ROCKPORT — The Midcoast Community Chorus will end its three-year pandemic hiatus, returning to the stage with a new concert, "Awake and Sing!" Sunday, June 18, at 4:30 p.m., in the Strom Auditorium of Camden Hills Regional High School, in Rockport.  

Singing as a community for the community, the group of nearly 100 members has been rehearsing together since September under the leadership of Artistic Director Jeffrey Maynard, who has decades of experience conducting choral groups in communities across the United States, including St. Louis and New York City. Currently, Maynard is a choral music teacher at Camden-Rockport Middle School. Joining him on stage will be Assistant Director joani mitchell.  

An alumna of Berklee College of Music and the University of Maine at Augusta, mitchell has four decades of experience in the Midcoast as a music educator, church musician, theatre performer, musical director, and accompanist. Rounding out the group will be a group of 13 orchestral musicians representing the best instrumental talent of the Midcoast.

"We waited until the time was right and conditions were safe to begin singing together again, but we are so glad to have found our voice and to be sharing that voice with the community," said Maynard, in a news release. “Our theme 'Awake and Sing!' is all about rebirth, renewal, and the reinvigoration of community spirit." 

The concert features a mix of works by composers such as Aaron Copland, Howard Hanson, Moses Hogan, and Carly Simon and featuring poetic texts by writers such as Walt Whitman, Edna St. Vincent Millay, and James Agee. 

"Our hope for this concert is to share songs of communities coming together again,” said the release. “We will sing in mourning of what we have lost but also in celebration of a season of new growth in people, in our towns, and in our civic democracy."

Reserved tickets are available to purchase online for $15-$30 at mccsings.org. For more information about the chorus, call 207-706-9693 or email info@mccsings.org.

Midcoast Community Chorus is the largest non-auditioned choral group in Central Maine, and welcomes new chorus members at all levels of experience to join its ranks when it begins a new season of rehearsals this September.