Longfellow Chorus

Filing Period

Sep 1, 2012 to Aug 31, 2013

Signed

Nov 11, 2013

Return Version

2012v2.0

Gross Receipts

$255,665

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

The Longfellow Chorus held the seventh-annual Longfellow Choral Festival on March 16 and 17, 2013. This festival presented numerous classical compositions by the African-English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912). The centerpiece of this weekend-long festival was a rare, complete performance of Coleridge-Taylor's four-part cantata, "Scenes From The Song of Hiawatha," based on the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This performance included modern ballet, choreographed for five professional dancers. The soloists for "Hiawatha" were African-American opera singers with international reputations: Angela Brown, soprano; Rodrick Dixon, tenor; and Robert Honeysucker, baritone. The orchestra and chorus were comprised of 90 singers and players, the majority of whom were professional musicians. Special care was taken to recruit an ensemble of players, singers and dancers that represented an ethnically diverse unity. To accomplish this, numerous players and singers were brought to Portland, Maine, for the performances from Boston, Washington, DC, New York City and Pennsylvania. Other Coleridge-Taylor compositions presented during this weekend of performances were his Violin Concerto in G-Minor (with Tai Murray, violin soloist), the Bamboula Rhapsodic Dance for orchestra, Keep Me From Sinking Down for violin and orchestra, several shorter concerted works, and spirituals from the Songbook of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Additionally, we premiered the film "Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and His Music in America, 1900-1912," a film produced by The Longfellow Chorus, at the Nickelodeon Theater in Portland. We showed this film twice and received enthusiastic reviews from the members of the theater audience.

Activity 3

The Longfellow Chorus sponsored the second-annual Longfellow February Frostbite Road Race in Portland, Maine, on February 17, 2013. The event celebrates the birthday of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with the racers running past his childhood home on Congress St. in Portland. Nearly 80 runners registered and participated in the race, which was held despite the frigid temperature and blowing snow. The event was a great success and not only benefitted, but helped draw attention to the Longfellow Choral Festival, scheduled for the following March 16/17.

Filer

EIN

36-4605393