Before embarking on a concert tour of Spain, with performances in Madrid, Segovia and Barcelona, the Grand Monadnock Youth Choir’s Cecilia Ensemble will perform a sendoff concert Saturday, April 8, at 3 p.m. at Dublin Community Church, 1125 Main Street, Dublin.
The ensemble will also perform Sunday, April 16, at 3 p.m. in the Heberton Room of Keene Public Library, 60 Winter St. in Keene.
This choir includes 18 high school students from the Monadnock region and Vermont, and is one of five choirs within the Grand Monadnock Youth Choirs nonprofit organization, which is the performance-based choral music education program for young singers in the Monadnock Region. The Cecilia Ensemble performs internationally every two years, but this will be the choir’s first performance tour after returning from Italy at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The sendoff concerts will feature one hour of music, including works by both American composers and Spanish composers. About three-quarters of the performance is unaccompanied, but the choir will be joined by pianist Margaret Dodson-Buhl for four pieces, and she will also be featured as solo pianist presenting works by Spanish composers.
Purchase tickets by donation for the sendoff concerts in advance at grandmonadnockyouthchoirs.org/performances or at the door. All donations will be converted to Euros and offered to the GMYC singers for spending money during their time in Spain.
For people who cannot attend one fo the sendoff concerts, the Cecilia Ensemble will perform an abbreviated set at the GMYC concerts on Saturday, May 13, at 3 p.m. Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church, 25 Main St. in Peterborough, and Sunday, May 14, at 3 p.m. at Congregation AhavasAchim, 84 Hastings Ave. in Keene.
The ensemble will also perform their a cappella sets at Children and the Arts Festival on May 20.