SING! Musical Choir Program
Come Sing with the Sebastopol Community Harmonia!
Come sing!!
Group singing uplifts spirits in all types of cultures around the globe. And after the last few years, we can especially use that now!
John Maas, Conductor of Sebastopol Center for the Arts Handel’s Messiah sing-alongs the last 27 years, has been directing a choir, Sebastopol Community Harmonia, at Sebastopol Center for the Arts since August 2022.
The group welcomes singers of different levels of experience, performing a range of music, some relatively easy (mostly from folk traditions in various cultures, to perform for relatively casual occasions, including gatherings for charity or other causes—peace, ecology, social justice, etc.), and some more complex, that will interest more experienced singers and be sung in concerts. Less experienced singers may work on more complex music, but may choose to sing pieces at their level and step aside during harder pieces.
John is committed to working in a focused manner, but also having fun, doing so! -- and also to using performance opportunities to support good causes, including Sebastopol Center for the Arts.
To start, contact John Maas at John.M.Maas@gmail.com.
Inexperienced singers would best join at the beginning of a season, such as in the beginning of July 2023, or the beginning of September 2023.
Singers with some experience may discuss other starting dates with John.
TIME: Monday evenings 6:30-8:00 pm.
LOCATION: Sebastopol Center for the Arts (Veterans’ Building) 282 High St., Sebastopol, "Little Red Hen" Room (also called "The Dining Room"), to the right from the entrance lobby, but entered from the patio along the north side of the building.
Singers bring warm clothing, as we keep some doors or windows open for fresh air, to reduce Covid risk. Masks are still recommended, but optional. There is room to socially distance.
Let John know, at John.M.Maas@gmail.com if you’d like to join!
To help defray facility costs, Singers will be asked to donate $5 to $15 per rehearsal as affordable. No one will be turned away for lack of funds!
About the Instructor:
John Maas studied music at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1975. He worked as a psychologist at Kaiser for 36 years, retiring in 2021, after raising children in Sebastopol. He continued to play, perform (including in the Oakland and San Francisco Symphony choirs, and in Sebastopol's Joyful Noise with Benjamin Mertz) and compose music, directing La Peña community choir 1981 to 1987, Berkeley Harmonia Chorus and Orchestra 1988-1991, Handel’s Messiah singalongs for the past 27 years sponsored by SebArts, and for most of the past 20 years, choirs at Pacific Northwest Eliot Institute Unitarian summer camps. John has written over 50 choral works, performed by Oakland Symphony Choir, Occidental Community Choir, UC Berkeley Repertory Choir, Redwood Chorale, Sonoma County Chamber Singers, Santa Rosa Junior College Choir, and a few dozen others, in the US, Mexico and Canada.
