About GMChorale
Mission
The mission of the GMChorale is to create, support, educate, and promote choral music as a vital, enriching, and accessible aspect of building community through shared participation.
Vision
GMChorale believes in the transformative power of music in the lives of singers and audiences. We strive to use this power to connect with our wider community, enriching lives by cultivating an appreciation of music in people of all ages.
The GMChorale has become one of New England’s finest and most engaging classical music choirs since its founding in 1977 as The Greater Middletown Chorale. Under the artistic leadership of Joseph D’Eugenio since 1998, the GMChorale is celebrated for its innovative symphonic choral concerts, and often performs with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, and other ensembles. The 90 voice Chorale performs a wide range of choral repertoire, from beloved masterworks to newly commissioned pieces. The GMChorale crowned its two European concert tours as the only choir providing music for the Sunday noon mass at Venice’s extraordinary Basilica San Marco.
Under Maestro D’Eugenio’s leadership, the GMChorale has commissioned and premiered new classical choral works by leading composers including Gwyneth Walker, Eugenie Rocherolle, Peter Niedmann, Colin Britt, Ellen Gilson Voth, Lee McQuillan, and Henry Mollicone. In 2011, the GMChorale commissioned Connecticut Grammy-nominated composer Sarah Meneely-Kyder to create a new classical oratorio Letter from Italy, 1944 with the libretto by her sister, poet Nancy Meneely. In 2013, the GMChorale premiered the new oratorio to great acclaim in Middletown, Connecticut. The Chorale commissioned Karyl Evans to create a documentary of the oratorio’s historic background and creative process that was narrated by Meryl Streep. The stunning result, Letter from Italy, 1944: a New American Oratorio, earned an Emmy for its director in 2016. In May 2017, the GMChorale collaborated with The Hartford Chorale to perform Letter from Italy, 1944 with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford. Joseph D’Eugenio directed the semi-staged production, its professional soloists, the 200 singers of the combined Chorales, and the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in a memorable performance.
As the GMChorale enters its fifth decade, the organization is broadening its mission and the scope of its offerings to bring the power and beauty of classical choral music to people and communities across Connecticut. Beginning this season and going forward, many of the GMChorale’s programs are focused around “Singing for a Lifetime,” an idea that embraces everyone already involved with the choir, as well as those who are yet to be. The singers of the choir and the professional musicians who form the Alchemy and Harmonia classical chamber music ensembles serve as ambassadors for our organization as we expand the choir’s overall mission by engaging singers and listeners of all ages and abilities through community workshops, collaborations, and concerts throughout Connecticut and beyond.