All that Sparkles

Your Favorites from Our First 75 Years

Event details

Sunday, May 19, 2024
4:00 p.m.

First Presbyterian Church of Freehold
118 West Main Street, Freehold, NJ

A guided tour through the rich and diverse musical moments of one of Monmouth County’s longest-lived arts organizations. Join MCC as we highlight some of your favorite numbers throughout the decades and celebrate what’s to come — a sparkling future of music-making with you.

With a nostalgic mix of selections from classical composers like Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Vivaldi to fan favorites Gilbert and Sullivan and Golden Age titans Frank Loesser and Rogers and Hammerstein, there’s something for everyone in this show, from our earliest supporters to first-time fans.

Tickets: General admission seating — $40 adult, $35 senior, $30 group (10+), $15 student 

Parking

Parking for this event is on-street only. Please allow extra time upon arrival.

Accessibility

By clicking on the stick figure in a blue circle on the right side of your screen, you can access accessibility features for this digital program such as larger text and higher contrast.

Program

Narrator: Marilyn Morgovsky (access a PDF of the narration here)

The Heavens are Telling — Franz Joseph Haydn, from “The Creation”
Soprano: Janice Liddy
Tenor: James Scavone
Bass: Kenneth Budka

My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land — Edward Elgar

Blessed are The Men Who Fear Him — Felix Mendelssohn, from “Elijah”

He Watching Over Israel — Felix Mendelssohn, from “Elijah”

Bogoroditse Devo — Sergei Rachmaninov, from “All-Night Vigil”

Et in Terra Pax Hominibus — Antonio Vivaldi, from “Gloria” (RV 589)

Ain-a That Good News — William L. Dawson

Laudate Dominum — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from “Solemn Vespers”
Soprano: Caitlin deBrigard

O Vos Omnes — Pablo Casals

Light of a Clear Blue Morning — Dolly Parton, arr. Craig Hella Johnson
Tenor: Douglas Clark
Tin whistle: Ellen Crimi

Make Our Garden Grow — Leonard Bernstein, from “Candide”

Intermission

Brightly Dawns our Wedding Day — W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, from “The Mikado”

I am the very model of a modern Major-General — W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, from “The Pirates of Penzance”
Major-General: Joseph Pisano

Hail Poetry — W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, from “The Pirates of Penzance”

The Most Happy Fella — Frank Loesser, from “The Most Happy Fella”
Postman: Tim Velardo
Farnsworth: Kelly Morgan
Johnson: David P. Willis Jr.
Sullivan: Daniel Hyman 
Greene: James J. Green
Tony Esposito: Kenneth Wasser

Big D — Frank Loesser, from “The Most Happy Fella”
Herman: Matthew Izzo
Cleo: Claire L. Harbeck

Oklahoma — Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, from “Oklahoma!”
Aunt Eller: Cheryl Sobolewski Parker
Ike: James J. Green
Laurey: Heather Daniels
Curley: William J. Clingerman
Fred: Kathleen Blinn
Cord Elam: Ruairi O’Neill
Carnes: Sarah Gillis

Fiddler on the Roof (Choral Medley) — Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, arr. Ed Lojeski
Narrator: Jacqueline Schreiber

Make Them Hear You — Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, arr. Jeff Funk, from “RAGTIME the Musical”

Selected texts & translations

Bogoroditse Devo

Et in Terra Pax Hominibus

Laudate Dominum

O Vos Omnes

Meet the artists

MCC members performing

Former Artistic Directors

Monmouth Civic Chorus is grateful for the artistic leadership we have had over the last 75 years, that has brought us to this momentous anniversary season.

William Gordon Pagdin, founder and musical director of MCC from 1949 to 1962, began his love for music early.  Born to a musical family, his father was an operatic tenor who also directed oratorios and Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and his mother a professional singer.  This love led to piano studies at the age of five, the study of four languages in preparation for an operatic career, and eventually, the ability to play at least eight different musical instruments.

Mr. Pagdin studied harmony, theory, orchestration, and ultimately, conducting, under Edgar Lord, formerly with the Boston Symphony.  He was a former member of the New York Oratorio Society, baritone soloist at St. Patrick’s church, and former director of the People’s Civic Chorus in Hudson County, New Jersey.  Very active in local cultural affairs, Mr. Pagdin founded the Monmouth Arts foundation while living in the county and was instrumental in the formation of the Monmouth Players. 

Felix Molzer became Musical Director of MCC in 1966.  Born in Vienna to a musical family, Mr. Molzer studied at the Vienna Music Academy, the University of Vienna, and the University of Pennsylvania, obtaining Master’s Degrees in Music and Education.  He sang with the Vienna Boys’ Choir as a child, and as an adult conducted their first tour after World War II, consisting of 100 concerts.  He served as Director of Music and taught at Monmouth College (now Monmouth University), and as instructor at Westminster Choir College, and Professor of Music at the Institute of European Studies in Vienna.

Additionally, Mr. Molzer served as founder and Director of the Monmouth Conservatory of Music, conducting the Conservatory’s children’s, youth and adult choruses, and taught vocal development, pianism, theory, and harmony and composition.  He served as well as Minister of Music at Christ Church United Methodist, Church of the Holy Communion, and the Church of the Nativity, all in Fair Haven.  

Mr. Molzer published more than 1000 arrangements and compositions, including three folk operas, and three vocal orchestral scores for children’s choir.  He co-founded the Composers Guild of New Jersey and was a charter member of the Monmouth County Arts Council Board of Trustees.

William R. Shoppell, Jr. was MCC’s Conductor from 1962 to 1966, and again from 1973 to 1991.  Mr. Shoppell decided in grade 7 that he wanted to spend his life teaching music.  An active band member and singer in high school, he went on to study instrumental and vocal music and received his BS degree from Lebanon Valley College.  He served as Pennsylvania State President of Future Teachers of America, and then as National President of the organization.

Mr. Shoppell was drafted into the US Army in 1953 and became a performing instrumentalist and vocalist for the US Army Field Band.  He received his Master of Arts degree from Columbia University and did additional graduate studies at the University of Colorado and Trenton State College.  He began his teaching career in Jefferson County, Colorado and then moved to the Asbury Park Elementary Schools, where he taught from 1959 to 1966.  From there he moved to the Freehold Regional High School District where he taught instrumental and vocal music.  He was District Music Supervisor of five high schools until his retirement in 1993.  

Mr. Shoppell’s magnificent bass voice kept him in demand as a soloist, serving as cantorial soloist at the Monmouth Reform Temple in Tinton Falls, NJ from 1963 until 1988.  He sang in many local shows, operas, operettas and churches.  He also served as conductor of the New Jersey Chamber Singers from 2003 thru 2006, conducted the St. Peter-by-the-Sea Chorale, and served as Director of Music at the Point Pleasant Presbyterian church from 1982 until his retirement in 2018, conducting the Choral Bells, and Chancel Choir, leading the choir on two European concert tours.  Mr. Shoppell served on the Board of the Monmouth Conservatory of Music and the Algonquin Arts Theater.  He was a member of the New Jersey Retired Music Educators Association, was inducted into the All-Shore Band Directors Hall of Fame in 2016, and received the New Jersey Music Educators Association Distinguished Service Award.

Dr. Mark Shapiro served as MCC Artistic Director from 1991 to 2012.  A six-time ASCAP Award-winner, he is active as a conductor of choruses, orchestras, and opera.  He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale (summa cum laude) with Distinction in Music.  After graduating, he moved to France and became Assistant to the Director at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, where he also studied.  Dr. Shapiro is a two-time recipient of the Albert Roussel Fellowship and earned a diploma in conducting at the École Normale de Musique de Paris.  He joined the faculty of the Conservatoire National de Région de Boulogne-Billancourt, where he conducted numerous performances, including a world premiere by Alain Louvier, now Director of the Paris Conservatory.  Subsequently, he taught at the Conservatoire Municipal Agreé de Châtillon, and was also chosen Artistic Director of the award-winning Ensemble Sotto Voce de Paris.  In Châtillon, Dr. Shapiro’s performances of the Handel opera Semele and the Haydn Creation so gratified the city council that they voted him a “Citoyen d’honneur.”  He has served as president of the jury of the choral conducting examinations at the Conservatoire National de Marseille and has conducted in Singapore and Brunei. Dr. Shapiro received his Graduate Performance Diploma, orchestral conducting, from Peabody Conservatory, and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University.

Dr. Shapiro is Music Director of The Cecilia Chorus of New York, Artistic Director of Cantori New York, Principal Conductor of Marshall Opera, and Conductor Emeritus of The Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra, where he served as Music Director for a decade. Characterizing his leadership as “insightful,” The New York Times has praised his “virtuosity and assurance”; Opera News has noted his “superb pacing and great confidence.” Favorite venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Le Poisson Rouge, the Guggenheim and Rubin Museums, Charlottetown’s Confederation Centre of the Arts, and the amphitheater at Vaison-la-Romaine, France.

Opera credits include five productions with Juilliard Vocal Arts and appearances with American Opera Projects, Center for Contemporary Opera, Encompass New Opera, Opera Company of Middlebury, and Underworld Opera, as well as the opera programs of Hofstra and Rutgers. Stage directors include Ed Berkeley, Mary Birnbaum, John Giampietro, Crystal Manich, Louisa Muller, and Emma Griffin.

Dr. Shapiro has recorded for Albany, Arsis, Newport Classics, and PGM. His recording of Frank Martin’s oratorio Le vin herbé was an Opera News Editor’s Choice. An album of music by Philip Glass with Irish violinist Gregory Harrington and Shapiro conducting the Janacek Philharmonic was released in 2020. Radio appearances have included WQXR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, and Sirius.

He has been a teaching artist with the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program and teaches conducting at the Juilliard School (Julliard Extension Division), Mannes (The New School), and Teachers College (Columbia.) Each summer he directs the conducting program of the European American Musical Alliance in Paris.

Dr. Shapiro is represented by Athlone Artists.

In Memoriam

Monmouth Civic Chorus honors the memory of our former members who have passed, along with the memories from our donors. We were lucky to have known them all and keep them singing in our hearts.

A huge thanks to our donors

We are deeply grateful for the generous and continuous financial support we receive from our donors. These contributions allow us to organize and hold concerts like this one. Through the Scholarship Fund we have supported many young artists throughout the years.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Annual support

Endowment fund

Scholarship fund

Chris Moran
Beatrice Oppenheim – in honor of Richard Oppenheim
Joseph Pisano & Steven Russell
Umami Girl
Leegen & Thomas Wu

Acknowledgements

Thank you to our outstanding rehearsal pianist Holland Jancaitis, and to Printing2Go for providing exceptional service at every turn. You make our season possible.

Thank you also to Brian Shapiro, for video recording this special Sparkling Anniversary concert.

For the press

You can download a PDF of this event’s press release here.