America’s 250th: Music Worcester Celebrates

Everett McCorvey, a native of Montgomery, Alabama, and a graduate of the University of Alabama where he received his degrees including a Doctorate in Musical Arts. He has given performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall, Teatro Comunale, Florence, Italy, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, England, and in over 23 countries.

He is the Founder and Artistic Director of the American Spiritual Ensemble, a professional Ensemble dedicated to the performance and preservation of the American Negro Spiritual and he is the Conductor and Artistic Director of the National Chorale and Orchestra of New York City, a professional organization dedicated to performing the titans of the classical choral repertoire. He was recently appointed as the inaugural Principal Guest Conductor at Opera Columbus. Opera Columbus (Ohio, USA).

In his home state of Kentucky, he is the Chairman of the Kentucky Arts Council and nationally, he is an advisory panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. Dr. McCorvey also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Sullivan Foundation of New York, an organization dedicated to identifying gifted young opera singers in the early stages of their professional careers and helping them develop through a unique program combining audition awards with continuing support for learning new roles.

He has served on the faculties of the New York State Summer School of the Arts, American Institute of Musical Studies, Graz, Austria, and Bay View Music Festival as co-opera conductor and co-director of the American Negro Spirituals Intensive Program. He holds position of the OperaLex Endowed Chair of Opera Studies and Professor of Voice at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky

Recent conducting stints include SANCTUARY ROAD by Paul Moravec and Pulitzer Prize Librettist Mark Campbell with Virginia Opera this past February of 2024; Handel’s MESSIAH at the newly renovated David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in December of 2023; CARMEN by Bizet in October of 2023 with Opera Columbus; SUOR ANGELICA and GIANNI SCHICCHI with the Bay View Opera Festival in the summer of 2023; MARIA DE BUENOS AIRES with Kentucky Opera in November of 2022; The World Premiere of THE SECRET RIVER by Stella Sung and Mark Campbell with Opera Orlando in December of 2021 as well as conducting the Dvořák Symphony #9 in Prague’s Smetana Hall with the North Czech Philharmonic and the Grand Finale Opera Gala at the Mythos Opera Festival 2018.

Upcoming concerts include conducting THE THREE PENNY OPERA by Kurt Weil with Opera Columbus, THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE by Chandler Carter with the libretto by Diana Solomon Glover with Kentucky Opera, and TREEMONISHA by Scott Joplin with Opera Orlando. McCorvey served as the Music Director and Conductor of the World Premier of BOUNCE, The Basketball Opera, conceived and directed by Gretha Holby with the lead composer Glen Roven and author and librettist Charles R. Smith, Jr. Additional music for BOUNCE was written by Tomas Doncker and West Side Story Film Star Ansel Elgort.

Dr. Mccorvey is married to soprano, Alicia Helm and they have three children.

The Soldiers’ Chorus, founded in 1957, is the vocal complement of The United States Army Field Band of Washington, DC. The 24-member mixed choral ensemble travels throughout the nation and abroad, performing as a separate component and in joint concerts with the Concert Band of The Musical Ambassadors of the Army. The chorus has performed in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, India, the Far East, and throughout Europe, entertaining audiences of all ages.

The immense talent of Soldiers’ Chorus personnel provide the ensemble with unique flexibility, and in addition to presenting selections from the vast choral repertoire, each member of the ensemble is an accomplished soloist in their own right. Performances often include the music of Broadway, barbershop quartet, Americana, as well as Pop, Rock, and R&B. Critics have acclaimed recent appearances with the Boston Pops, the Cincinnati Pops, and the Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Nashville, and National symphony orchestras, giving the chorus a nationwide reputation for musical excellence and inspiring patriotism.

Other notable performances include four World Fairs, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, Kennedy Center Honors Programs, the rededication of the Statue of Liberty, the 100th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park, PBS’s annual National Memorial Day Concert, and the state funerals of Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter.

The First Unitarian Adult Choir, located at the historic First Unitarian Church in downtown Worcester, sings three Sundays a month, providing three anthems and all service music. Our 25-voice adult choir embraces a diversity of musical styles and cultures. Our repertoire includes everything from Bach and Bonds to gospel, folk, world music, and more. Our choir, which welcomes all singers, rehearses every Thursday evening. We offer two Music Sundays per year, featuring major choral works. In the past two years, we have shared Bach’s Cantata 61, Mendelssohn’s Psalm 42, Margaret Bonds’ Credo, Handel’s Chandos Anthem No. 4, and Adolphus Hailstork’s Shout for Joy! The choir is also at the center of our annual luminous Christmas Eve service and our large and inclusive performance of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” on Easter morning, which welcomes any orchestral instrumentalist or singer who wants to join in. Two years ago we began an annual tradition of hosting Summer Sings on Thursday evenings in June, when any singer from the community can join us and sing through a major choral work. Past sings have featured the Fauré Requiem, the Mozart Requiem, Bach’s Cantata 61 and Magnificat, an evening of works by Margaret Bonds, and an evening of works by Alice Parker. The adult choir is one of three choirs at the church – we also have a Children’s Choir, open to grades 3-8, and a Youth Choir, open to grades 8-12. First Unitarian is a vibrant and welcoming Unitarian Universalist congregation committed to living out our mission to honor the sacred, connect with one another, and serve justice within our community and our world. Music truly is at the heart of our worship life as a congregation. All are welcome to join the choir; there are no auditions. The choir rehearses on Thursdays from 7-9pm and on Sundays from 8:45-9:45am. Contact Director of Music Dr. Allegra Martin for more information or to join the choir.

The Choral Society annually performs major works by celebrated composers. Recent performances have featured Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Messiah, Rheinberger’s The Star of Bethlehem, and Faure’s Requiem. The Chorale is open to all members of the Bridgewater State University community. The Chamber Singers, the “singing ambassadors” of the university, are selected by audition from the larger University Chorale. Primarily an a cappella group, the Chamber Singers perform many concerts on and off campus and tours annually.

The Worcester Children’s Chorus (WCC) was founded in 2008 as a program of The Master Singers of Worcester by co-directors Jennifer Kane and Malcolm Halliday. A partnership was also formed at that time between the WCC and Assumption University making WCC a choir “in residence” at the University campus where WCC enjoys rehearsal and performance spaces as well as other resources.

The Worcester Children’s Chorus has performed with many area ensembles, including: The Master Singers of Worcester, The Assabet Valley Mastersingers, The Salisbury Singers, the Thayer Symphony Orchestra, the Worcester Youth Orchestra, and the Worcester Chorus. Members of the chorus have also performed on three occasions at Carnegie Hall in NYC, participated in the International Children’s Chorus Festival at Canterbury Cathedral and London, England, as well as the Crescent City Choral Festival in New Orleans. In 2016, the WCC was featured at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, where they performed the Star Spangled Banner before tens of thousands.