As the Augusta Choral Society heads into its 2024-2025 season, a familiar face will be leading its singers.
“When I first moved to Augusta in the summer of 2021, I went to one or two concerts in the 2021-2022 season. My second year here I joined the choir and sang with them for a year,” said Marcel Ramalho, the director of choral activities and voice professor in the Department of Music at Augusta University, who was recently named the choral society’s artistic director and conductor.
Photo courtesy the Augusta Choral Society
Ramalho said that year allowed him to get to know the group’s members and he enjoyed “singing in the bass section and singing with those men who’ve been singing longer than I’ve been alive.”
When Ramalho learned that the group’s longtime director, Porter Stokes, intended on retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 season after 24 years, he knew he wanted to be in the running for the position.
Guest conductors led the choral society during its 2023-2024 season with Ramalho the guest for the holiday concert. He opted for a mix of traditional and contemporary for that concert, pairing portions of Handel’s “The Messiah” with Margaret Bonds’ “Ballad of the Brown King.”
It’s a format he plans to take as he heads into the new season.
His season brings together familiar pieces with some people have likely never heard of.
Ramalho said he wants to bring in more diverse composers, showcase some composers from his native country of Brazil and highlight more modern ones.
What Ramalho loves about choral music is its ability to bring people together for a common purpose.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s 40, 80, 120 people, they are all working towards a common goal,” he said.
Previous story: Porter Stokes to conduct final Augusta Choral Society concert
And no one voice or personality stands out. They all work together to blend into one sound, he said.
Preparations for the season will begin July 30 with auditions and weekly rehearsals will begin Aug. 13.
The season will open at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at- Sacred Heart Cultural Center with a joyful concert of music including “Lobgesang” by Fanny Mendelssohn; “Rejoice in the Lamb” by Benjamin Britten and “Gloria” by Antonio Vivaldi.
The holiday concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at Saint Paul’s Church with José Maurício Nunes Garcia’s “Missa para noite de Natal” and Stephen Paulus’s “Christmas Tidings.”
The March 22 concert at 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Cultural Center will feature Camargo Guarnieri’s “Missa Diligite” and Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem, op. 48.”
The season will round out with a concert of American composers on May 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Sacred Heart Cultural Center with Dan Forrest’s “Three Nocturnes,” Gwyneth Walker’s “I’ve known rivers” and Randall Thompson’s “Frostiana.”
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years and is a Georgia Press Association award winner. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
