The Double Choir

Two Somerset Hills choirs combine in a single concert

Stephen Sands, of Basking Ridge, and Barbara Sanderman, of Far Hills, are friends with something very important in common: they each founded an outstanding amateur choir in the Somerset Hills region.  On Sunday, November 6, in the stunning acoustic of St. James’s Chapel in Basking Ridge, those two choirs will join forces to present a concert entitled The Double Choir – Praise & Blessing.  How often do you get to hear two fine choirs singing together?  This is your chance!

Because it is such a rare event for two choirs to get together in this way, much of the choral music featured in the concert will be unusual – music like Franz Biebl’s wonderful 20th century a cappella setting of the Ave Maria, made famous by Chanticleer’s recording (and, incidentally, Chanticleer itself – America’s foremost a cappella men’s choir, winner of many international awards – will be presenting its own Christmas concert on Thursday, December 1 at St. Mary’s Abbey at Delbarton as part of the Music in the Somerset Hills concert season).

A wide variety of choral music will be heard in the Double Choirs concert, ranging from works by Hassler in the 17th century to Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff in the 19th and 20th centuries.  And the program will be further enriched by some rousing American hymns – including the great Shaker recessional “Not One Sparrow” and Stephen Paulus’ familiar setting of “The Road Home”.

Another curiosity of this concert will be the performance of a group of “shape note songs”.  Shape notes (in which the written notes have shapes added to them to help singers locate pitches quickly and easily, especially when they are sight-reading) were introduced in New England schools in 1801 and were practiced primarily in Appalachia and the South.  Shape notes were at least partly responsible for the astonishing success of the Sacred Harp choral movement, an integral part of the Protestant music tradition, which began in the South in the mid-19th century and quickly spread throughout the country.  Its songbooks were invariably printed in shape notes.  One of its leaders, the Georgian singer and composer Leonard Breedlove, was the composer of a well-known setting of “Mercy’s Free”, which will be performed during the concert.  

The two choirs taking part in this concert are the Somerset Hills Community Chorus, which is part of the organization known as Music in the Somerset Hills, of which Stephen Sands is founder and Artistic Director; and the Caritas Chamber Chorale, which was founded by Barbara Sanderman in 2005 with a mission to raise funds for schools run by the Adorno Fathers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some of the proceeds from this year's Praise and Blessing concert will benefit the Adorno Fathers' African Mission.  

In the last eleven years, the Caritas Chorale has performed in New York, Washington D.C., and California, as well as in New Jersey. Later this season, in January and February, the Chorale will be presenting outreach concerts (also in association with Music in the Somerset Hills) in venues around the Somerset Hills (details will be posted at MusicSH.org).  

The Somerset Hills Community Chorus comes together for two concerts each year.  It is open to anyone between the ages of 14 and 80 who wants to sing and is prepared rehearse one evening per week.  It is conducted by Stephen Sands and will be performing Mozart’s Requiem (with professional orchestra and soloists) later in the season, on March 12, 2017.

Tickets are also available by sending checks to Music in the Somerset Hills at P.O. Box 729, Bernardsville, NJ 07924.

All ticket sales are final.