2021-2022 Season Update!

The Festival Singers of Florida and I are pleased to announce our 2021-22 season. It will include concerts in Lakeland (October 2, 2021), Clearwater (January 6, 2022), and Jacksonville (February 12, 2022). We are thrilled to resume operation! But despite the loss of a year due to Covid-19 the Festival Singers were still productive. Last year we:

  • submitted videos to create a virtual choir premiere of Skip Stradtman’s Be Thou My Vision.

  • gathered virtually to share individual reactions to the tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd. 

 

At our October 2021 concert I’m excited to share that we’ll feature the following premiere performances: 

  •  Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare, a multi-movement work for choir, stings, piano and percussion. Elaine plans to join us for the concert. This will be a highlight of our season and we are pleased to have been a part of the consortium that made this commission possible.

  •  A yet-to-be-named choral work commissioned by the Festival Singers and composed by our own, Marques Garrett. It will address how those in the majority can be advocates for and participants in change for the betterment of all.

  • Kyle Pederson’s Reconcile, honoring the 5th anniversary of AVoice4Peace which occurs this fall. We joined Consortio to support the work. Kyle composed this piece to create conversations around reconciliation—a subject that fit the mission of AVoice4Peace and interested both Ken Wakia, founding director of the Nairobi Chamber Chorus, and me. Kyle and Ken became Zoom friends, and the result is a piece written to be performed in English with added optional Swahili text. The result is a meaningful and poignant addition to the choral repertoire.  All this, of course, made me think about the many meaningful tours the Festival Singers of Florida have made through Kenya; China; and Indonesia; as well as Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Oxford, Mississippi.

 

In addition to being a group of singers dedicated to celebrating choral music and choral music education, FSOF is committed to enhancing the choral experience everywhere through annual support of composers and music educators. But we couldn’t do it without the generous contributions from our many supporters. We thank you for that and look forward to your continued support.  

 

Kevin Fenton

Artistic Director

Destiny Guerra