Singing the Praises of Harmonium Choral Society
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Wendy Liscow, Program Officer
I was still hearing Harmonium Choral Society’s haunting and powerful May concert in my head when we received the good news: Chorus America, a non-profit service organization dedicated to building a dynamic national choral community, awarded Harmonium Choral Society the 2009 Education Outreach Award at their 32nd Annual Conference in Philadelphia last week.
The $2,500 award recognizes Harmonium’s 12-year commitment to encouraging New Jersey high school students to compose choral works through their New Jersey High School Student Choral Composition Contest.
It was especially exciting because I had recently heard the 12th Annual Contest winners’ compositions performed at Harmonium’s “Worlds Untraveled: Music of the Soul” concert. The gifted young artists honored at the concert definitely made the case for the award. The grand prize winner, Michael Rosin, is a junior at Westfield High School and has been composing for five years. The sophistication of his work was evident in his evocative piece “Sapientia Pacis,” which incorporated the Old Testament verses Wisdom 3:1-3 in Latin, one of four texts provided by Harmonium for the contest.
