Why sing in the shower when you can do it in a concert hall?
That’s one of the draws of Summer Sing. Now in its 53rd year, it’s the ultimate one-night stand: no auditions, no rehearsal, no commitment — just the chance to sing great music with people who love it as much as you do.
That would be the New York Choral Society, a 180-member “avocational choir” — meaning its singers, many of them music teachers, perform for free. And while the halls have changed over the years, the music and the mission remain the same: Mozart, Verdi, Carl Orff . . . whoopee!
“Some people think they need to know all the notes, but that’s not the point,” says Kate Chaffee, 30, a voice teacher and aspiring musical-theater performer. “It’s to come together, have fun and meet new people.”
Chaffee stood outside Symphony Space the other day handing out scores for Orff’s “Carmina Burana.” Led by Phillip Cheah, the first of the season’s six conductors — they change weekly — it’s a wild and woolly song cycle about defrocked, usually drunken monks: a real crowd-pleaser.
But as with so many things in New York, there weren’t enough men to go around — we’re talking tenors here — so Chaffee and some other sopranos jumped in after the break to fill in, occasionally singing the tenor part an octave higher.
“Obviously, you don’t have the luxury of screening people,” says David Hayes, the choral society’s music director. “But that’s not the point. It’s about people getting together and singing these great works.” He’ll conduct Verdi’s Requiem (“Some people refer to it as Verdi’s greatest opera!”) on Aug. 6.
All you need is $20 for a score and a seat.
“In the old days, it was like $7, and we had subscriptions,” says Joanne Lawson, a chorus member since 1967. “But hall rentals are expensive. We try to keep the price the same as a movie ticket.”
After four decades in CAMI Hall, across from Carnegie, the group moved its Summer Sings to Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Theater in 2008. And while the erstwhile Mr. Spock has yet to beam aboard, hundreds of others have, says Rosanne Zoccoli, a chorus member for 23 years.
“The people who come are all ages, from all walks of life,” says Zoccoli, whose day job is working for A&E. “Occasionally, some people misunderstand what a Summer Sing is and think it’s a performance. Sometimes they leave at intermission, but others stay and listen.”
That’s what happened last week, at the first sing of the season.
“A couple of people came back and said, ‘I bought a ticket but I can’t sing!’ ” Chaffee says. “I told them that it was OK, and to sit toward the back to get the full effect. They stayed the whole time and said, ‘This is wonderful!’ ”
Summer Sing meets Tuesdays through Aug. 20 at Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street. Tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., Malcolm J. Merriweather conducts Mozart’s Requiem. Tickets and information at 212-864-5400, nychoral.org.