A fine and fitting farewell for Madrigal Choir’s founder

Anne Boyer Cotten never dreamed, when she invited a few friends to sing a cappella music in her dining room in 1978, that the gathering would evolve into one of the most recognized and respected choral groups in this community. 

More than three decades later, when she announced to the board of directors of the Madrigal Choir of Binghamton her intention to retire from the organization she birthed, she made it clear she wanted her last concert to be Lessons and Carols for Christmas, which is her favorite. It’s also a favorite with the public, causing this concert to be expanded some years ago into two performances on the weekend beginning Advent.

And so it was that a comfortably full house of 200 on Saturday (Nov. 27) and an overflow house of 400 on Sunday (Nov 28) gathered at the Roman Catholic Church of the Holy Trinity in Binghamton for what would be Cotten’s  farewell concerts.

Alice Parker teaches heart and soul of folksong

The name Alice Parker is recognized by any experienced community chorus or church choir singer. A student of choral conducting, she was for nearly 20 years the music arranger for the Robert Shaw Chorale. Our area was treated with the rare gift this past weekend of a visit by Parker, thanks to a winning bid for her services by The Madrigal Choir of Binghamton’s director, Anne Boyer Cotten, at a Chorus America convention silent auction. Nearly 250 people attended Parker’s Community Sing Saturday (Oct. 16) at First Presbyterian Church in Binghamton, a fund-raiser for The Madrigal Choir. At the choir’s concert Sunday (Oct. 17) at Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church in Binghamton, she conducted a half dozen of her own arrangements.

What did one learn listening to Alice Parker speak about folksongs and folk hymns?

Build your art collection and help an arts organization

Want to build an art collection but not sure where to start? Here are a couple of opportunities to obtain reasonably priced pieces from artists’ own collections. And, in both cases, your purchase will be helping a worthy Broome County Arts Council member:

Conductors comment on collaboration

Sunday’s presentation of Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” will mark the culmination of a season of collaborations for the Binghamton Community Orchestra and perhaps the most complex pairing of the year for The Madrigal Choir of Binghamton.

A singer’s perspective on ‘The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace’

EDITOR’S NOTE: Dave Schriber, a member of the The Madrigal Choir of Binghamton, wrote a participant’s perspective of the Choir’s upcoming concert with the Binghamton Community Orchestra. BAMirror also features an interview with the two organizations’ musical directors.

The Madrigal Choir of Binghamton and the Binghamton Community Orchestra will join forces Sunday (April 25) to perform contemporary Welsh composer Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.” It is a powerful and poignant piece in the tradition of other United Kingdom works such as Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” and Ralph Vaughn Williams’ “Dona Nobis Pacem” (the latter to be performed June 5 by the Downtown Singers).