To the Editor:

The Newtown Choral Society presented their spring concert “Soar” to an enthusiastic crowd on Saturday, May 17, at The Meeting House.

Our director, Mary Andreotta, led us in a program celebrating freedom, resilience, realization and beauty including music from “Wicked” and works by Lennon & McCartney, Andre Thomas, John Rutter & spirituals. We also presented musical interpretations of the poetry of Langston Hughes & Walt Whitman.

As always, our accompanist Phil Crevier supported us with his exhilarating concert performance.

We thank Peter Andrews, Paul Partelow, Chuck Magoulas, Dick Zang, Jeff Jackson, Keith Roberts, Kenneth Lerman, and Jonathan Gamble for transporting our equipment from the Meeting House. And the Town of Newtown for storing our risers between concerts.

And Maureen Kelly for her work on the program and Dan Coffman for stepping in for an extra solo at the last minute.

And we thank the Newtown Congregational Church and the Rev Mathew Crebbin for inviting us into the Church for our rehearsals and for sharing their sound system.

After the concert we were privileged to meet at the welcoming home of Karen and Jeff Jackson for our after-concert get-together. We thank them.

The choir would specifically like to thank Nancy Dvorin for creating and supporting our social media and Peg Heetmann, our long-time treasurer. And Patsy Beddoe-Stephens for her kind support.

We thank The Bee for their invaluable support in publicizing our concert.

And we were delighted to see Bill Glass stop by and take some of his wonderful photographs.

Finally, as always, we must thank my husband, Kenneth, for his computer expertise, his muscle, and his patience.

The Newtown Choral Society, (newtownchoral.org/) now entering its 39th year, will begin rehearsals for its December Holiday concert in September. We welcome new members from all area towns and have openings in all voices. Our soloists come from our membership. We support ourselves through dues, program ads and concert tickets.

If this is your time to raise your voice in song, if you have thought of starting to sing in a group in a supportive atmosphere, or returning to singing, call me (203-313-3064) or e-mail me (lel-choir2@se-ltd.com) for membership information or to be added to our distribution list to be notified of when rehearsals begin in September. We perform two concerts a year and practice Wednesday evenings at the Newtown Middle School.

Laura E. Lerman

President, Newtown Choral Society