The History of the Neponset Choral Society
The Neponset Choral Society was formed in the fall of 1949 as the Bird & Sons "Bird Club" chorus. Originally for company members only, the group was soon opened to the community to allow for more participation, and was christened The Neponset Choral Society. Six months after its inception, the first NCS concert was held at the old Walpole High School auditorium. The first director, Leonard Weaver, conducted a variety of music, accompanied by pianist Walter Rockwood. In the spring of 1952, the first staged operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, was performed. Thus began a long history of G & S productions by NCS. Another first for NCS came in the fall of 1960, when radio station WCRB recorded their performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio St. Paul. The recording was broadcast, along with the NCS performance of G.F. Handel's Judas Maccabaeus in March and September 1963 as part of WCRB's "Choruses of New England" series. In the fall of 1965, NCS reached another milestone with their first orchestrated performance of Brahm's German Requiem, featuring soloists Pricilla Cann and David Weaver. Leonard Weaver's love of music and performance was the beginning of NCS. A graduate of MIT and formally trained as an engineer, he always had an intense interest in music. He sang with the MIT glee club, the Milton Choral Society, and various church choirs. Through his efforts as an amateur musician and conductor, NCS was allowed to grow and firmly establish itself as a strong musical performance group in the area which continues to this day.
NCS continued to grow,
and in 1974 was incorporated and
elected a Board of Directors to oversee the organization. Mr. Weaver
retired as Music Director in 1982, and was replaced by Assistant Music
Director Richard Travers, who held the position for one year.
From
1983 until 1989, Victoria Wagner,
a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, was Music Director
of NCS.
In 1989, Catherine Connor-Moen
was appointed to the position and served until June 2000. Under her guidance,
NCS broadened its performance repertoire and exposure by instituting
appearances at The Great Woods summer program at Wheaton College,
performances with the Quincy Symphony Orchestra and Rhode Island's
Ocean
State Symphony, and by creating the Young Artist
Performance
Program.
In July 2001,
Rachel Samet was hired as Music
Director.
Michael Turner
was named the Society's new Music Director in the Summer of 2003
following Ms. Samet's departure to pursue a doctorate.
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