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About the Worcester Chorus The Worcester Chorus, under the sponsorship of Music Worcester Inc., has the unique distinction of being one of the most outstanding ongoing choral groups in the United States having been founded in 1858 for the purpose of performing in the first annual Worcester Music Festival held in the newly built Mechanics Hall. During its rich history, the Chorus has performed with a variety symphony orchestras, including appearances with the Prague Symphony in Carnegie Hall (1985), the Hartford Symphony (1994) and, most recently (2006), a performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. The Chorus has toured internationally as well including:
The Chorus traditionally performs four concerts each year as part of the Worcester Music Festival, including Handel's Messiah in December. Repertoire includes the world's finest choral masterpieces, as well as works by contemporary composers and arrangements of American folk songs and classics from the musical theater. The Worcester Chorus includes both amateur and professional musicians with the primary mission to foster the choral arts and enhance the cultural life of Worcester and the surrounding area. We endeavor to provide the highest level of musicianship and artistry, resulting in an enriching and emotional experience for both the audience and singers. Andrew Clark Andrew Clark has been recognized by Chorus America as one of our country’s most promising young conductors. In his fifth year as Director of Choral Activities at Tufts University (Medford, MA), Clark also serves as the Artistic Director of the Providence Singers and Music Director of the Worcester Chorus, two of the largest and most celebrated choral arts organizations in New England. Under his leadership, the Providence Singers were selected by the National Endowment for the Arts to host one of seven major choral festivals celebrating American Masterpieces in March 2007. The festival featured the first performance in over twenty years of Lukas Foss’s cantata The Prairie (1944), reintroducing a treasure of the American choral legacy. A studio recording of the work, under Clark’s direction, will be released in 2008. Clark has conducted numerous major works with orchestra including Mendelssohn’s ELIJAH, the Poulenc GLORIA, the Bach B-MINOR MASS, Handel’s MESSIAH, Mozart REQUIEM, and works by Britten, Schütz, Brahms, Haydn, Stravinsky, Schubert, Faure, Vaughan Williams and others. A champion of the music of our time, Clark has commissioned numerous composers and presented over twenty world premieres as well as many other performances of important contemporary works. Recent performances including his May 2005 Carnegie Hall conducting debut and appearance on NBC’s TODAY show and Lincoln Center debut preparing the Providence Singers for the world premiere of jazz legend Dave Brubeck’s “The Commandments”. Clark has collaborated with prestigious organizations including the Kronos Quartet, Boston Pops, Rhode Island Philharmonic, New Haven Symphony, Newport Baroque Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Opera Boston, and the Newport Jazz Festival among others. A supporter and advocate for music education, Clark serves as a distinguished faculty member of the “Notes from the Heart” Music Camp in Pittsburgh, a summer music program for children with disabilities and chronic illness supported by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the Woodlands Foundation. He was the founding Music Director of the Junior Providence Singers, a high school choral education ensemble sponsored by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Music School and Providence Singers. Clark received degrees from Wake Forest and Carnegie Mellon Universities, having studied with Grammy-award winning conductor Robert Page, as well as Jameson Marvin, Dale Warland, Vance George, Brian Gorelick, David Effron, Gunther Schuller, William Weinert and others. He previously served on the conducting staff of Harvard and Clark Universities and as assistant conductor of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh and the Boston Pops Holiday Chorus. He is a member of the national music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda.
Sima Kustanovich Sima Kustanovich is one of the Northeast’s most sought after pianists. Hailed by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette for the “extraordinary intensity and brilliance of her playing,” she concertizes in some of the most acclaimed international venues, including France’s Courchevel Chamber Music Festival, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory Chamber Music Series, Sweden’s St. Jacob’s Cathedral, and major cities of Russia, Italy and Estonia. In 1990 she was the recipient of a rare invitation to perform on Steinway & Sons 500,000th piano that toured the United States from coast to coast. Through mastery of the keyboard repertoire equipped Ms. Kustanovich with a richly varied career. Cited as the “consummate musician” (Worcester Telegram), she is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, collaborating with such ensembles as the Borodin String Quartet. She received a Masters in Music from the St. Petersburg Conservatory; she then joined its faculty and accepted a coveted appointment to the famed Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, working intensively with such luminaries as Mikhail Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova. A recipient of the Telegram & Gazette’s 1995 prestigious Visions 2000 Cultural Enrichment Award, Ms. Kustanovich has won many grants and commendations for community contributions as performer and program administrator. An esteemed teacher, she is on the faculties at Clark University and the Walnut Hill School for Performing Arts. She is Co-Founder/Administrator if the Commonwealth Competition for Young Pianists, Music Director of Brown Bags for Kids at Mechanics Hall, and Founder/Director of the Neighborhood Music Program sponsored by Clark University. |
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