by Daniel Hathaway
Tradition reigns during the December holidays, but new infusions into what might be called “The Great Christmas Carol Book” can give new life to musical celebrations. Think of King’s College, Cambridge, whose choir annually commissions a new piece — often strikingly new — for its Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, broadcast live on Christmas Eve.
Summit Choral Society will include a new carol setting in its Candlelight Christmas Concerts at St. Bernard’s Church in downtown Akron on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening, December 16, 17 at 18 at 7:30 pm. As part of the “Bells” section of the program, the Masterworks Chorale will perform a newly-commissioned setting of I heard the bells on Christmas Day written by University of Akron music major Mickey McGroarty.
In a telephone conversation, conducting fellow Anna Ahrens noted that Summit Choral Society artistic director Marie Bucoy-Calavan has adopted the mission of “Preserving and conserving — passing classical choral music on to younger generations. My position, our program of choral scholars, and the inclusion of young soloists are all part of that, as well as giving real-world experience to a student composer.” [Read more…]
Summit Choral Society presented the first of three luminous Christmas Candlelight Concerts in Akron’s St. Bernard Church on Friday evening, December 18. The evening featured the adult Masterworks Chorale, a double brass quintet with organ, and two ensembles from its Children’s Choir Program: the Performance Choir and Advanced Choir. (The Intermediate Choir and Beginning Singing ensembles would rotate, each singing a set of their own on Saturday and Sunday evening.) 
Performing to a full house, the Masterworks Chorale of Summit Choral Society began its 26th season under the new leadership of artistic director Marie Bucoy-Calavan with warm, confident performances of Johannes Brahms’s Schicksalslied and Wolfgang Amadè Mozart’s Requiem on Sunday, November 1 in Akron’s Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. 
Having guest conducted the Masterworks Chorale of the Summit Choral Society in Haydn’s “Lord Nelson” Mass last spring, Marie Bucoy-Calavan will begin her official tenure as artistic director of the ensemble on Sunday, November 1 at 3:00 pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Akron. The program will include Mozart’s Requiem and Brahms’s Schicksalslied. (Tickets 
Although it’s eight times younger than Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, the Summit Choral Society will give a nod to its elder counterpart, founded in 1815, with a 25th anniversary spring concert of music by George Frideric Handel and Joseph Haydn on Sunday, April 12 at 3:00 pm at the historic Greystone Hall in downtown Akron.