Ave Maris Stella

photo by Marti Stone, 2008


Upcoming Concerts
Summer 2009

Saints & Sinners

Saturday, June 27, 7:30 p.m.
Blue Hill Congregational Church
Blue Hill

Saturday, July 11 at 7:30 p.m
Belfast Free Library
Belfast

Sunday, July 12, at 4:00 p.m.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Chestnut Street
Camden
(reception to follow)

Ave Maris Stella, an a cappella vocal ensemble based in midcoast Maine and dedicated to fine performances of mostly early music will perform its popular annual summer program in June and July.

As the backbone of this summer’s program, titled "Saints & Sinners,” the group will sing the five movements of the Ordinary of the Mass, in order. The twist will be that each movement will be by a different composer from a different era with secular works corresponding to that era interspersed between them. The first mass movement, the Kyrie from the medieval “Messe du Jour de Noel,” is thought to be by Leonin; the last will be a contemporary setting of the Agnus Dei from the 1921 “Mass in G Minor” by Ralph Vaughan Williams. In between will be a Gloria by Josquin , a Credo by Johannes Ciconia (possibly the first performance of this in the state if not the country), and the Sanctus & Benedictus from Palestrina’s glorious six-part "Pope Marcellus Mass."

read on...
 

Admission is by donation, $10 per adult suggested. Tickets available at the door.
FMI: 236-9413; www.avemarisstella.org.

"I used to drive to Boston to hear this kind of music at this level!"

All the way home, and now as I try to get into something else, I keep thinking of the evening's music. One moment I'm thinking about how amazing it is that such talented people live around me; people who can do what you do IN THEIR SPARE TIME. And the next I'm not thinking at all, but drifting off on a passage that comes back to me.

Suddenly the 'real world' around me evaporated. The music filled every crevice of my awareness. I didn't hear  voices. I wasn't aware that people were singing. The music was JUST THERE, coming out of someplace beyond the air. It slipped through the molecules and left me transfixed.  It was so BEAUTIFUL. I'm still on the verge of tears. It's vital to be reminded that humans can produce incredible beauty.  

I'm sure you all enjoy what you do, but I hope you know that it's much more than that. Have you any idea of the powerful gift you give? I am still awe-struck -- and profoundly grateful.

 

to audition: click here


Members

Dee Bielenberg
Andrea Boothby
Laura Buxbaum
Cheryl Cosby
Charlie Grey
Elena Hamilton - Music Director
John Gass
Jane Hards
Dan Kirchoff
Jane McFarland
Dominic Mercadante
Joe Mooney
Gregory Moore
Morten Moesswilde
Gretchen Piston Ogden - Executive Director
Rachel Turner
Stephen Wallace
Kenelm Winslow

In Memoriam
Katherine Brand (1952 - 2005)
Roy Salzman (1933 - 2006)

Founders
Katherine Brand
Sharon Osborne

 
poster pdf

Recent Performances:

January 14,2009
St. Peters Episcopal Church
Rockland, ME

program January 2009

January 23, 2009
First Church
Belfast, ME

January 25, 2009
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Camden, ME

press release June 2008

June 6, 2008
St. John Baptist Episcopal Church
Thomaston, ME

June 7, 2008
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Camden, ME

June 8, 2008
St. Denis Catholic Church
North Whitefield, ME

April 19, 2008
"A Cappella Fest"
Waldo Theatre, Waldoboro, Maine

press release

poster

January 20, 2008,
First Church in Belfast, Belfast, Maine
January 25,
Camden Public Library, Camden, Maine
January 26,
Blue Hill Congregational Church, Blue Hill, Maine

 

June 17, 2007
Elan Fine Arts, Rockport, Maine
June 15, 2007
First Church in Belfast, Belfast, Maine

January 28, 2007
Camden Public Library Reading Room, Camden
January 21, 2007
Episcopal Church of St. John Baptist, Thomaston

October 6, 2006 - Celebration of Life Concert
Camden Opera House

June 16, 2006 - The Oval Room, Montpelier
(General Henry Knox Mansion), Thomaston

June 18, 2006, St. Margaret’s Church, Belfast

April 22, 2006, Voices of Hope
Merrill Auditorium, Concert for the Good Shepherd Food-Bank

January 6, 2006 - St. Denis Catholic Church
         298 Grand Army Road, North Whitefield

 January 8, 2006 - Camden Public Library

Thursday, November 3, 2005 - Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland
opener for the International Film Festival of the Spirit