Before a concert at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Pottsville on Sunday, Mark P. Thomas gave the Schuylkill Choral Society a little push.
The society is an 82-member chorus, but only 52 were available for Sunday’s concert, which was an important one for fans of the group. “Rome to Normandy” was a preview of the group’s upcoming European tour.
Before Sunday’s show in Pottsville, the group practiced in “Our Lady’s Chapel” in the lower level. After hearing them try Alessandro Scarlatti’s “Exultate Deo,” he spoke up.
“Step it up! Let’s be aggressive and go after this thing,” Thomas said.
And the members of the chorus gave it their all.
The choral society is under the direction of Thomas, accompanied by Kimberly Breiner Stoudt.
More than 140 people came to the concert at the church at Fourth and Mahantongo streets Sunday.
The group performed Franz Schubert’s “Mass In G,” with soloists Christine Schaeffer, William Sugrue and David Watson.
After an intermission, the group also performed G.P. da Palestrina’s “Adoramus Te,” Giuseppe Pitoni’s “Cantate Domino,” Andrea Klouse’s “Kyrie,” G.P. da Palestrina’s “Sicut Cervus,” Buryl Red’s “In Remembrance,” Scarlatti’s “Exultate Deo,” John Rutter’s “The Lord Is My Shepherd,” G.F. Handel’s “Halleluja Amen,” and Theodore Dubois’s “Christ We Do All Adore Thee.”
The society will perform all of these selections in its upcoming European tour, Thomas said.
The show included two violinists, Dana Weiderhold and Esther Plotnick, a viola player, Mary Snow, and a cello player, Angela Dowd.
The Schuylkill Choral Society, formerly the Schuylkill County Community Chorus, was formed in 1973, according to the society’s website at www.schchoral.org.
The society has performed European tours four times before, in 1991, 2002, 2006 and 2010.
In July, 60 of its members will fly to Europe for the society’s fifth tour there, Thomas said.
“I think we leave July 10. Our first performance is at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican,” Thomas said.
“I’m really excited! I’m hoping to play on some of the keyboards over there,” Allison Kline said.
Kline is an alto from Barnesville and the society’s assistant accompanist. This will be the first time she will travel with the society on a European tour.
Sharon Kolenick, a soprano from Pottsville, said she traveled with the society to Europe twice, in 2006 and 2010.
“We’re going to sing in the Vatican! I’ve never had the chance to sing there, and I’m excited,” she said.
“Then we’ll go to St. Mark’s in Venice. We’ll have two performances in smaller cities, then we’ll go to Paris to perform at Notre Dame. It’s like every night we’ll be moving somewhere else. I think we’ll be out there for 13 days. It will be bang-bang, really quick,” Thomas said.
“They’re having a special event at Normandy Beach toward the end of July. We’re going to be there representing the United States. We’re going to be U.S. Choir and we’ll sing ‘God Bless America’ and the national anthem. So during that tour in July, we’re not going to sleep a whole lot,” Thomas said.
Locally, the Schuylkill Choral Society’s next performance will be “Aquarius” at 3 p.m. May 22 at Schuylkill Haven Area High School.
“We always end our season with a pop concert. So we’re going to do all ’70s music,” Thomas said.