Music Staff
- Joseph D'Eugenio, Artistic Director and Conductor
- Allan Conway, Pianist
- Sarah Meneely-Kyder, Composer in Residence
Joseph D'Eugenio
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Currently the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Greater Middletown Chorale, a post he has held for twelve years, Mr. D’Eugenio also serves as the Organist and Director of Music at the First Congregational Church in Cheshire, CT. Last season, he was named 2009 Conductor of the Year by the Connecticut Chapter of The American Choral Directors Association. Mr. D’Eugenio received his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Hartt School of Music at the University of Hartford, and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Connecticut. Mr. D’Eugenio has served as a professional accompanist for singers and instrumentalists throughout the state, as well as for several choral organizations, including CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists). He has maintained a private piano studio for twenty years, was on the faculty of the Bethwood Suzuki School in Woodbridge and also was an Adjunct Instructor at the Naugatuck Valley Community College where he conducted its Community College Choir. Last spring, Mr. D’Eugenio served as a guest Instructor of Music at Wesleyan University, where he conducted the Wesleyan University Concert Choir.
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As Artistic Director and Conductor of the Greater Middletown Chorale, Mr. D’Eugenio has established the Chorale as one of Connecticut’s most outstanding choral organizations. Performances have included many of the great choral masterworks, such as: Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in A-Flat, Haydn’s Lord Nelson’s Mass and Mass in time of War, Brahms’ Schicksalslied and Ein deutches Requiem, and Cherubini’s Requiem in C Minor. Under his direction, the Chorale has premiered several new works by prominent composers Gywneth Walker, Peter Niedmann, Sarah MeNeely-Kyder, Ellen Gilson Voth, and Colin Britt.
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Mr. D’Eugenio conducted the Chorale as featured chorus at the 2005 Connecticut Conference of the American Choral Directors Association, at Gov. Jodi Rell’s Inauguration ceremonies, and on the Brad Davis Radio Show. Mr. D’Eugenio prepared the Chorale for its debut at Bushnell Memorial Hall singing a performance of Dear Friends: Music of Final Fantasy with Grammy-award winning conductor, Arnie Roth; and for Connecticut Opera’s performance of Bizet’s opera The Pearl Fishers.
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In 2008, Mr. D’Eugenio led the Chorale on its first international concert tour to Vienna, Salzburg and Prague where he conducted Dvorak’s Mass in D, as well as American sacred music. In the spring of 2011, Mr. D’Eugenio will lead the Chorale in its second international concert tour to Italy, where they will perform in Rome, Florence and Venice.
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Email Joe D'Eugenio.
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Allan Conway |
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Allan Conway is in constant demand as a pianist and accompanist, with extensive experience in the choral, vocal, operatic and instrumental literature. His commanding technical facility at the keyboard, ease and familiarity with a wide array of repertoire, sensitive interpretations, and keen sense of musical collaboration inform his many and varied performances.
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At the University of Connecticut at Storrs, Mr Conway is accompanist for the Choral Ensembles. He is Music Director, rehearsal and performance pianist for UCONN Opera Theater. In the vocal area, he assists with Performance classes, Literature and Diction classes, and works with numerous individual singers for lessons, coachings, Master Classes, recitals, competitions and auditions. He accompanies the many auditions for prospective voice students, and works frequently with student and faculty instrumentalists in recital, recording, and for juries. On occasion he has played with the University Orchestra.
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In 1999, Mr Conway toured throughout Italy with Cappella Cantorum. He has been accompanist at numerous High School choral festivals and performed with many singers in venues throughout the region and across the country, including a 1997 performance of the Durufle Requiem at Carnegie Hall. He has served as accompanist for the Greater Middletown Chorale since 1998.
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Mr Conway received his Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance from the Hartt School of Music, where he studied with Raymond Hanson. He was recipient of the prestigious Harold Bauer Memorial Scholarship. More recently, he has studied with Richard Wm Donohue of Cromwell, CT. He has performed extensively in recital, as well as soloist with orchestra.
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Active in the liturgical field also, Mr Conway has served numerous churches from an early age. He is presently Music Director and Organist of Christ Lutheran Church in Middletown, CT; as well as Organist and Choir Director at Emanuel Synagogue in West Hartford, CT, a position he has held since 1977. He is also organist for GodSong, a sacred chamber choir based in Manchester, CT, where he resides.
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Sarah Meneely-Kyder |
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Sarah Meneely-Kyder is a graduate of Goucher College, Peabody Conservatory and Yale University. Following her formal education, she studied the Indian Sitar and is noted for several pieces that fuse disparate musical elements and traditions into unified works.
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Meneely-Kyder is a member of American Composers Alliance, New York Women Composers, and a founding member of Connecticut Composers, Inc. Her creative endeavors have been rewarded with many commissions, grants, and prizes including Yale University's Rena Greenwald Memorial Prize and several Artist Project Grants from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.
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She has two CD recordings on the North South Recording, Inc. label, the second of which was nominated for a Grammy award in December of 2003. In 2007, her third CD, A Garland of Hymns and Carols, (music composed for the interior of 21 Christmascards) was recorded by the choral ensemble, Voce. Her work, I Do, later commissioned by Voce, was premiered in February of 2009.
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Her organ work, In Paradisum, received its premiere performance in November 2009. The work was performed again in New York City on March 30, 2011 as part of the Women's Work 2011 series sponsored by New York Women Composers. Twilight: Taps, (soprano, C trumpet, piano) was premiered in April of 2011 at Central Connecticut State University.
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She is published in the Dictionary of Contemporary Music, edited by JohnVinton, her Garland of Hymns and Carols was favorably reviewed in Fanfare Magazine, and she has an entry on her music in the revised edition of Baker's Biographical Dictionary, edited by Nicholas Slonimsky.
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Meneely-Kyderis is on the faculty of Wesleyan University where she teaches piano, chamber music and composition. Currently she is on sabbatical in order to write a large oratorio, Letter From Italy, 1944: War’s End, for the Greater Middletown Chorale as Composer in Residence.
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**For reviews and pictures go to www.meneely-kyder.net. |
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