Broadway Concert at Moorland Farm in the Somerset Hills

Music in the Somerset Hills
Outdoor Summer Concert!
WHEN: July 16, 2021, on the eve of the Essex Horse Trials. VIP Pre-Concert Cocktail Party - 5:30pm, Concert - 7:00pm
WHERE: Moorland Farms, 100 Liberty Corner Rd., Far Hills, NJ 
TICKETS: VIP $150—admission to pre-concert cocktail party and priority seating. General Admission $75—bring your own blanket, chairs, picnic basket and pick your own hillside spot overlooking the stage; Student $25—up to and including college-age students. Each ticket purchase includes a $2.50 processing fee

Stephen Sands conducts an all-star orchestra led by Hamilton concertmaster Jonathan Dinklage, with players from Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Lion King, Moulin Rouge, and beyond! 

Our emcee and narrator for the event will be the American actor and singer Okieriete Onaodowan, who originated the dual roles of Hercules Mulligan and James Madison in the Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton. 

There will also be special performances by horn quartet, Ghengis Barbie, as well as one of our 2021 Young Musicians Scholarship Winners, Elizabeth Leclerc.

All state and local COVID-19 protocols will be observed 

HANDEL’S “MESSIAH” TO BE PERFORMED IN MORRISTOWN & MADISON THIS WEEKEND

TICKETS: Tickets and info HERE

The Somerset Hills Chorus will perform Handel’s much-loved oratorio with professional soloists and orchestra. Run time is 2.5 hours with intermission.

Everyone knows that George Frideric Handel wrote the music for Messiah, but not many people know who wrote the libretto. Charles Jennens was the author—a wealthy patron of Handel’s, whose financial support had played a part in the staging of almost every Handel opera and oratorio since 1725.

Now, in 1741, Jennens sent him what appeared to be (and what, indeed, was) a “ready-made” libretto for a new oratorio—“a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief.” So perfect was the libretto that Handel composed his score without making any significant change in the words.

First heard in Dublin in 1742, it was repeated a year later in London (the occasion when King George II is believed to have stood during the Hallelujah Chorus—a custom still preserved at MISH performances).

On December 6 (at Presbyterian Church in Morristown) and December 7 (at Drew University Concert Hall) Stephen Sands conducts the Somerset Hills Chorus and the Drew University Choir, with professional soloists.

MUSIC IN THE SOMERSET HILLS PRESENTS AARON COPELAND’S “APPLACHIAN SPRING” OUTDOORS IN FAR HILLS

Appalachian Spring

WHEN: Saturday, June 22, 2019 (rain date is June 23, with an indoor performance if it rains both days) *Performance begins at 8:30pm, gates open at 7:30pm
WHERE: Somerset Lake and Game Club, 455 Lake Road, Far Hills, NJ
TICKETS: $65 general LAWN SEATING; parking pass $10; reserved seating $100
Tickets and info here

Appalachian Spring may be the most instantly recognizable work in all American music.  Aaron Copland composed it in 1943-44 in response to a commission from Martha Graham and Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge for “a ballet on an American theme”.  It was an instant success when Martha Graham and her troupe first danced it at the Library of Congress in October 1944. 

The following year, the conductor Artur Rodzinski asked Copland to rearrange the score as an orchestral suite, and Copland did this in the spring of 1945 while staying at a cottage on the Claremont estate on Bernardsville Mountain.  The original 13-instrument ballet score now became a full orchestral score, somewhat shorter than the ballet, and that is how it will be heard when Music in the Somerset Hillsbrings it home to the Somerset Hills on Saturday, June 22. 

This concert, which will also feature works by Leonard Bernstein and Samuel Barber (Copland’s longtime friends and companions at Claremont), is dedicated to a singular moment when the originality and creativity of American music reached what many might say was its zenith …... on Bernardsville Mountain in the spring of 1945. 

Those with lawn seats are encouraged to bring a blanket and/or lawn chairs. All ticket holders are free to come early, bring a picnic and your beverage of choice, and enjoy the beautiful surroundings for the hour before the performance begins at 8:30.

Music in the Somerset Hills presents The King's Singers

The King's Singers featuring The Somerset Hills Chorus

WHEN: Saturday, February 23, 7:30 pm
WHERE: St. Mary’s Abbey at Delbarton School.
TICKETS: $30.00 to $80.00
Tickets and info at: http://musicsh.org/concerts/

Fifty years after its foundation in Cambridge, England, the King’s Singers is still one of the best known all-male a cappella groups in the world, witness its 2019 Grammy nomination. On they will perform with The Somerset Hills Chorus in the unique acoustic of

Two countertenors, one tenor, two baritones and a bass. That was make-up of the King’s Singers when the world’s most famous all-male ensemble was launched fifty years ago, all of them choral scholars of King’s College Cambridge. It still is the make-up today – except that the singers are different, of course, and they no long all hail from King’s College (though one does). Over all the years, the group’s popularity has never waned; they still perform a wonderful diversity of music, from the baroque to newly commissioned and contemporary works; and they continue to be in demand all over the world – witness their recently completed circumnavigation of the globe on their 50^th Anniversary Gold Tour.

On Saturday, February 23 they will perform with The Somerset Hills Chorus in the unique acoustic of St. Mary’s Abbey at Delbarton School. Part I of their program – uniquely King’s Singers – is called Communio and is a compendium of music, ancient and modern, based on that greatest of all inspirations for choral music, the Christian Mass. Part II is called Up Close and Personal, in which the focus is the King’s Singers themselves and their 50-year journey.

CONCERT OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN SACRED MUSIC IN BASKING RIDGE MARCH 4

WHEN: Sunday, March 4, 5 PM
WHERE: Pingry School Auditorium, 131 Martinsville Rd., Basking Ridge

J. Donald Dumpson is one of the leading authorities on, and performers of, African-American sacred music. As well as being minister of music and arts at Arch Street Presbyterian Church in downtown Philadelphia, Mr. Dumpson is the founding director of the Philadelphia Heritage Chorale. On March 4 we will welcome him to Hauser Auditorium at the Pingry School in Basking Ridge as guest conductor of a very special MISH concert in which the Somerset Hills Chorus will be joined by the Caritas Chamber Chorale and the Apprentice Chorus of the Newark Boys Chorus School in a program of African American sacred music.

TICKETS & INFO:  http://musicsh.org/concerts/

CANADIAN BRASS & LOCAL CHORUSES TO PRESENT “CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE” CONCERT

Christmas Time Is Here: The Canadian Brass & Somerset Hills Chorus 
featuring the Somerset Hills Chorus and the Bernards High School Concert Choir

WHEN: Saturday, December 2, 7:00pm
WHERE: Bernards High Performing Arts Center, Olcott Ave., Bernardsville
TICKETS: $20.00 - $75.00
Tickets and more information available here

Canadian Brass is, quite simply, the world’s most famous and distinctive all-brass chamber group.  In the 47 years since it was founded, it has traveled the world many times over; its recordings have sold more than 2 million albums worldwide; and it has brought the sound and excitement of brass to new audiences everywhere.  Its repertoire is enormous – from settings of the baroque and Renaissance masters to ragtime, Dixieland and jazz favorites; from great marches and patriotic songs to sacred music and Broadway hits; from classical to definitely-not-classical.

MUSIC IN THE SOMERSET HILLS PRESENTS “BEL CANTO: THE MUSIC OF GLENN MILLER”

Music In The Somerset Hills invites you to step back in time to the sounds of the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra at Bel Canto—an evening of musical excellence, MISH's annual gala and fundraiser

WHEN: Saturday, October 28 from 5 to 9 PM 
WHERE: USET Foundation's historic Hamilton Farm Stables, 1040 Pottersville Rd, in Gladstone.

There will be food, cocktails, and dancing. 1930's period dress is encouraged.

For more information, please visit http://musicsh.org/belcanto/.

To purchase tickets, please visit: https://www.showclix.com/event/bel-canto---the-glenn-miller-orchestra

MUSIC IN THE SOMERSET HILLS GOES BACH TO BACH!

For this concert, the Somerset Hills Community Chorus is joined by the Antioch Chamber Ensemble and The Sebastians in performances of two of Bach’s most spectacular choral works – his Magnificat in E-flat and the two-part cantata (BWV 21) “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis“ (I had much grief).  Stephen Sands, founder and Artistic Director of Music in the Somerset Hills, directs the performance. 

The 50-strong Somerset Hills Community Chorus, now in its fifth season, was founded by Mr. Sands to bring together amateur singers between the ages of 14 and 80 who live or work in the Somerset Hills area, to challenge them to sing some of the great masterpieces of music, and to perform them with professional musicians and soloists.

In Magnificat!, the professionals are once again provided by two groups with which Music in the Somerset Hills has close relationships – the Antioch Chamber Ensemble and The Sebastians.   The singers of Antioch are celebrating their 17^th season on stage.  With a core group of 10-12 of the country’s finest singers, they perform diverse programs of choral works, both sacred and secular.  The Sebastians are a dynamic instrumental ensemble specializing in music (and instruments) of the baroque and classical eras.

WHERE:  Pingry School, 131 Martinsville Road, Basking Ridge
Tickets for this concert can be obtained at MusicSH.org/Concerts

SOMERSET HILLS COMMUNITY CHORUS SEEKS SINGERS FOR UPCOMING CONCERT SEASON

AUDITION NOTICE:

The Somerset Hills Community Chorus seeks musicians for 2014-2015 Concert Season! Opportunities to sing for ages 14+ this fall and spring!
Enroll today!

Music in the Somerset Hills is pleased to present a high level, extraordinary concert series this season and is seeking singers of all ages and skill levels for the Somerset Hills Community Chorus. 

Two concerts in the series will include the chorus. There will be a concert of holiday works, including the Rutter Gloria, with organ and brass on Saturday, December 13, at 7 PM at St. John on the Mountain in Bernardsville. 

The spring concert will be the St. John Passion by JS Bach with a full baroque orchestra and world class soloists, including American soprano legend Julianne Baird on Sunday, March 22, at 2 PM at Delbarton's St. Mary's Abbey. Baird is also slated to perform for the benefit for Music in the Somerset Hills, "Bel Canto," at Trump National Golf Club on October 5th.

The Somerset Hills Community Chorus was formed under the auspices of Music in the Somerset Hills, an organization established to provide cultural enrichment for the residents of New Jersey's Somerset Hills and the surrounding region through superlative performances of classical masterworks.  As part of its ongoing mission to provide amateur musicians with opportunities for fellowship, continued exploration and growth, The Somerset Hills Community Chorus gives less-experienced singers the opportunity to make music with seasoned professionals in a supportive and encouraging environment. 

Rehearsals are every Monday evening from 7-9 PM between September 29, 2014 and March 16, 2015, with a break for the Holidays from December 15 to 29. Rehearsals take place at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Gladstone. Because of the compact nature of this season, interested singers are asked to sign up for and commit to the entire season so rehearsal of spring repertoire can begin as early as possible.

Interested parties are encouraged to visit MusicSH.org/chorus to obtain more information and register to participate. Music in the Somerset Hills is overseen by Artistic Director Stephen Sands, a resident of Gladstone and a professional musician and music educator in the Somerset Hills School District for over 16 years. 

If you are interested in signing with us, please complete the online sign-up form on our chorus home page.

http://musicsh.org/chorus/