Dr. Ryan Brandau (right) and the Monmouth Civic Chorus invite the public to lend their voices to a performance of Mendelssohn’s ELIJAH on August 13 — one of two such Summer Sing events going on at the edges of the Green.
Summer loves may be fleeting — but for two highly acclaimed local choral ensembles, the year-round passion for making music doesn’t take a breather during the season of itchy tuxedos and sweat-stippled score sheets. Within one seven-day interlude, music lovers are invited to step out from the audience and join the assembled voices of their favorite choirs, in a fun seasonal custom known as the Summer Sing.
The democratic look into the magic of music-making starts Wednesday evening, August 13, when Dr. Ryan Brandau and the Red Bank-based Monmouth Civic Chorus host an opportunity to participate in a performance of a choral masterwork last performed by the MCC in 2000 — Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah, the classic cantata that illuminates the story of the Biblical prophet with some of the composer’s best-known vocal passages. It takes place at 7:30 pm, just off the edge of the greater Red Bank Green (at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 112 Middletown Road in Holmdel). No reservations are required, and the admission fee of $5 includes refreshments and loan of the score.
Auditions are still being held, by the way, for MCC’s upcoming 2014-2015 season, which begins on November 8 with a program of World War I-era music entitled Over There at Red Bank’s Tower Hill Church. To make an appointment for an audition (Wednesday evenings in September), call (732)933-9333.
On Tuesday, August 19, the Shrewsbury Chorale under the direction of Anthony LaGruth holds its own Summer Sing thing, this time at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County in Lincroft. The public is invited to take part in a sing-through of W.A. Mozart’s Coronation Mass, a piece that the Chorale is scheduled to perform in March 2015. A $10 donation is requested, and additional info can be had by calling (732)513-8413.
