NW MI Arts & Culture Network
Little Traverse Choral Society
Following a two-year hiatus in concerts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Little Traverse Choral Society (LTCS) began in-person rehearsals in September 2021 for holiday concerts scheduled for December 2021. The theme for this concert was “Together Again”, acknowledging the joy that members experienced in again being able to sing together. Featured in this concert was “A Ceremony of Carols” by Benjamin Britten. The concert program also included eight other holiday selections. The Britten work was accompanied by a professional harpist, and a flutist accompanied one of the other selections in the second half of the concert. Both of these musicians are from the northern Michigan area.
Then in January 2022, the LTCS members came together again to begin rehearsing for the spring 2022 concerts. The theme for this concert was “Celebrating Women in Music”. The program had originally been planned for concerts in May 2020 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, which unfortunately were cancelled due to COVID-19. As we had purchased the music for this concert and had begun rehearsals, we thought it appropriate to plan our April 2022 concerts around this theme. The selections for the concert were all by women composers or reflected the role of women in music. The composers included Clara Schumann who lived and composed during the 19th century, as well as a number of contemporary women composers and several Michigan-based composers. Catherine McMichael, a composer currently living in Saginaw, Michigan, is the composer of “Stopping by Woods”, a lovely setting of the poem by Robert Frost, for which she added a violin part for use in our concert. The violinist and our piano accompanist also performed a duet composed by McMichael during the concert.
Both concerts were well-received by the audiences with significant compliments on the choice of music and the quality of the performance. Because of continuing COVID concerns and policies of the venues, we did not have our usual reception after each
