A note from our Artistic Director . . .

Whether you are reading this note as you wait for the Mozart’s Greatest Hits concert at E. J. Thomas Hall or for the May 6th Sounds of Spring concert at Central Hower, I want to thank you for attending and thereby supporting the Summit Choral Society’s mission of presenting quality choral music to the greater Akron community.  As we look toward our 20th anniversary, we remain proud of a tradition that has been responsible for seeing concerts like these happen scores of times over our relatively brief history of 16 seasons.

I hope that many of you reading this note were able to be among the over 5,000 people that heard our choirs this past December at historic St. Bernard Church, Central Hower and in Cleveland and Canton. You may be interested to know that in 2005 Summit Choral Society ensembles performed twenty different concerts in six different cities (Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai) on two continents (China and North America).  They collaborated with eight other choirs from such cities as Chicago, Hono-lulu, Indianapolis, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Akron’s own Arlington Church of God and Cleveland’s Apollo’s Fire. All in all, these ensembles brought the beauty of the choral art into the lives of nearly 15,000 people!

As founder of this organization, I am continually gratified by the fact that two things that have most distinguished the Choral Society over the past sixteen years have been its beautiful and unique concerts and its clear focus on the education of its singers and audiences.  Our goal has always been to become that community-based organization which provides singing experiences to people of ALL ages.  From letters like the one that appears opposite this page with Melina Kanakaredes’ beautiful picture; from the many Akron based corporations, foundations and individuals who support this mission with their generous financial gifts; and from the hundreds of people who make coming to our concerts a regular part of their own personal cultural lives. . . I’m really beginning to believe what I have always dared to dream . . . that Akron’s choral jewel – the Summit Choral Society – is, indeed, making an impact on the rich cultural life of its home community – Akron, Ohio.

Our eighty-voice Masterworks Chorale alone represents people from every segment of Akron’s racial, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds and has singers whose ages span seven decades (from the twenties to the eighties!) Choral music is certainly a powerful way to link diverse segments of any community together.  It can become a strong bridge for connecting racial, cultural and even individual differences.  SCS continues to add to the quality of life in the greater Akron community while building these bridges and my hope is that during tonight’s concert (whichever one you are attending) you will be enlightened, educated and entertained.  That is our mission and those are our goals.  Enjoy!