Rehearsals nearing for Lake Region Community Chorus

By Ed Pierce

The Lake Region Community Chorus is looking for singers for its new season.

The first rehearsal for the Lake Region Community Chorus
will be held at 6:20 on Monday, Sept. 7 at Bridgton
Academy and anyone wishing to sing is welcome to
to register and participate. COURTESY PHOTO 

This singing group is made up of about 60 members from 12 surrounding towns in the Lakes Region including Windham and Raymond. The first rehearsal for the chorus will be on Monday, Sept. 7, in the Twitchell Chapel at Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton. There are no auditions to participate but some experience in choral singing and reading music would be helpful.

Rehearsals are from 6:20 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday evenings. Registration begins at 6 p.m. on Sept. 7, and there is a $30 registration fee to help cover the cost of the music. Registration will also be held on Sept. 14.

Lake Region Community Chorus is conducted by Jan Jukkola, Susan Stockwell and Charles Oehrtmand and accompanied by Patrick Speckamp. It welcomes sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses with programs made up of a variety of pieces from many musical genres and styles. There is something for everyone and designed so singers and audiences have an enjoyable time at rehearsals and performances.

Concerts for the upcoming winter season featuring the Lake Region Community Chorus are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4 and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 6 at Lake Region High School in Naples.

The chorus is a vibrant and dynamic non-profit organization providing choral programs for the Lakes Region of Maine community. Its history is short because it’s a relatively new organization. The chorus had its first meeting in February 2013 to discuss the possibility of forming a choral group in the Lakes Region.

It was amazing how quickly everything seemed to come together, and with Laurie Turley as its original conductor, chorus members performed their first concert in June 2013. Since then, the original group of 36 singers has grown with each season.

The LRCC is a community of voices joined together in song and its purpose is to provide an opportunity for individuals with an interest in singing to share their love of choral music through regularly scheduled rehearsals that will culminate in community and outreach performances. It also strives to enhance each member’s ability to sing by teaching vocal exercises and techniques and to enrich their choral experience by providing a wide variety of musical selections that will increase their knowledge and appreciation of choral literature.

Each year the Lake Region Community Chorus performs two concerts with one in early December and features seasonal holiday music, while the other is a springtime concert generally falling in mid-May.

With the generous support of Bridgton Academy, the concerts are performed by the chorus in the Twitchell Chapel on the Bridgton Academy campus in North Bridgton. All the chorus members would like to thank Bridgton Academy for their help and support and providing them with rehearsal space and a concert venue. They would also like to thank their enthusiastic audiences and local sponsors for making this such a worthwhile experience. 

Each Lake Region Community Chorus concert is free but donations to help cover the expense of music and operating costs will be gratefully accepted.

If interested, come and join the Lake Region Community Chorus, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. as they lift their voices in song. This year’s Winter Concert is sure to be remembered long after the final chords sound.

To participate, contact Jukkola for more details by email at [email protected] or call 207-647-2584 or visit the Lake Region Community Chorus website at lakeregioncommunitychorus.org <