The Oratorio Singers

In concert at the First United Methodist Church of Westfield
One East Broad Street · Westfield, NJ 07090 · (908) 233-4211

Our winter, 2007, concert with double chorus, soloists, and orchestra was presented on Sunday, March 18th, at the First United Methodist Church in Westfield, NJ. Featured was George Frideric Handel's mighty oratorio "Israel in Egypt." Our winter, 2008, concert will take place at 3 PM on Sunday, March 9, 2008. The sole work on the program will be Johann Sebastian Bach's great "Mass in B minor."

The "Mass in B minor" is a long and complex work written in five parts (SSATB) for which we willl need a strong and able chorus especially with agile sopranos. Therefore, an extended rehearsal schedule has been planned. The first series of regular Monday night rehearsals will take place MONDAY evenings, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, starting October 15, 2007, ending on November 19, 2007. The final series of Monday night rehearsals, 7:30 to 9:30 PM, will begin on January 7, 2008, to the concert date. All rehearsals will take place in the choir room of the Methodist Church, One East Broad St., Westfield, NJ. Enter from the parking lot on Ferris Place and go to the second floor of Wesley Hall. If you like to sing AND have fun, COME SING WITH US! Men singers and voices in the bass and tenor ranges are always needed!

In order to introduce the singers to the Spring, 2008, music, one fall SATB workshop will be held from 10 AM to 1 PM on Saturday, October 13, 2007. Additional workshops in 2008 will serve to supplement regular rehearsals and further "fine-tune" the work for final performance. Sectional part rehearsals will be scheduled and posted so that singers can make room in their busy routines to spend the required time to attend, learn the music, and perfect their performance skills by the March concert date. Choristers are encouraged to bring pencils as we do make notes and mark our scores with the conductor's directions.

Now entering its 28th year, Oratorio Singers is a chorus of 70-100 singers which performs major choral works by various composers. Under the direction of Mr. Trent Johnson, Director of Music and Arts and organist at the First United Methodist Church of Westfield, this community organization continues the high standards and tradition developed by the Rev. Philip R. Dietterich, who founded the chorus in 1980 and who was its director until 1994. It was in 1970 that, after forming both the chorus and orchestra in the Baroque style, Rev. Dietterich conducted the complete 1754 Foundling Hospital Version of "Messiah" with a standing room only audience in attendance. The huge success of this concert was to give rise ten years later to the formation of Oratorio Singers.

The reputation of the Oratorio Singers is wide-spread in the metropolitan area. Each year the goal is to select and perform one or more choral masterpieces which may be well known or those that are significant but not generally sung by most choral groups.

Past performances include the Passions, "Christmas Oratorio," the "Mass in B Minor," motets and other works of J. S. Bach, Brahm's "Requiem," Mendelssohn's "Elijah," Dvorak's "Requiem," "Belshazzar's Feast" by William Walton, and "Requiems" of Fauré, Mozart, and Verdi. Works of Handel include "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" and the oratorios, "Judas Maccabaeus," "Israel in Egypt" and "Messiah." Other works include "The Creation" and "Mass in Time of War (Paukenmesse)" of Franz Joseph Haydn, the "Gloria" by Francis Poulenc, and the "Great C Minor Mass," K427, by W. A. Mozart which he scored for chorus, orchestra, soloists, and organ. Our 1998 concert was an encore performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's "St. John Passion."

Additional concerts included the "Chichester Psalms" of Leonard Bernstein, Verdi's "Four Sacred Pieces" and Dello Joio's "To St. Cecilia." In November, 1999, our only Fall presentation included four inspirational choral works: the "Te Deum Laudamus" of Franz Joseph Haydn, "Christmas Cantata" of Daniel Pinkham, "Jubilate Deo" of Giovanni Gabrieli, the "Gloria" of John Rutter, and Gabrieli Canzonas for brass and organ. This concert was a rousing success. Spring, 2000, saw Oratorio Singers perform a relatively unknown work of Sir Edward Elgar, "The Music Makers," and the complete "Lobgesang" (Symphony #2 - Choral) of Felix Mendelssohn. The March, 2001, concert was noteworthy since it consisted of four selections: two were world premieres and two were standard, but not usually performed works. Premiering works were Debussy's newly orchestrated "Ariettes Oubliées," (four songs for soprano and orchestra), and "The Paschal Lamb," - a choral cantata by Trent Johnson, for chorus, soprano, and orchestra. The well-known soprano Phyllis Bryn Julson was the soloist. Also featured were Mozart's " Te Deum Laudamus," and Zoltán Kodály's "Missa Brevis." Our 2006 concert featured the premiere of Trent Johnson's "Five Psalms for Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra."

Singers from all voice parts---soprano, alto, tenor, and bass---are invited to join the Oratorio Singers. There are no membership fees! And, you do not have to be a member of the Methodist Church or necessarily live in the Westfield area. We invite adults and youth of all faiths and backgrounds to this community chorus! High school or college students who can sing or singers who are currently studying or performing vocal or instrumental music are welcome. Scores will be available to purchase.

Your love of music and your ability to sing (with a good musical ear), watch, and take direction, plus a commitment to a well organized schedule of chorus and part rehearsals will help us make this concert the success to which our audiences are accustomed.

ABOUT OUR DIRECTOR

Trent Johnson, the music director of Oratorio Singers of Westfield, New Jersey, is also Organist and Director of Music and Arts at the First United Methodist Church in Westfield. His other duties are those of composer, pianist and conductor. As conductor of the Oratorio Singers, he has led this organization in, among many other great works, the "Requiems" of Mozart, Brahms, Verdi and Fauré, Haydn's "Die Shöpfung," Mendelssohn's "Symphony #2 Lobgesang," Mozart's "Te Deum Laudamus," Elgar's "The Music Makers," J. S. Bach's "St. John Passion," Kodály's "Missa Brevis," Handel's "Messiah," "Judas Maccabaeus" and "Israel in Egypt," Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," and Dello Joio's "To St. Cecelia." He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and The Juilliard School. Major conducting influences have come from his work with Frederick Prausnitz, Dr. David A. Weadon and Norman Scribner of the Choral Arts Society of Washington DC.

An active organ recitalist, Mr. Johnson frequently performs in the major churches of New York City, Washington DC, Boston and Northern New Jersey. In 2004, he was one of four American organists invited to participate in the Second International Organ Festival in Kiev, Ukraine. Here, he played four organ recitals and gave a masterclass in composition. In 2005, the Peabody Institute invited him to give an organ master class and featured him in recital as both organist and composer. He also recorded the organ works of Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker for Albany Records. Other musical journeys have taken him to Germany, Holland, Belgium, England, France and Japan.

In 2006, he was appointed as an organist at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where he played for the Christmas Spectacular Show. In January, 2007, The New York Theater Organ Society invited him to appear in recital on the "Mighty Wurlitzer" organ at the Music Hall.

As a composer he has written numerous works for various soloists, ensembles and musical organizations. Among them are chamber works, choral and vocal works, organ and piano works, a cantata, concertos and orchestral works. Premieres in 2006 include "The New Colossus" with the Westfield Symphony, his "Five Psalms for soloists, chorus and orchestra" with the Oratorio Singers and his "Quintet" at New York City's Merkin Concert Hall commissioned by Cygnus Ensemble as part of their 20th anniversary celebration. As a recording artist, Mr. Johnson can be heard on Summit Records, Albany Records and the Xtreme Label.

Mr. Johnson is the recipient of grants from Meet The Composer, the NEA, and is the 2004 recipient of the Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award in composition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City.

THE ORATORIO SINGERS AT CARNEGIE HALL

(Photo caption L to R) A few of the Oratorio Singers: A "playful" New England Symphonic Ensemble instrumentalist, Carol Overgaard, Carol Archdeacon, Sally Girdon, Trent Johnson, Judy Kushnier, Peddrick Weis, Lynnda Warwick, and Kristin Hummel.

(Photo caption) A portion of the chorus during the Mozart Requiem Rehearsal

On April 16, 2002, approximately 80 Oratorio Singers had the honor of performing Mozart's "Requiem", K. 626, in a series of concerts produced by MidAmerica Productions at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Also participating in this part of the program were the Homer High School Concert Choir and the Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus, both from Alaska; the Atlanta, Georgia, Sacred Chorale; and the Grace Choral Society of Brooklyn, NY. All 275 voices and the New England Symphonic Ensemble were under the direction of Dr. Eric Nelson, director of choral studies at Emory University in Atlanta.

Rehearsals began April 14th. Many singers traveled by chartered coach for the all day rehearsals. Others chose to find their own transportation. Temperatures were in the 90's and almost reached 100 degrees on the day of the concert. The Hall was filled... which is a most awe-inspiring sight from the stage where so much musical history has been made.

On December, 21, 2002, the Oratorio Singers presented a special performance with the New Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Leon Hyman at the Morristown Community Theater in Morristown, NJ. The works included Johannes Brahms' "Schicksalslied" and "Alto Rhapsody."

In June, 2003, Oratorio Singers again traveled to Carnegie Hall to present the Mozart Requiem with the New England Symphonic Ensemble along with nine other choruses from Texas, New York and New Jersey. This performance was conducted by Charles Hausmann, director of choral studies and professor of conducting at the Moores School of Music in Texas. Maestro Hausmann is also the director of the Houston Symphony since 1986.

In 1989 the Oratorio Singers, then directed by the Rev. Philip R. Dietterich, were part of a 600 voice chorus for a performance of the Verdi Requiem on the same stage.

Want to know more about Oratorio Singers? Call the First United Methodist Church of Westfield at 908-233-4211 and ask for Trent Johnson or "click" on article author to request more information via e-mail or telephone.

This page was written by John R. Panosh. Carnegie Hall & rehearsal photos by John R. Panosh.