The Glass Menagerie, a downtown community chorus

In 1984 Susan Glass founded The Glass Menagerie with a group of eight parents and teachers from the Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin community. Since this modest beginning the chorus has grown in numbers, in breadth of repertoire, and in musical accomplishments. Our members come from throughout the metropolitan area and represent a broad variety of professions. Performances have highlight

ed masterworks by Mozart, Vivaldi, Haydn, and Brahms, as well as shorter works, from international folk songs to American standards, from Renaissance and early music greats to music of living composers. In 2007 we performed our first commissioned work, by New York composer Elliot Z. Levine; in 2008 we celebrated composer, conductor, and arranger Robert DeCormier; and 2009 brought our second commissioned work, by Jonathan David. Our gala May 2009 25th-Anniversary Concert featured Kodaly’s Missa Brevis and the African Missa Luba. Our 2010-11 season culminated with Orff's Carmina Burana, performed by an expanded chorus, with guest soloists, two pianos, and a percussion ensemble. We explored several centuries of French sacred repertoire in our Noël Nouvelet winter concert in December 2011. For our Distant Voices concert, which fell on Cinco de Mayo 2012, we welcomed guest conductor/arrangers Erasmia Voukelatos and Rima Fand (with her Balkan ensemble, Sherita) who, along with Susan, led a festive concert of music and dance of Greece, the Balkans, Hungary and, appropriately, Mexico.