by Karen Ponzio via New Haven Independent
Sunday afternoon saw a wealth of appreciative music fans fill Woolsey Hall for the New Haven Chorale’s season finale that was also part of the International Festival of Arts and Ideas. Its program filled heads and hearts with a resplendent array of selections that focused on fond memories, gratitude for those memories as well as the present moment, and an offering of comfort and peace for those of us in the here and now, even as we grapple with grief and pain.
The New Haven Chorale, as Sunday’s event program stated, is “an auditioned, 120 voice professionally conducted volunteer chorus … using music creatively to make a difference in people’s lives.” With this performance the chorale completed its 74th year serving the Greater New Haven community, including opportunities to showcase local composers. The chorale is now gearing up for its 75th anniversary season beginning in August, which will feature collaborations with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra and the Jeremiah Paul Ensemble as well as holiday programming that includes a free late October Halloween concert.
But on this early June day, concertgoers were bathed in late afternoon sun that streamed down upon them from the balcony windows as they bustled and buzzed their way to their seats in this hallowed hall of music. Chorus members entering from the sides of the stage received a huge round of applause, but as the first notes of the organ sounded, a hush fell over the crowd. There is something about hearing that organ at Woolsey Hall that is an experience unmatched elsewhere, and the opening piece — Wir danken dir, by Friedrich Sacher, as played by Anne Maria Lim — offered a rich, warm welcome to the show, a most befitting one coming from the hall’s most well-known occupant.
