SCHOLA IS COMING SOON!

Welcome back… SOON!

For those of you who went to Croatia, thanks again for a really wonderful endeavor. Despite the heat, I thought the culminating concert was a great success. And it was really exciting watching people mix and mingle, whether chatting over meals and a glass of wine, or fighting to get in the flow path of a patio fan! They’ve always said that persecution brings people together.

We’re already working on the next summer symposium for 2028 – likely in Portugal. (For those of you who like planning way ahead!)

Dates for 2026-27

Most importantly, I thought you’d like to see how the calendar is shaping up for the coming year:

FALL 2026

• September 1: First Rehearsal at 7:30 pm
• November 3: NO REHEARSAL: Election Day!
• November 11-14: Residency with composer Thomas Lavoy
• November 12 @ 7:00 pm: Schola Rehearsal with Thomas Lavoy
• November 13 @ 7:00 pm: Schola Cantorum Dress Rehearsal @ Grace
• November 14 @ 8:00 pm: Schola Cantorum @ Grace Methodist Church
• Dec 5 @ 1:00 – 5:00 pm: Carols by Candlelight Dress Rehearsal
• December 6 @ 3:00 and 5:30 pm: ALL CHOIRS – CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT

SPRING 2026

• February 21, 3:00 PM: SCHOLA CANTORUM sings @ the St Helena Spiritual Festival, Claymont, DE
• April 24 @ 8:00 pm: SCHOLA CANTORUM sings Rutter Requiem and Te Deum (location tba) 
• May 2 @ 3:00 pm: CHORALE AND SCHOLA sing Beethoven #9 @ NJ
• May 5 @ 8:00 pm: CHORALE AND SCHOLA sing Beethoven #9 @ Puglisi Hall

Repertoire

Four big projects this year!

1. Thomas Lavoy is one of my favorite composers. He chooses thought-provoking texts and sets them eloquently to music. We will be giving the US premiere to one of his extended works entitled ENDLESS, on the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. (You can check out the poetry and the music here.) Tom currently resides in Tennessee, but has agreed to come to Delaware for the week of our performance to help us find our way. With several shorter works on the program as well, this will perhaps be our most ambitious endeavor to date. (Note the extra rehearsals the second week of November.)
2. Carols By Candlelight is back this fall, culminating in a massed performance of the Randol Bass Gloria. Those of you who’ve been around for a while may remember it from about 10 years ago. (Second week of December)
3. People have a lot of different feelings about John Rutter, but I hold his Requiem as a pinnacle of his composition career. Again, I suspect we did that about 20 years ago, (WOW!) but I thought it was time to do it again. (Third week of April) It’s incredibly singable and will be a nice balance to …
4. … another Beethoven 9 – but THIS time in Italian. Seems this actually happened in Beethoven’s lifetime, but only bits and pieces of the manuscript remain. Jim Anderson (the UD orchestra conductor) is recreating a performance edition, and it’s his turn to conduct! (First week of May)
5. While not an entire project for us alone, I plan to bring Schola to the Spiritual Festival at St. Helena in February 2027. We’ll be working on that music in the fall as well so we can quickly get up to speed in the spring semester.

I’ll be sending more detailed posts about the repertoire in the coming weeks, including links to scores and recordings, but I wanted you to have an overview of the year as soon as possible. It’s gonna be a busy one!

I should also mention that when it’s time to pay fees you’ll be able to pay for music a la carte so you only need to pay for the music you need. We’re already working on an updated payment form to facilitate that process.

Registration

Whether you register for the course through UD or not, PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO COMPLETE THE SCHOLA REGISTRATION FORM – ASAP!! Most urgently, this form will tell us whether you plan to use paper or digital copies for the coming season so we can order the right number of scores. If you want to have hard copies ready for you at the rehearsal, you will need to have submitted the registration for by August 12.

I should also warn you that the registration fee will go up to $85 this semester. You’ve heard me say that registration fees don’t even come close to covering our real expenses. This will be especially true this season with guest artists and big projects.

I can’t help but believe that the success of the Croatia project will infuse this fall’s choir with renewed energy and vigor. Watch your email for additional updates, and mark your calendar now for the dates stated above. They are all but carved in stone.

Enjoy the rest of your summer.

pdh