIV/AIDS and cancer.^[28]
• Titanic, music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, book by Peter Stone, planned for fall 2011 in collaboration with Cabaret for Life, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.
• Other operas and operettas performed by the chorus include: Granados, Goyescas; Lehar, The Merry Widow; Mozart, The Magic Flute; Puccini, Turandot;^[29] and Smetana, The Bartered Bride.

Choral Classics

A complete list of chorus performances from 1993 to the present can be found here. Among the choral classics performed by the chorus, are: J. S. Bach, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat, Mass in B Minor, St. Matthew Passion; Beethoven, Choral Fantasy, Mass in C, Missa Solemnis, Ninth Symphony, Ode to Joy; Berlioz, Requiem; Bernstein, Chichester Psalms; Bloch, Sacred Service; Brahms, Alto Rhapsody^[30], German Requiem; Bruckner, Mass in E Minor, Mass in F Minor, Te Deum; Dvorák, Stabat Mater, Te Deum; Fauré, Cantique de Jean Racine, Requiem; Handel, Israel in Egypt, Judas Maccabeus, Messiah; Haydn, The Creation, Mass in D Minor [Lord Nelson Mass], Missa Cellensis, The Seasons; Kodaly, Missa Brevis; Mahler, Symphony No. 8, 1st Movement; Mendelssohn, Elijah; Mozart, Coronation Mass, Grand Mass in C Minor, Missa Brevis [Sparrow Mass], Requiem^[31], Te Deum, Solemn Vespers; Orff, Carmina Burana; Poulenc, Gloria, Mass in G, Stabat Mater; Puccini, Messa di Gloria; Rachmaninoff, Vespers [All-Night Vigil]^[32]; Rossini, Stabat Mater; Rutter, Requiem; Schubert,Mass in A Flat, Mass in E Flat, Mass in G; Stravinsky, Symphony of Psalms; Vaughan Williams, Dona Nobis Pacem, Hodie, Sea Symphony; Verdi, Four Sacred Pieces, Requiem; Vivaldi, Gloria; Walton, Belshazzar's Feast; and many others.

Directors

Dr. Mark Shapiro

Versatile conductor Mark Shapiro is one of a handful of conductors in North America to have won a prestigious ASCAP/Chorus America Award four times.^[33][34] Shapiro enjoys working with orchestras, opera companies, and choruses. He is Artistic Director of Cantori New York and the Monmouth Civic Chorus, and a frequent cover conductor for opera and concert performances by the Bridgeport Symphony, which he led in a performance with soprano Harolyn Blackwell. Shapiro is a regular guest conductor of the chamber orchestra Nova Sinfonia, in Halifax. Other engagements include the St. Cecilia Chorus in Carnegie Hall in April 2011, and a sold-out performance of music by Handel at the 5000-seat Roman amphitheater in Vaison-la-Romaine, France in 2010.

Opera credits include the American Opera Projects, the Center for Contemporary Opera, Metro Lyric Opera, and two successful seasons with the Opera Company of Middlebury (VT). Recent performance venues have included Zankel Hall, Le Poisson Rouge, the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center, and Vaison-la-Romaine. Singers with whom Shapiro has worked include Sasha Cooke, Barbara Dever, Jennifer Zetlan, and many others. Shapiro has also been heard on PBS, conducting the soundtrack for Ric Burns' special on New York City, as well as on radio stations WQXR and WNYC.

Shapiro is on the faculties of the CW Post Campus of Long Island University and Mannes College the New School for Music. Each summer he directs the Conducting Program at the European American Musical Alliance in Paris, where he also teaches keyboard harmony and score reading. His conducting teachers included Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar.

Past Directors

• William R. Shoppell, Jr., 1973-1991

William R. Shoppell, Jr. was supervisor of music for the five high schools of the Freehold Regional High School District and a music educator for 36 years. Twice selected to conduct both the All-Shore Chorus and the All-Shore Band, he is Conductor Emeritus of the Monmouth Civic Chorus, which he directed for more than 25 years. Shoppell led the Point Pleasant Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir and the Monmouth Civic Chorus in five successful overseas concert tours. He served as cantorial soloist at Monmouth Reform Temple, and as guest conductor and vocal and instrumental adjudicator in numerous settings throughout the state over many years. He also led the New Jersey Chamber Singers in two seasons of choral performances.

• Felix Molzer, 1966-1973

Felix Molzer was born in Vienna, Austria, and lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey for over 40 years prior to his death in 2005. A graduate of Vienna Music Academy with a master of science degree in music education from the University of Pennsylvania, Molzer conducted the Vienna Choir Boys’ first tour after World War II consisting of 100 concerts. He was awarded the Johann Strauss Medal of the city of Vienna and the title of professor by the state of Austria. Molzer founded the not-for-profit Monmouth Conservatory of Music in 1964 and continued as director until 1992. He published more than 1,000 arrangements and compositions, including three folk operas and three vocal orchestral scores for children’s choir, which were performed by the Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestra. He co-founded the Composers Guild of New Jersey and was a charter member of the Monmouth County Arts Council Board of Trustees. He taught at Monmouth College and Hope College’s Vienna Summer School, conducted many community choirs and opera performances, and served as minister of music at the Church of the Holy Communion, Christ Church United Methodist and the Church of the Nativity, all in Fair Haven.

• William Gordon Pagdin, 1949-1962

William Gordon Pagdin, known as Gordon, founded the Monmouth Civic Chorus, Monmouth Little Symphony (now the Monmouth Symphony Orchestra) and the Monmouth Arts Foundation (precursor of the Monmouth County Arts Council). He grew up with noted vocalists and conductors as a result of his father's career in concert, opera, and teaching in England and the United States. His mother was an organist and choir director. Aside from his musical avocation, Gordon worked for Ballantine Beer Company where he was an inventor and patent holder for conveyor mechanisms for bottles and cans.

Collaborations

Guest Artists

MCC has worked with numerous soloists, directors, composers and scholarship winners who have moved on to the world stage.

• Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke performed with MCC in Stravinsky's Les Noces in 2006. Subsequently she was seen on national television and in movie theaters worldwide in the Metropolitan Opera HDTV broadcasts of Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel and John Adams' Doctor Atomic.
• Mezzo-soprano Barbara Dever sang with MCC in Jorge Martin’s Stronger Than Darkness, Brahms' Alto Rhapsody, Handel’s Messiah, and a benefit recital with Mark Shapiro. She began her solo career with the Chorus under William R. Shoppell, Jr. in 1988 in Dvorák’s Stabat Mater. She is on the roster of the Metropolitan Opera and has performed with Placido Domingo, Zubin Mehta, James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa and Luciano Pavarotti.
• Stage director Eric Einhorn was a 1998 MCC scholarship honoree and the author of a poem set to music in MCC's Voices of the Young project. He returned to MCC as stage director for the musical Golden Gate and the semi-staged concert American Folk. He is an assistant director at the Metropolitan Opera.
• Tenor Joseph Kaiser sang Bloch's Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service) with MCC in November 2001, and has gone on to sing leading tenor roles at the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Munich Festival, and concert performances with Sir André Previn, Daniel Barenboim and Marek Janowski. He appeared in the Metropolitan Opera HD movie broadcast in April 2011 as Flamand in Richard Strauss's Capriccio, opposite Renée Fleming.
• Baritone Lester Lynch sang Ulysses Kay's Song of Jeremiah and Brahms' Requiem with MCC in March 1998. Since then he has sung with the opera companies of Chicago, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Louisville and San Francisco.
• Composer Jorge Martin created Stronger Than Darkness, a concert version of his opera Before Night Falls, for MCC in 2008. The complete opera was later performed by the Fort Worth Opera.
• Soprano Angela Meade sang with MCC in Stronger Than Darkness, and was featured on nationwide public television as a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She is also a first prize winner of the Jose Iturbi Competition, Richard Tucker Foundation Competition, Concours Musical International de Montreal, Gerda Lissner Competition, Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation Competition, George London Competition, Liederkranz Foundation Competition, National Opera Association Competition, Opera Index Competition, Belvedere Competition, Margeurite McCammon Competition, Giargiari Bel Canto Competition and Eleanor Lieber Awards.
• Soprano Jo Ellen Miller was a 1999 MCC scholarship winner, and is the daughter of two MCC members. She sang with MCC in Handel’s Messiah, Fauré’s Requiem, and the 2008 benefit recital. She performed at Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the Met Chamber Ensemble conducted by James Levine.
• Soprano Jody Sheinbaum was a 1989 scholarship winner and a 2007 recitalist. She has performed with the New York City Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Santa Fe Opera, Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.
• Soprano Donita Volkwijn sang Brahms' Requiem with MCC in March 1998, and Handel's Messiah in December that same year. She performed for MCC in a benefit recital in 1999, and in the 9/11 open sing of Brahms' Requiem in 2001. She returned to MCC for Beethoven's Mass in C Major in March 2003. Recently she was seen in major European cities, performing the role of Bess in a touring production of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. She has also performed leading roles with the Tulsa Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre and DiCapo Opera Theater.
• Soprano Jennifer Zetlan performed with MCC in Stravinsky's Les Noces in 2006. She has performed with the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the New Juilliard Ensemble and the Marilyn Horne Foundation.

Orchestras and Choruses

• Cathedral Symphony Orchestra, December 1985.
• Manhattan Philharmonic, May 1989, November 1990 and May 1991.
• Monmouth Conservatory of Music Children's Opera Chorus, April 1997 and June 2000.
• Monmouth Symphony Orchestra, March 1994.
• New Jersey Bach Festival Orchestra, December 1993.
• New Jersey Chamber Singers Children's Chorus, June 2001.
• New Jersey Gay Men's Chorus, December 2007.
• New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, November 2001.
• Raritan Valley Youth Chorale, June 1994.
• Westfield Symphony Orchestra, September 2006.^[29]

Vocal Recitals and Master Class

MCC has presented benefit solo recitals by guest artists including Barbara Dever, Jo Ellen Miller, Jody Sheinbaum, Steven Tharp and Donita Volkwijn, as well as ensemble recitals performed by Chorus members. Tony winner Victoria Clark led a master class for musical theater singers to benefit MCC in 2009.

Awards

• 2008 ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award, awarded to one North American chorus annually for programming significant recently composed music that expands the mission of the chorus and challenges the chorus's audience in a new way.^[1]
• 2010 Spinnaker Award for Arts and Culture from the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce^[2]

Recordings

MCC has produced two recordings on CD: An MCC Christmas, well-known holiday carols (sold out), and Grace Notes, selections from choral classics.

Community Outreach

Scholarships

The Chorus has offered scholarships to vocally talented New Jersey high school seniors since 1970. To date the Chorus has distributed more than $50,000 in scholarship awards. Scholarship auditions are held annually in the spring in Red Bank, by appointment only. Scholarship applicants must perform two contrasting selections from the standard vocal repertoire (opera, operetta, art songs, Gilbert and Sullivan, oratorio), with at least one selection in Italian, French or German.

Community Performances

Small groups of Chorus members perform holiday carols throughout the community in December, including regular gigs at the Sickles Market tree lighting in Little Silver and the Holiday Harmonies outdoor entertainment in Red Bank. MCC ensembles have also performed at local senior communities and at benefits for charitable causes, including an open sing of the Brahms Requiem to raise funds for World Trade Center disaster relief in September 2001.^[35] Every summer, MCC holds an open sing, inviting all singers in the community to sing with Chorus members.

Organizational Structure

MCC is a not-for-profit organization with no office and no paid administrative staff. All administrative aspects of running the chorus, from setting up and tearing down the stage to managing all the complexity of a large and diverse organization, are performed by volunteers. The elected board of directors, consisting largely of singing members, is responsible for developing and implementing the long-range plan, overseeing the group's fiscal health and grant compliance, responding to the needs of the director and members, and maintaining productive relationships with the audience and community. In addition to the President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Registered Agent, board members chair the following standing committees:

• Financial Development
• Financial Operations
• Marketing
• Membership
• Music
• Production

MCC is funded in part by the Monmouth County Arts Council through funding from the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, through the County Historical Commission, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is received from individual and corporate donors, foundation grants and matching gifts. MCC has an Endowment Fund as a permanent income source, and a Sostenuto Society for donors who have included the Chorus in their estate planning.

MCC is a member of Chorus America and the New Jersey Choral Consortium.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Stack, Pauline (June 10 2008). "ASCAP "ADVENTUROUS PROGRAMMING" AWARDS TO BE PRESENTED AT CHORUS AMERICA CONFERENCE IN DENVER". ASCAP. http://www.ascap.com/press/2008/0610_chorusAmerica.aspx. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce, 19th Annual Spinnaker Awards Announced, http://monmouthchamberofcommerce.com/?p=116, retrieved 30 March 2011 
3. ^ Steinberg, Kimberly (Feb 8 2010). "Vote is in: Red Bank is state’s top arts district". The Hub. http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2010-02-18/Front_Page/Vote_is_in_Red_Bank_is_states_top_arts_district.html. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
4. ^ "Brooklyn Bones". Brooklyn Bones: Requiem for the Prison Ship Martyrs. ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. http://www.ascap.com/playback/2009/winter/stepping_out/alvin.aspx. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
5. ^ [|mcchorus] (Aug 7, 2008). "Pothole Paradise". Golden Gate. Monmouth Civic Chorus. http://www.youtube.com/user/mcchorus#p/a/u/1/mtjRclTVaC4. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
6. ^ [|Bianchi, Kevin] (Dec 25, 2009). "The Night that Goldman Spoke at Union Square - Ragtime". Ragtime. ktabianchi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enue9JVvZdI. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
7. ^ "Mon. Civic Chorus carolers for hire". The Hub. http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2010-11-04/Bulletin_Board/Mon_Civic_Chorus_carolers_for_hire.html. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
8. ^ Picerno, Anthony (Apr 12 2010). "Why Classical Music Rocks: Dr. Mark Shapiro, Conductor". Sonic Eclectic. http://soniceclectic.com/2010/04/why-classical-music-rocks-dr-mark-shapiro-conductor/. Retrieved Mar 28 2011. 
9. ^ The Hub, Civic Chorus raises more than $7,000 for WTC relief, http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2001-10-12/Bulletin_Board/012.html, retrieved 27 March 2011 
10. ^ The Hub, Bayonet Farm Art & Music Festival Sept. 13, http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2009-07-23/bulletin_board/014.html, retrieved 27 March 2011 
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12. ^ New York Times (May 3, 2009), "Calendar: Events in New Jersey, Theater, Red Bank", The New York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E2DC1139F930A35756C0A96F9C8B63&scp=16&sq=monmouth+civic+chorus&st=cse&pagewanted=all, retrieved 27 March 2011 
13. ^ Lyons, Gilda, Gilda Lyons, News / Performances, 25 July 2010, http://www.gildalyons.com/index.php?page=news-performances, retrieved 21 March 2011 
14. ^ Schott Music, Alvin Singleton's "Brooklyn Bones" Given World Premiere in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, http://www.schott-music.com/news/archive/show,2688.html, retrieved 21 March 2011 
15. ^ Martin, Jorge, Jorge Martin's Works, Stronger Than Darkness, http://www.jorgemartin.com/bio1.html, retrieved 21 March 2011 
16. ^ Wilkinson, Carlton (Mar 11, 2008). "MCC Program Includes Martin's "Darkness"". Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ). http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1732819131.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+11%2C+2007&author=CARLTON+WILKINSON&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&edition=&startpage=n%2Fa&desc=MCC+PROGRAM+INCLUDES+MARTIN%27S+%22DARKNESS%22. Retrieved 26 March 2011. 
17. ^ Broadway World, Golden Gate - A New Musical - 5/31/2008, http://broadwayworld.com/article/Coming_Up_This_Week_in_Theatre_5272008_20080527, retrieved 21 March 2011 
18. ^ [|mcchorus] (Aug 7, 2008). "Daredevil Divas". Golden Gate. Monmouth Civic Chorus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbi1EaO0l8I. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
19. ^ Peterson, Vince, Vince Peterson, List of Works, 2007, I Sing the Body Electric, http://www.vincepeterson.com/list/, retrieved 21 March 2011 
20. ^ ChoralNet, NJ concert - new Poulenc translation and more, http://www.choralnet.org/view/163572, retrieved 21 March 2011 
21. ^ Sciolino Artist Management, Eileen Strempel - Solo Performances, Poulenc: Mass in G Monmouth Civic Chorus and Orchestra, http://www.samnyc.us/agency.php?view=reper&rid=35, retrieved 21 March 2011 
22. ^ "In the Arts". The Hub. Jan 29, 2009. http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2009-01-29/arts_zest/024.html. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
23. ^ New York Times (Jan 25, 2009). "Calendar: Events in New Jersey, Music and Dance, Red Bank". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE1DE1E3FF936A15752C0A96F9C8B63&scp=1&sq=Monmouth+Civic+Chorus+Lincoln+Bicentennial&st=cse&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
24. ^ "In The Arts". The Hub. May 25, 2006. http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2006-05-25/Arts_Zest/035.html. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
25. ^ "In The Arts". The Hub. June 7, 2007. http://hub.gmnews.com/news/2007-06-07/arts_zest/028.html. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
26. ^ Martin, Patti (Apr. 6, 1999). "Well versed". Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ): pp. D.1. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1851885141.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Apr+6%2C+1999&author=PATTI+MARTIN&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&edition=&startpage=D.1&desc=Well+versed. Retrieved 27 March 2011. 
27. ^ Fleming, Yolanda (Mar 9, 2000). "Civic Chorus urges teen poets to enter contest". Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ): pp. G.8. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1845841021.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Mar+9%2C+2000&author=YOLANDA+FLEMING&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&edition=&startpage=G.8&desc=Civic+Chorus+urges+teen+poets+to+enter+contest. Retrieved 28 March 2011. 
28. ^ [|Bianchi, Kevin] (Dec 25, 2009). "He Wanted to Say - Ragtime". Ragtime. ktabianchi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4KAsdatVC4&feature=player_embedded. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
29. ^ ^{a b} JoeClassic (Sep 28, 2006). "Westfield Symphony Orchestra – Puccini’s Turandot. September 28, 2006". http://joeclassic.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html. Retrieved 30 March 2011. 
30. ^ Wilkinson, Carlton (Apr 5, 2005). "A thrilling concert of beauty and grace". Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ): p. E.3. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1791919361.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Apr+5%2C+2005&author=CARLTON+WILKINSON&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&edition=&startpage=3&desc=A+thrilling+concert+of+beauty+and+grace. Retrieved 26 March 2011. 
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32. ^ Fleming, Yolanda (Nov 11, 1999). "Rachmaninoff's 'Vespers' on tap". Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ). http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1851561241.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Nov+11%2C+1999&author=YOLANDA+FLEMING&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&edition=&startpage=F.8&desc=Rachmaninoff%27s+%60Vespers%27+on+tap. Retrieved 27 March 2011. 
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35. ^ "Candlelight vigils continue throughout Shore area". Asbury Park Press (Asbury Park, NJ): pp. A.6. Sep. 23, 2001. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/app/access/1840561111.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Sep+23%2C+2001&author=&pub=Asbury+Park+Press&edition=&startpage=A.6&desc=Candlelight+vigils+continue+throughout+Shore+area. Retrieved 27 March 2011. 

External links

• Official site
• Dr. Mark Shapiro
• Monmouth County Arts Council