Dr. Steven Paxton conducts the Los Alamos Choral Society. Courtesy/LACS
The Los Alamos Choral Society. Courtesy/LACS
LACS News:
Fall rehearsals begin Tuesday, Sept. 10, for the 75th Anniversary year of the Los Alamos Choral Society.
The chorus, founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists, will be preparing for a gala anniversary concert Jan. 26, 2020, in partnership with the Los Alamos Symphony Orchestra.
The program for the concert will include Part III of Handel’s Messiah, along with works by Michael Maudlin, Mary Badarak and Frances Meier, all New Mexico composers. The concert will conclude with a movement from the 1892 Grand Mass in E-flat by Amy Beach, the first major choral/orchestral work composed in America by a woman composer.
Additional 2020 concerts will include a May 1 performance of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Los Alamos Community Winds, Ted Vives conducting, and an informal “Dessert Concert” of popular songs and musical theater excerpts.
Singers in all sections are invited to join the chorus, and no auditions are required. Rehearsals are 7-9 p.m. Tuesdays. Special accommodations are available for singers wanting only to perform on the Messiah portion of the program, with rehearsals for Messiah not beginning until October.
The kick-off session Tuesday, Sept. 10 will begin with sign-up and refreshments at 6:30 p.m., followed by the 7 p.m. rehearsal. All rehearsals take place at United Church of Los Alamos.
Dr. Steven Paxton is the conductor of the chorus, and inquiries may be made by email at lachoralsociety@gmail.com, or by calling longtime members Chuck Tallman at 505.662.9127 or Wendy Swanson at 505.695.8034.
