Choral Arts New England has announced the funding of 13 grants, for a total of $13,500, in the 2020–2021 season. The funded projects were selected from 51 proposals received. Last year, 52 applications were received and $13,650 was given in grants. Awards will be celebrated at the annual Awards Ceremony, which will be held during the 2020–2021 concert season. This year, in recognition of the serious impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the performing arts—and especially on choral organizations—Choral Arts New England is sending award checks immediately to all grant recipients. We hope that all of us will be able to safely join in song once again in the near future.

The funded projects are listed below.

Cappella Clausura, Newtonville, Mass. (Saxton Family grant)
Dame Ethel Smyth: Mass in D

For a collaborative premiere performance by Cappella Clausura and Chorus pro Musica of the Mass in D by Dame Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragist, on November 8, 2020. The performers aim to spark a musical revolution in recognizing the contributions of women throughout history, to bring women's struggle for equality to the forefront 100 years after women's enfranchisement on August 18, 1920, and, while commemorating the achievement of the women’s vote, to emphasize the importance of exercising that privilege.

CONCORA, Hartford, Conn.
A Passion for the Planet

For performance of Geoffrey Hudson's A Passion for our Planet on April 25, 2021 in Hartford, as part of CONCORA's "Music with a Mission" Initiative to raise awareness of important social issues through the power and message of live music.

Concord Chorus, Concord, Mass.
75th Anniversary Gala Concert Commission

To support a commissioned work for chorus and orchestra by Jonathan Bailey Holland based on texts about social justice and meant to reach and educate a diverse and wide-ranging audience, which will be performed as a companion work to the Brahms Requiem in a concert in May 2021 commemorating the 75th anniversary of the chorus.

Counterpoint, Montpelier, Vt.
The Woods and the Waters

To support a series of concerts of New England choral music that is mostly connected with landscape, including Amy Beach's Sylvania and Travis Ramsey's Among the Branches (with text by Jim Schley). The program includes workshops with high school choruses, usually including Travis Ramsay, that focus on how music can be expressive of place and landscape.

Emmanuel Music, Boston, Mass.
Commissioning Motets to Pair with Bach Cantatas

For a free concert of J.S. Bach cantatas on September 26, 2020, that inaugurates Emmanuel Music's 50th anniversary season and celebrates its history at Emmanuel Church, and to support commissioning four local composers: John Harbison, Kati Agocs, Jonathan Bailey Holland, and Yehudi Wyner, to create a cappella motets directly inspired by four cantatas (BWV 1, 4, 14, and 140), which will be premiered at the performance.

Grand Monadnock Youth Choirs, Peterborough, N.H.
Commission and Collaboration between Grand Monadnock Youth Choirs and Keene State College

For a collaborative commission by Heather Gilligan for youth choir, SATB chorus, chamber ensemble, and keyboard, which will be performed in Keene and Peterborough, N.H., in May 2021.

Handel and Haydn Society, Boston, Mass. (Choral Arts New England Board grant)
Every Voice Community Concert Series

To support a series of five free uplifting choral concerts for justice and peace that honor the many voices of Boston and highlight those of members of our community who are not often in positions of power. Led by countertenor Reginald Mobley, the concerts feature members of the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra and Chorus and the Handel and Haydn Youth Choruses Concert Choir, and take place at neighborhood venues throughout Boston and Cambridge.

Hartford Chorale, Hartford, Conn. (Hammond Family grant)
50th Anniversary Season Commission

To support the premiere performance of a commissioned work by Scott Perkins in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the chorus in 2022, to be performed that year as part of a year-long celebration.

Music on the Hill, Wilton, Conn.
Festival of African-American Spirituals

To support a day-long Festival of African-American Spirituals with guest conductor/clinician Dr. Rosephanye Powell in Fairfield, Connecticut, on October 17, 2020. The Festival will bring together community and church choruses for a workshop that will conclude with a final performance.

Providence Singers, Providence, R.I.
A November Night

For the commission, performance, and live recording of an SSAATB setting of Sara Teasdale's poem "A November Night" by Julian Wachner, to be performed as part of the Providence Singers 50th anniversary celebration in May 2022.

Una Voce Chamber Choir, Bath, Maine
Imitations of Immortality

For performances of Tarik O’Regan's Triptych and The Ecstasies Above, and Alice Parker’s Heavenly Hurt, on January 16 and 17, 2021 at Bowdoin College's Studzinski Hall in Brunswick, Maine.

Voices of Concinnity, Mansfield Center, Conn.
Old, New, Borrowed, and… Long Overdue: an interactive tour of choral music by exploring the footnotes

To support an innovative program on April 17, 2021, exploring the “footnotes” of choral music—composers and music that have been unjustly neglected or unrecognized—which is supplemented by an interactive framework including an online app that can be accessed during the performance. The goal is to explore inclusion and relevancy of choral performance by increasing accessibility and empowering audiences to question why all composers are not included in typical choral programming; and, by encouraging concert attendees to engage one another in conversation and collaboration during a choral performance, to break down barriers so all can appreciate choral music, regardless of musical training.

Wescustago Youth Chorale, Yarmouth, Maine
Wescustago Wishes: A Commissioned Combined Choral Composition

To commission a work from composer Andrew Hirst in celebration of the State of Maine's 200th Anniversary of statehood in 2020, to be performed either in December 2020 or spring 2021. The composition will highlight each of the three choirs of the Chorale, which includes auditioned singers from third to twelfth grade.