Colin Britt

Well, the fall semester is off and running at full speed! It’s hard to believe the school year is already two months underway.

This fall, in addition to continuing my duties as director of choirs at Rutgers Preparatory School in New Jersey and as artistic director and conductor of the West Village Chorale, I’ve also taken on the responsibility as a sabbatical replacement conductor for the Rutgers University Voorhees Choir, normally under the direction of the brilliant Dr. Brandon Williams. You may remember that the Voorhees Choir gave the premiere of my composition “Imagination” at Carnegie Hall last spring; now it’s my privilege to conduct this excellent ensemble this semester while Dr. Williams is on sabbatical!

With the West Village Chorale, we are busy preparing for an exciting season, including our upcoming holiday concert, “Song and Carols from the North.” But barely after our rehearsals for the season had started, we were invited to perform with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra at the United Nations General Assembly as part of the UN Day celebrations. That’s right – the UN. About 26 of us were brought in to rehearse and perform three pieces by Dana Al Fardan, Qatar’s most prominent female composer (she wrote the Qatar Airways boarding music, for one). The amazing Eímear Noone conducted us alongside this fabulous orchestra and several amazing vocal soloists. What an amazing way to start the year!

I have some other exciting updates which I’ll share in the coming weeks, but for now, happy November!