Pro Cantare

The Columbia Pro Cantare will hold auditions for all parts in its 32nd season of concerts. Among the works to be performed are Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Handel's Messiah, Brahms' Requiem, and a Tribute to Paul Robeson, with baritone Lester Lynch and the chorus. Auditions will be held at a private home in Harper's Choice. Rehearsals, to be held from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays at Hammond High School, begin Sept. 2. www.howardcountymd.gov/oa/50+expo.htm.

Columbia Pro Cantare thematically goes abroad for its concert of "Music of Spain and Latin America" on Saturday, May 4, at 8 p.m. at the Jim Rouse Theater at Wilde Lake. Not only will some of this music be unfamiliar to many listeners, but it's also new for the chorus. "It's a complex program," says Columbia Pro Cantare music director Frances Motyca Dawson of a concert that includes pieces from Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba. Although Dawson's Howard County-based chorus did a Latin American program in 2008, she says the upcoming concert promises to be even "more inclusive.

Baritone Richard Zeller will perform as soloist with the Columbia Pro Cantare Chorus for Antonin Dvorak's "Requiem" this Sunday afternoonin Washington.The 3 p.m. performance, at the National City Christian Church, will cap the chorus' three-day 150th anniversary celebration of the birth of the composer.Also performing on "Requiem" will be The MusicCrafters orchestra.For information, call (301) 465-5744.The Dvorak celebration begins at the Kennedy Center on Friday with a vocal and piano chamber concert at 7:30 p.m. This concert is presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society.

Columbia Pro Cantare offers something old and something new for its next concert on Sunday, March 10, at 3 p.m. at First Evangelical Lutheran Church. There's a religious link of sorts between the old and new pieces, so having this concert take place in an Ellicott City church is spiritually fitting. The old piece dates back to the 19th century and will be familiar to many chorus and audience members alike, because Sunday's concert marks the sixth time that Columbia Pro Cantare has done Gabriel Faure's Requiem.

The Columbia Pro Cantare Chorus is holding auditions for all parts of its 29th season. Among the works to be performed with soloists and orchestra are Poulenc's Gloria, Vivaldi's Gloria, Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor and a selection of Celtic music from all periods. Regular rehearsals begin Sept. 6 and are held from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays at Hammond High School in Columbia. The Columbia Pro Cantare is directed by Frances Motyca Dawson. To set up an audition or for more information, call 410 730-8549 or 410 465-5744 or visit www.cpcchorus.

"Sing on with hymns uproarious," exhorted the poet John Betjeman. And with all the musical drama and excitement programmed into Columbia Pro Cantare's 27th concert season, that's precisely what conductor Frances Motyca Dawson and her chorus of about 150 singers have in mind. Dawson is tied ethnically and aesthetically to the music of Eastern Europe, and it is to that passionately musical part of the world she will head to commence Pro Cantare's year. On Nov. 1, the chorus and a full orchestra will perform the Stabat Mater of Czech composer Antonin Dvorak with soprano April-Joy Gutierrez, mezzo-soprano Mary Ann McCormick, tenor Charles Reid and bass-baritone Lester Lynch on hand to do the solo honors.

Oct. 26: Mozart's Requiem, Overture to Don Giovanni and operatic arias. At 7:30 p.m. in Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake High School. Dec. 8: Handel's Messiah. At 7:30 p.m. in the Jim Rouse Theatre. Dec. 15: Christmas music by the Columbia Pro Cantare Chamber Singers. At 3 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in Columbia. March 30: Requiem by John Rutter; a new work by Elam Sprenkle. At 3:30 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore. May 3: "From Ireland on Wings of Song." At 8 p.m. in Jim Rouse Theatre.

There may be no better way to spend Sunday afternoon than in the presence of Columbia Pro Cantare and guest soloists for their celebration of Schubert and Grieg, taking place at 3 p.m. at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ellicott City. Director Frances Dawson has constructed a program of lovely music from start to finish. Featured will be Franz Schubert's Mass in G, written when the composer was 18. A former choirboy at the Hofkapelle in Vienna, Schubert turned to composing after his voice broke.

It is no surprise that members of the Columbia Pro Cantare are skilled singers, but this weekend some will be showing off other talents. On Saturday, at the first concert of the chorus' 32nd season, the group will hold a silent auction that will include paintings, quilts and photographs created by the singers, along with items donated by supporters in the community. "I'm glad that I am able to contribute something," said chorus member Joseph Murray of Columbia, who is providing a photo he took of the lakefront statue of James W. Rouse and his brother on a snowy day. "The auctions are critical," Murray said.

If you would like to take a break after a day of raking leaves, Columbia Pro Cantare is offering up a glorious fall program tomorrow night in Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake High School. To begin its 29th season, under the direction of founder and artistic director Frances Motyca Dawson, Columbia Pro Cantare will perform a program featuring two choral masterworks, as well as three pieces that showcase the talents of some special soloists. The programmatic glories begin with two settings of the Gloria movement of the Latin Mass (a hymn of praise taken from the angelic account of the Nativity in Luke 2:14)

Sometimes something special just happens. It happened the other night at Columbia Pro Cantare's performance of Handel's Messiah. The music, the performers just seemed perfectly aligned with each other. Frances Motyca Dawson was on top of her chorus. They all had been there before, many times, but there was nothing tired or predictable in the performance. They just got better and better as the night continued. Ronald Mutchnick's orchestral ensemble was also amazing. I actually looked for the individual musicians - who was playing the violins, the trumpet?

A local classical music tradition continues when the Columbia Pro Cantare Chamber Singers perform "A Christmas Noel" concert on Sunday, Dec. 9, at 3 p.m., at Christ Episcopal Church, in Columbia. Comprised of a 28-voice choir culled from within the full chorus, the chamber ensemble has done this Christmas-themed program every year since 1995. Although some of the vocal selections get repeated from one year to the next, the general idea is to explore a wide range of music from the Renaissance to the present.

It wouldn't be the Christmas season without George Frideric Handel's "Messiah," and in Howard County that means a performance by Columbia Pro Cantare on Sunday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Jim Rouse Theater at Wilde Lake. "Handel's 'Messiah' arrives every December and has a worldwide and fabulously successful run," Columbia Pro Cantare music director Frances Motyca Dawson says about this 18th-century oratorio's widespread appeal. "It has a sense of theater and of great drama. Handel came out of opera, and when he turned to writing oratorios that sense of drama never left him. There is a very special quality to the music that continues to delight the ear, mind and heart.

Columbia Pro Cantare opens its 36th season with a choral blast when it does Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m., at Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake High School. It's such a popular piece of classical music that audiences seemingly just can't get enough of it. On the local concert scene, Columbia Pro Cantare performed it most recently in 2008; and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will be doing this so-called "scenic cantata" in June 2013. "It really brings people into the concert hall," says Columbia Pro Cantare Music Director Frances Motyca Dawson, adding that recession-hit classical music organizations are "programming things with broad appeal to their audiences.

Jazz and classical music come together on the same stage when the Eric Mintel Quartet and the Columbia Pro Cantare join forces for a program of choral works composed by jazz pianist Dave Brubeck on Saturday, May 5 at 8 p.m. in the Jim Rouse Theatre at Wilde Lake High School. Mintel enjoys putting together programs incorporating Brubeck's familiar jazz numbers with less frequently heard sacred choral compositions. That sacred side will be heard at the upcoming concert in four excerpts from "To Hope!

Concerts Beck is back Howard County bred singer-songwriter Sara Beck will return to the One World Coffeehouse on Saturday, Aug. 27, at 7 p.m., at the Owen Brown Interfaith Center, 7246 Cradlerock Way, Columbia. Beck, a performer and songwriter in Nashville, will perform original songs from her albums, including "Technicolor," which was released last October. Beck recently completed a world tour with Kevin Costner & Modern West. For her local concert, she'll be joined by the Maryland band By & By , which performs traditional bluegrass and old-time music with a modern edge.

Howard County concertgoers have the opportunity tomorrow to enjoy music on either a grand or intimate scale, according to mood or whim. Extroverts might elect to attend Columbia Pro Cantare's 8 p.m. performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah at Jim Rouse Theatre, while those looking for something more intimate might prefer the 7:30 p.m. Candlelight Concert offering of the Amedeo Modigliani Quartet at Smith Theatre. The forces required for Mendelssohn's Elijah, a mid-19th century oratorio based on the life of the Old Testament prophet Elijah, include up to 10 soloists, eight-part chorus, organ and, when available, full symphony orchestra.

In 1977, Columbia resident Frances Motyca Dawson was concerned about the sparse audiences turning out for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's summer season at Merriweather Post Pavilion. She sold the orchestra on the idea of a local chorus to sing with the BSO in order to attract more local audience members, and her advertisements drew more than 100 singers in a month. Columbia Pro Cantare ended up performing with the orchestra at Goucher College instead of the pavilion when the Columbia arrangement was canceled for the year.

CAC policy change Effective Sept. 8, the Community Action Council of Howard County will serve clients by appointment only. Walk-ins are available only for those whose electricity has been turned off or for those who are scheduled to be evicted the next business day. Call 410-313-6440 to make an appointment for energy and housing assistance. Band seeks director The Goldenaires, an all-volunteer band that plays "oldies but goodies" to entertain senior citizens throughout Maryland, is looking for an experienced director.

It is no surprise that members of the Columbia Pro Cantare are skilled singers, but this weekend some will be showing off other talents. On Saturday, at the first concert of the chorus' 32nd season, the group will hold a silent auction that will include paintings, quilts and photographs created by the singers, along with items donated by supporters in the community. "I'm glad that I am able to contribute something," said chorus member Joseph Murray of Columbia, who is providing a photo he took of the lakefront statue of James W. Rouse and his brother on a snowy day. "The auctions are critical," Murray said.