York Town News
York Singers to perform this weekend
YORK - The York Singers will present their annual Spring Concert of motets and anthems this Friday, May 4, and Sunday, May 6.
The program will be sung entirely a cappella, and will include several motets by Palestrina, plus sacred works by Christopher Tye, Hans Leo Hassler, Jacob Handl and William Byrd.
The 19th century will be represented by Felix Mendelssohn, Anton Bruckner, Franz Liszt and Camille Saint Saens while 20th-century composers will include Dobri Hristov, Luigi Perosi, Henry Ley and Zoltan Kodaly.
Friday's concert will be at the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church on Summer Street in Portsmouth, N.H., at 8 p.m. The church has resonant acoustics eminently suitable for the performance of sacred a cappella music and, in fact, the York Singers have performed there about 25 times in the past 16 years.
On Sunday, the York Singers will present their program at the York-Ogunquit United Methodist Church on Route 1 in York at 2 p.m. Here, the sanctuary is totally different and has a much quicker, brisk resonance, which makes for an even more intimate, transparent experience for both the singers and the audience.
Both concerts are free of charge, and all interested listeners are invited to attend either - or both!
Since their beginning in 1973, the York Singers have studied and presented well over 650 works of serious a cappella choral music in over 350 public performances, from Pemaquid to Westwood, Massachusetts. The group typically numbers between 17 and 20 voices, and has always been open to talented amateur singers from all walks of life. The York Singers rehearse at the home of their founder and conductor, Dr. Bill Wieting, in York Harbor.
Any experienced singers interested in the challenges of performing serious sacred and secular works, entirely a cappella, are encouraged to contact Wieting at 363-5258 or billwieting@usa.net.
