April 18, 2022 Submitted by Michelle McGrath
Choral Art Society of the South Shore (CAS), the region’s community choral ensemble, presents “What a Wonderful World: Songs of Earth, Sea, and Sky”, on Sunday, May 1, 4 pm at House of Prayer Lutheran Church, 916 Main Street, Hingham. The chorus is conducted by Artistic Director Danica A. Buckley, accompanied by CAS accompanist Ellyses Kuan, piano and features Sally Cole Tucker, flute. The program offers an uplifting, and thought-provoking afternoon, pairing captivating choral music selections steeped in the themes of earth, sea, and sky, along with engaging presentations by the region’s environmental organizations.
“We cannot ignore the planet in its beauty and fragility, especially on the South Shore, in our delicate coastal ecosystem. Years ago, I conducted a Choral Art Society concert of songs about earth and creatures, very popular with chorus and audience,” shares Buckley. “I have revived that program with new pieces and have collaborated with three local environmental organizations, as we celebrate their missions to educate and provide recreation around earth, sea, and sky - birds in the sky, specifically. I want to combine music and science to bring more awareness to our environmental concerns, while celebrating the extraordinary beauty around us.”
With an eye to the sky and its heart in the sea, the concert program for “What a Wonderful World” explores the vast canvas of nature’s beauty. Song selections draw from this worldly splendor, including “There is a Pleasure”, “Oceanus”, “Under the Sea” and “The Lake Isle of Innisfree”. A Massachusetts premiere of the powerful “Singing for Water” by Composer Brent Michael Davids, who celebrates his Mohican heritage, and by lyricist Tara Zhaabowekwe Houska, of the Water Protector Movement. The piece draws on roots of Native Americans as “Water Protectors singing for water”, the source of life, with a nod to repairing ecosystems and Indigenous approaches to watershed management and restoration. The composition’s proceeds support Honor the Earth, a non-profit supporting Native American environmental issues. Other selections include Mendelssohn’s classic “Die Nachtigall” (The Nightingale), celebrating avian friends, and “The Lark in the Clear Air”, a traditional Irish folk tune, featuring Sally Cole Tucker on flute, as well as other like-theme repertoire.
In its collaborative objective, “What a Wonderful World” spotlights local environmental organizations, celebrating their missions, and providing them a platform to share information on our region’s coastal environment with the audiences. Representatives from North and South Rivers Watershed Association, the Cohasset Center for Student Coastal Research, and Mass Audubon appear briefly during the program to expand the audience’s ecological knowledge and grow appreciation to protect the beauty that surrounds us.
Masks are optional for this performance. If policy changes at the venue before May 1, the audience will be notified via CAS’s website and Facebook page.
Tickets for “What a Wonderful World” are $20 general admission; youth ages 18 and under are admitted for free. Tickets can be purchased from CAS members, at the door, or advance online at tix.com. For more information about Choral Art Society, visit choralartsociety.org, or follow Choral Art Society of the South Shore on Facebook.
About Choral Art Society
The Choral Art Society (CAS) is a South Shore choral ensemble, founded in 1958, dedicated to the performance of all genres of choral music, from Renaissance to 21st century. A non-auditioned chorus, the Society performs challenging music for the enrichment and education of its members and audiences. A non-profit organization, CAS features more than 50 singing members from Scituate and surrounding towns. The ensemble rehearses and performs in Scituate, offering one winter and one spring concert each year. The Society provides an annual scholarship to one a graduating high school senior who pursues a degree in music. For more information, visit choralartsociety.org, or follow Choral Art Society of the South Shore on Facebook.
This performance is supported in part by grants from several regional Massachusetts Cultural Council chapters, the Scituate Education Foundation, South Shore Music Circus, as well as sponsorship by Coastal Heritage Bank.
About Danica Buckley, Artistic Director
Danica A. Buckley has been artistic director and conductor of the Choral Art Society of the South Shore since 2005. Under her leadership, the chorus performed a sold-out performance of Mendelssohn's St. Paul in 2009, for the 200th birthday of Mendelssohn and the 50th anniversary of the Choral Art Society. Other performances have included a variety of programming from English part-songs to Viennese choral chamber music, to songs about the environment, and major works such as Mozart's Requiem, Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Bach), Magnificat (Bach), Mass in Time of War (Haydn) , Dona Nobis Pacem (Vaughan Williams), all with the Choral Art Society Orchestra. She also directs the Simmons University Chamber Choir, Cape Cod Chorale, and Colleges of the Fenway Chorus and Orchestra. She has been an adjunct English professor at Wentworth Institute of Technology since 2007. Ms. Buckley holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Boston Conservatory, where she studied with Dr. William Cutter.