The Sippican Choral Society is marking its 60th Birthday with a concert perfectly tuned to both its past and its legacy for quality choral musicianship.
Its “Anniversary Celebration: 60s Songs for 60 Years” presentation will be performed at Wickendon Chapel, Tabor Academy, Marion, on May 4. The 41-member choral group will begin with the two musical selection that opened its first concert in 1965, pieces by Bach and Aaron Copeland. Then the concert will honor its birth year with 1960s tunes for the remainder of the event. Society president Kelli McSweeny said pop, folk, jazz and Broadway samplings including the works of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Frank Sinatra, Burt Bacharach, and Antonio Carlos Jobin will be featured. “We wanted to honor the decade of the 60s,” she said, “and our first concert.”
That concert, McSweeny said, was performed in 1965 in what was then the Bristol Auditorium at Old Rochester Regional High School. The group was then called the “Regional Civic Chorus” and consisted of 15 members, and it was part of the Tri-County Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the late John Pandolfi. It was renamed as the “Sippican Choral Society” in 1972. “It started as a small group,” she said, “made of people who wanted to start a local choral group. They were members of local church choir groups who wanted to start a group that did other than church music.”
Jeanne Sheets, an alto voice in the group, has been a member of the choir for 26 years. “I grew up in a musical family and have been a singer my entire life,” she said. She recalled that a local “League of Women’s Voters” member, a tenor in the group, told her to join. She was hooked from the first rehearsal she attended. “I love the group,” she said. “I love the camaraderie. Love the singing. Love the practices.”
Jerry Bardwell has been a tenor in the choir for 27 years. He said he’s loved singing since high school. He sang in the Navy Chorus when he served in the armed forces. He moved to Marion 30 years ago and joined the Sippican chorus soon afterwards. “I’m here for just the sheer joy of singing,” he said.
He said he’s also there because of the valuable skills of the choir’s piano accompanist for the past 30 years, Michelle Gordon, and the director, Darry Dolezal “He brings out the artistry in our performances,” Bardwell said of Dolezal. “His persona is very relaxed. But he’s an expert. He knows what he wants from us. He can put something complex and turn it into language us non-professionals can understand and get a professional sound.”
Bardwell noted the choral members have ranged in age from 14 to as old as the late 80s, and their concerts are always well-attended. The chapel, where the choir has performed the most times over the years, is usually 70-80 percent full, he said.
“People here just want to be a part of a musical community,” he added. “We come here for the friends, the camaraderie and to share the gift of music.”
` The Sippican Choral Society’s “Anniversary Celebration: 60s Songs for 60 Years” will be performed at Wickendon Chapel, Tabor Academy, 88 Spring St., Marion, on May 4 at 4:00 pm. Tickets are $20.00 general admission, $10.00 for Students, Free for Children 14 and under, and free to anyone born in 1965, the year of its founding. Tickets can be purchased at Marion General Store, Isabelle’s in Mattapoisett, Symphony Music Shop in Dartmouth, from Choral Society members, at the door with cash or check, or online on the Society’s Tickets page.
By Michael J. DeCicco