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Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus to Present Holiday Concerts “Stars of Wonder, Songs of Light”

Ron Levy and Bob Ferrel collage 1 scaled

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus, New Jersey’s pre-eminent men’s chorus, presents its 2019 Holiday Concerts “Stars of Wonder, Songs of Light” on December 14-15 in Ridgewood, NJ, with music for every taste, from classical to pop, sacred to secular.

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Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus Holiday Concerts in Ridgewood

Orpheus Club Men's Chorus

 

November 26,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus will present its annual Holiday Gala Concerts on Saturday, December 17, 2016 at 7:30 pm, and on Sunday, December 18, 2016 at 4:00 pm at the Ridgewood United Methodist Church, 100 Dayton Street, Ridgewood, NJ.

This year’s concerts will feature a diverse selection of carols and songs including While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks,  the Pop hit: Text Me Merry Christmas,  Gesu Bambino,   Duke Ellington’s Mood Indigo,  Schubert’s Ave Maria,  selections from  Fiddler on the Roof,  The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth,  and many others. This year’s concerts also feature trumpet soloist, Daniel Minogue, and the West African Drum Ensemble of Montclair State University accompanying the Chorus in the Nigerian carol, Betelehemu.

Tickets for the concert are $15 in advance and $25 at the door. Seniors and students under 17 years of age may purchase tickets at the door for $18. Advance purchase may be made  online at the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus website www.ridgewoodorpheusclub.org  and at any of the following local businesses: Daily Treat Restaurant, Wine Seller and Town and Country Apothecary in Ridgewood; Lewis Drug in Westwood; Perry’s Florist and Rock Ridge Pharmacy in Glen Rock; Wine and Spirit World in Ho-Ho-Kus; and Benny’s Luncheonette in Fair Lawn.

The Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus has been a keystone of the cultural life of the tri-state region for 107 years. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest cultural institution in all of Bergen County and the premier men’s chorus in all of New Jersey.  Fifty voices strong, it is directed by John Palatucci and accompanied by pianist Ron Levy.

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Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus Headlines two Holiday Concerts at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, in Ridgewood

Orpheus Club Men's Chorus
courtesy of Orpheus ,Facebook page
December 21,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus directed by John Palatucci headlined two concerts this past weekend, Saturday evening 19 Dec at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon 20 Dec at 4. At a New venue: Bethlehem Lutheran Church, in Ridgewood, with special guest Laura Hamilton, associate concert master of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.Ms. Hamilton performed solo works of Beethoven and Fauré and a mind blowing rendition “Havanaise” featuring some violin pyrotechnics. The group was also accompanied by  internationally acclaimed pianist and Monroe Quinn on guitar.
Repertoire iincluded:
Do You Hear What I Hear? – Regney
The First Nowell – Vaughan Williams
Ani ma’ amin – arr. Leavitt (w/Ms. Hamilton)
O magnum mysterium – Handl
The Prayer – Sager & Foster
Go tell it on the mountain – arr. Quinn (OCMC premiere)
I’ll be home for Christmas – Gannon, Kent & Buck
Selected Carols – Turrin (Ron Levy, piano)
Credo – Turrin (world premiere)
Night Song – Lane (w/Ms. Hamilton)
Little Saint Nick – Wilson
How can I keep from singing? – arr. Ellingboe (w/Ms. Hamilton)
Some children see him – Burt
Jingle Bells – arr. Gold, Paich; adapted Hayes
And of of coarse there was plenty of audience participation including the annual sing-a-long with Auld Lang Syne.Orpheus started on October 11, 1909, eight men met at the Ridgewood home of Frank R. Pawley do discuss a men’s singing club. A week later, 10 men gathered in the village library, a room in the First National Bank Building. The group paid 75 cents per night to use the room and began singing together, with Dewitt Clinton, Jr., as director. The Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus was born.  Others joined the club and by December, it was agreed that a concert would be presented in February at the Library, but the actual decision was left to the director, and the first Performance was in May. The opener in that concert was the rousing “Winter Song.”

Club membership quickly rose from the 18 who sang the first concert, to 35. The members met weekly on Wednesdays from October to May, and in 1913, the club gave it’s first performance of “Pilgram’s Chorus” from Wagner’s Tannhäuser.  Variety in repertoire was common in Orpheus Club concerts. A program might include “The Boog-a-Boo,” a ragtime number, “Old Black Joe,” the Stephen Foster song, comedy numbers like “But They Didn’t,” and classics, sometimes sung in French or German.

Ten years after its founding, the Orpheus Club was making guest appearances around New Jersey, and traveled as far as Brookly to sing at a fundraiser for the rebuilding of the Baptist Temple, which had suffered a fire.    As the years continued , the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus remained a significant part of New Jersey’s cultural life. When the Kasschau Memorial Band shell was dedicated in Ridgewood, the club sang at the inauguration.
In 1962, Richard Lane signed on as pianist for the club, beginning a distinguished career that would continue for 42 years until his death in 2004. A brilliant composer and teacher, Lane wrote 20 numbers for the Club and today’s concerts always feature at least one of Richard’s compositions.
Today, the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus includes about 50 singers from New York and New Jersey and generally makes eight to ten appearances annually including four formal concerts. The Club has sung “Alto Rhapsody” (Brahms) with the Adelphi Chamber Orchestra as well as “The Testament of Freedom” (Thompson) and “Hymn to the Nations” (Verdi) with the Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea. The men of Orpheus have joined with the Ridgewood Choral to sing “Song of Democracy” (Hanson) and appeared with the Ridgewood Concert Band to sing the music of Aaron Copland and Richard Wagner.
In the Spring of 2005, the Chorus made its Lincoln Center debut, performing at the Lincoln Center Library with the Palisades Virtuosi chamber ensemble. Additional performances in recent years have included concerts at the Kasschau Memorial Band shell in Ridgewood, singing in Ridgewood’s Independence Day parade, area churches, and in November 2009, a presentation of Beethoven’s Fantasia for Piano, Chorus, and Orchestra, Op. 80 (the Choral Fantasy) with the Ridgewood Choral, the Ridgewood High School Chamber Choir, and the Eastern Christian High School Chorus.

Richard Lane’s composition declares: “We are men who like to sing. We are the men of Orpheus.

The Roland L. Meyer Orpheus Club Scholarship

The Orpheus Club is proud to sponsor a scholarship program designed to honor and assist a graduating high school senior who has demonstrated extraordinary accomplishment in music and who intends to continue musical studies on the collegiate level. Since the program took on its current form in 1993, we have been pleased to recognize students from more than a dozen area schools with grants totaling more than $20,000. These outstanding young musicians have gone on to study at colleges and universities across the country. The 2016 Application and instructions will be available in January 2016.

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Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus Holiday Concerts in Ridgewood

Orpheus Club Men's Chorus
photo courtesy of Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus Facebook page
December 6,2015

the syaff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus will present its annual Holiday Gala Concerts on Saturday, December 19, 2015 at 7:30 pm, and on Sunday, December 20, 2015 at 4:00 pm at the Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 155 Linwood Avenue in Ridgewood, NJ.

This year’s concerts will feature a diverse selection of carols and songs including “Do You Hear What I Hear,”  Brian Wilson’s “Little Saint Nick,”  Handl’s “ O Magnum Mysterium,” Joseph Turrin’s “Credo,”  “Ani Ma’amin,”  “I’ll be Home For Christmas,”  “The First Nowell,” and
many others. This year’s guest soloist is the celebrated concertmaster for scores of performances at the Metropolitan Opera, violinist Laura Hamilton..

Tickets for the concert are $15 in advance and $25 at the door. Seniors and students under 17 years of age may purchase tickets at the door for $18. Advance purchase may be made  online at the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus website www.ridgewoodorpheusclub.org  and at any of the following local businesses: Daily Treat Restaurant, Wine Seller and Town and Country

Apothecary in Ridgewood; Lewis Drug in Westwood; Perry’s Florist and Rock Ridge Pharmacy in Glen Rock; Wine and Spirit World in Ho-Ho-Kus; and Benny’s Luncheonette in Fair Lawn. The Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus has been a keystone of the cultural life of the tri-state region for 106 years. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest cultural institution in all of Bergen County.  Over 50 voices strong, it is directed by John Palatucci and accompanied by pianist Ron Levy.