10th anniversary of Island Chamber Singers

Submitted by Joan Cipriano

Ten years ago on a rainy evening in November, the Island Chamber Singers gave their first performance at the Amelia Arts Centre (1st Baptist Church) featuring Schubert’s Mass in G Major and a variety of Christmas pieces including “Good King Kong Looked Out” by PDQ Bach complete with kazoos. The twenty-two singers were accompanied by the River City String Quartet for a rather large audience of nearly 100 people.

ICS was founded by Jane Lindberg, a music teacher, performer and church musician who had always dreamed of having a small group of singers who shared her love of good music. “I had been asked by several people if they knew of a local group who sang classical choral music, and at that time there was none,” said Jane when reminiscing about those early days. “I decided to offer the opportunity to anyone who was interested, and at a meeting in May of 2004, twenty-four people showed up to sing. This was the beginning.” Jane continues to lead and direct the choral group.

Over the years, ICS has given two performances every spring and two every fall, mostly featuring the masters like Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Palestrina. “Sometimes the singers would balk about the different languages,” said Jane. “We have done lots of Latin, some Italian and German, and even some French, which seems to be the most difficult to sing. The most difficult language concert we performed featured music of the Renaissance where we sang in Italian, German, Latin, French and English being sung at our concerts. Since we also sang a Kyrie in the Palestrina Mass, you could add Greek to that list.” Along the way, Jane brought in native speakers to help coach the group.

Jane also believes in challenging the group with more difficult music each year. Contemporary composer John Rutter’s Gloria and Mendelsohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht were particularly complex, “but the singers eventually grew to love them,” Jane said.

Although the community sees the finished performances, there is much that has to happen before any group can put on a concert. This work has been done by Jane assisted by Mack Sisson, who is the General Manager for the Board of Directors. “All members of the board have tasks,” said Mack. “Jane chooses the music, orders it and hires the musicians to accompany us. We all pay for our own music.” For Mozart’s Requiem last fall, we had ten musicians accompanying the singers. They all had to have their scores in time to learn the music, and they attended two rehearsals with us in our current venue, the Amelia Island Plantation Chapel. “The Chapel has wonderful acoustics,” said Jane, “but they are different from those at Springer Controls where we hold our regular rehearsals, so we practice twice at the Chapel to make sure we get used to the sound.”

Although Jane and the Board of Directors are not paid, there is a budget for each concert. It includes the accompanists and instrumentalists, the rental for the Chapel venue and then basic publicity costs such as the printing of tickets, postcards and posters and a professional photo of the singers taken every year for all the publicity photos. The income from ticket sales does not cover all the expenses so the group sends out a funding request letter each fall to be able to meet the budget for each performance. Jane commented, “our community has supported us well, and that is the main reason that we have not only been able to continue singing but have been able to increase the musical forces that accompany us.”

Last November’s performance of Mozart’s Requiem was the start of the tenth anniversary celebration and was titled “Looking Back.” The music of two popular contemporary jazz composers, Dave Brubeck and George Shearing, will complete the tenth anniversary celebration of the Island Chamber Singers on March 28 and 30 in an event titled “Looking Forward.” This will be the first time ICS has performed jazz.

The concert will begin with Songs and Sonnets by George Shearing and will feature seven Shakespearean sonnets, including “Live with Me and Be My Love” and “Who is Silvia?” The singers will be accompanied by piano and bass as they present Shearing’s harmonically complex style mixing swing, bop and modern classical influences. Shearing was born blind, the ninth child of a poor London family, and died in 2011, having been knighted by Queen Elizabeth. During his lifetime, Shearing appeared with Mel Torme, the Montgomery Brothers, Marian McPartland, Jim Hall, Hank Jones and numerous other popular musicians.

The second half of the concert will feature Brubeck’s To Hope! A Celebration, a modern Mass with some familiar names like the “Kyrie,” “Gloria” and “Lamb of God,” plus some special Brubeck interpretations like “The Desert and the Parched Land” and “All My Hope.” During his lifetime, 1920-2012, Brubeck was designated a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress. Featured soloists are Mary Williams and Scott Tinman as cantors.

The concerts will take place at Amelia Island Plantation Chapel, 36 Bowman Road, Fernandina Beach, on Friday, March 28, at 7 pm and Sunday, March 30, at 3 pm. An opening night reception will be held in the Fellowship Hall immediately following Friday evening’s performance.

Tickets are $15 for adults when purchased in advance of concert day. They can be purchased online at www.islandchambersingers.org; from a member of Island Chamber Singers; at the Amelia Island Welcome Center, 102 Centre Street, (800) 226-3542; at the AIFBY Chamber of Commerce, 961687 Gateway Blvd., Suite 101G (at A1A and Amelia Island Parkway), (904) 261-3248; and at Harrison’s Mercantile at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Spa and Shops, (904) 432-2218. Tickets may also be purchased at the door for $20. Tickets are always FREE for all students.

For further information, please call (904) 225-0575 on weekdays.

Editor’s note: Joan Cipriano has been singing with the Island Chamber Singers since the first concert and considers it one of the most wonderful opportunities of her life to sing with such a talented group. A retired newspaper editor, she moved to Amelia Island from New York 17 years ago.

March 11, 2014 6:52 a.m.