Region – Assabet Valley Mastersingers (AVM) recently received a $1,000 grant from the Southborough Community Fund, a fund of the Foundation for Metrowest. In the inaugural round of grants from this new fund, AVM was one of 10 recipients and the only organization dedicated to the arts. The award will provide funding support for the orchestra accompanying the choral performance of “Annelies,” based upon “The Diary of Anne Frank.”
The Southborough Community Fund (SCF), a fund of the Foundation for Metrowest, promotes a spirit of philanthropic giving to help enhance the quality of life for all Southborough citizens now, and for the future. SCF is a permanent grant-making source of funding to support community needs and opportunities, and provide ways for donors to give back or leave a legacy to their community. For more information, visit www.foundationformetrowest.org/southborough.
The first full symphonic performance of “Annelies” in New England is scheduled for Sunday, March 8, at 3:45 p.m., at St. Mark’s School, 25 Marlboro Road (Route 85) in Southborough. The first major choral setting of Anne Frank’s remarkable and perceptive observations during her family’s fearful hiding in wartime Amsterdam provides an extraordinary experience, thanks to the collaboration of librettist Melanie Challenger and composer James Whitbourn. Soprano Susan Consoli and the Westborough-based Shir Joy Chorus, directed by Wendy Damoulakis, will join in concert with the orchestra, Assabet Valley Mastersingers, and Artistic Director Robert P. Eaton. At 3 p.m. preceding the performance, Dr. Joshua Jacobson, one of the foremost authorities on Jewish choral music, will provide a virtual tour of the Frank family’s secret hiding place, discuss the concept of memorializing victims of the Holocaust through music, and preview musical themes and context for “Annelies.”
For further information, call 978-562-9838 or visit www.avmsingers.org.
