Spring 2013

“The music [for Credo (RV592)] is charming and absolutely uplifting. I heard it years ago and loved it. The interplay between the orchestra and the choral parts creates a dancing rhythm that also conveys tremendous strength.” -- Les Robinson Hadsell

So obscure is this Credo that the Master Singers undertook an international search from the Netherlands to England and, finally, Poland to obtain a copy of the nearly 300-year-old score. The Master Singers’ contacted commercial sources of music and found none with a score nor was the Credo listed with any U.S. or major European publisher. The only posting was by a choir in Rotterdam. E-mail correspondence with the Dutch group failed to obtain the score. Contact with the library of the [English] Royal College of Music, traced the score to the music archives of Warsaw University in Poland and identified a Polish publisher with the score.

The difficulty in locating a score suggests that what was intended as a local debut for the Credo may well have been its first performance in the United States in 2006. Since then a dispute has arisen whether this work should be attributed to Johann Adolph Hasse, but that does not diminished the charm and strength of the music.

Master Singers of Westchester.

Master Singers of Westchester was founded in 1981 by fifteen singers with a desire to perform great choral repetoire with professional orchestra and soloists and to share this quality musical experience within the community. All singers are accepted without audition. Training in classical and baroque vocal technique is provided at rehearsals. Weekly rehearsals are held at the Fox Lane Middle School on Monday nights during eight months of the year and, in addition, performs on invitation with community, school, and professional choruses and orchestras. The group's home is Bedford but singers live throughout Westchester and in nearby Connecticut. New singers are welcome. For information, call 914/739-3669. Master Singers of Westchester is a not-for-profit organization and donations are cheerfully accepted. Make checks payable to M.S.W. Chorus, Inc. and mail to: M.S.W. CHORUS, INC. 46 Rocky Ridge Rd. Cortlandt Manor, NY 10567 mastersingers@optonline.net

Director - Les Robinson Hadsell.

Les Robinson Hadsell is the founding Director and Conductor of Master Singers of Westchester. She is a past Director of the Taghkanic Chorale and a past Assistant Director of the Pleasantville Cantata Singers. Ms. Hadsell has studied at the Oregon Bach Festival with Helmut Rilling, one of the foremost choral conductors of our time. She has also studied with John Nelson, former Music Director of the Caramoor Center, with Robert Shaw and at Westminster Choir College in Princeton.

Sue Anderson  has been the Master Singers Accompanist and Rehearsal Pianist for six seasons now. While our accompanist does not play at most concerts, she is there every Monday, warming the voices up, playing each vocal part as needed, and subbing for the orchestra. The rehearsal pianist must know the piece better than anyone except the conductor.