How Can We Keep from Singing?

Hello Friends,

As we look forward to a holiday season filled with family and friends, The Glass Menagerie Chorus would like to add our own voices with a performance of Navidad Nuestra: An International Celebration of the Nativity, on Sunday, December 11, at 4:00 p.m. at the Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew (West End Avenue at 86th Street).

The past three years have taught us the importance of community. Even though the chorus stopped meeting in person, we never stopped singing. We came together weekly, albeit virtually, from different neighborhoods, generations, and professions. We supported one another through difficult days and devastating losses. Then, last December, we returned to live performance in a concert appropriately themed, The Storm Is Passing Over, followed by a spring concert — Let All the World in Every Corner Sing.

As we celebrate this season of renewal, we also celebrate our joy in making music together and bringing it to you.

This is where you come in. Making our music costs money — for instrumentalists, conductors, and rehearsal and performance spaces — and ticket sales and member dues only cover a portion of our expenses. We hope you will consider making a contribution to help us continue bringing our music to life. Your donation will help pay for our upcoming December concert and ensure that we’ll be able to bring you a performance of Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes and Randall Thompson's Frostiana next May.

Our goal is to raise $7,000, and every contribution will help get us there. We welcome gifts at every level, whether it’s $10 or ten times that amount. Please help us meet our goal – Every little bit counts!

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you on December 11.

About our concert:

Navidad Nuestra • An International Celebration of the Nativity

The Venue: Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, 263 West 86th Street @ West End Avenue, New York, NY 10024

The Date: Sunday, December 11, 2022, 4:00 PM

The Program: Argentinian composer Ariel Ramirez's Navidad Nuestra, a six-movement folk suite for tenor, baritone, chorus, guitar, keyboard, and percussion based on the rhythms and traditions of Hispanic America. Our program will also showcase carols from around the world, with a touch of Chanukah, including a special reprise of “Chanukah in Santa Monica.”

Tickets are $25 adult/$15 student and may be purchased at the door or online at Brown Paper Tickets.

About our video:

During the darkest days of the pandemic, the Glass Menagerie Chorus was determined to keep making music together. We rehearsed on zoom every week and made this video—because how could we keep from singing?

Text: Traditional

Music: Robert Lowry

Arranged and orchestrated by Matt And Adam Podd

Audio editing: Susan Glass & Ethan Wagner

Video production and graphic design: Sean Merriam

About the Chorus:

The Glass Menagerie, a 50-member SATB chorus directed by noted music educator Dr. Susan Glass, has been making music in Greenwich Village since 1984. It’s our mission to share great music with the community at affordable concerts in beautiful Manhattan venues. Our choristers come from every walk of life: teachers, musicians, lawyers, artists, engineers, craftspeople, service workers, and caregivers. Together, we learn with joy through the study and performance of a challenging range of choral music honoring the vibrant diversity of our city.

We perform music both sacred and profane: intimate a capella motets and madrigals; masterworks such as Bach’s Magnificat in D and Rutter’s Gloria; and music rooted in folk and vernacular traditions, from spirituals and Sephardic love songs to standards from the American Songbook.

Click HERE to visit our website.