The Mount Desert Summer Chorale will present Carmina Burana this year in Ellsworth and Bar Harbor. This cantata, composed in 1935 and 1936 by Carl Orff, is based on 24 poems from the medieval collection Carmina Burana. Don't miss this performance of this well-loved classic piece! Admission is $20. Come at 7 p.m. for a pre-concert talk by music director David Schildkret.
David Schildkret gave his first concerts with the Mount Desert Summer Chorale in the summer of 2000. In 2002, he became 
Director of Choral Activities at Arizona State University, where he led numerous choirs and taught courses in conducting and humanities. He retired from ASU in May 2023 and now holds the title of Emeritus Professor. Before going to ASU, he taught at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, Centre College in Danville, KY, and Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC. He continues to serve as Director of Music Ministries at Dayspring United Methodist Church in Tempe, Arizona, and is the conductor of the Arizona Cantilena Chorale.
Katelyn Parker Bray earned her master’s degree in Opera Performance from the Boston Conservatory.
Credits at the conservatory include Zerlina in Don Giovanni, La Bergère/La Princesse in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel, and Yum-Yum in The Mikado. She studied voice with Penelope Bitzas in Boston. Katelyn performed Lisette in La Rondine for the Martina Arroyo Prelude to Performance program. Other roles include Lucia in Opera Brittenica’s production of The Rape of Lucretia, Despina in Mozart’s Così fan tutte with the North End Performing Arts Center in Boston as well as with the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. Katelyn was a soloist in Boston Opera Collaborative’s Underlying Rhythms performance, performed Gretel in MetroWest’s production of Hänsel und Gretel, sang in Anne Hutchinson with Intermezzo Opera, and was a soloist in Mendelssohn’s Vom Himmel hoch with Acadia Choral Society. Locally, Katelyn sang as the soprano soloist with the Bangor Symphony in their performance of Mozart's Mass in C Minor, K 27 and as a soloist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Bagaduce Chorale.
For the past nine years, Katelyn has been the director and co-owner of Versa Gripps USA, Inc. where she was instrumental in quadrupling production and helping to make the brand internationally recognized. She recently led the effort to sell the company to a private equity firm.
Katelyn received her undergraduate degree in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma City University where she studied with William N. Christensen. There, she performed the roles of Adele in Die Fledermaus and Célie in Signor Deluso. She also worked personally with composer Thomas Pasatieri in a production of his Hotel Casablanca, singing the role of Veronique. Katelyn has been a soloist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic and the Oklahoma City Chamber Choir. She has worked with notable directors and conductors including Joseph Bascetta, Johnathon Pape, and Stephen Stubbs. Recently, Katelyn was the soprano soloist for the Fauré Requiem with the Mount Desert Summer Chorale. For more info, please visit: katelynparkerbray.com
Isaac Bray has performed numerous opera roles and other solo engagements with musical organizations around the United States and internationally. He recently performed as the baritone soloist in the world 
premiere of the chamber opera, Blood and Breath with Frequency Opera at the Vatican in Rome. Bray has also appeared with Florida Grand Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Opera San Antonio, Charlottesville Opera, Bangor Symphony, and Opera in the Pines. Notable opera roles include Marcello in La Bohème, the title role in Don Giovanni, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, John Proctor in The Crucible, Le DancaÏre in Carmen, and Sam in Trouble in Tahiti. Bray has performed solo engagements in New England with Bar Harbor Music Festival, Bagaduce Chorale, Acadia Choral Society, and Blue Hill Bach. Bray was a member of the Florida Grand Opera Young Artist Studio, the Bonfils-Stanton Apprentice Program with Central City Opera, and the apprentice artist program with Natchez Festival of Music. He is a graduate of the Boston University Opera Institute, The Boston Conservatory, and Abilene Christian University. Bray teaches on the voice faculty at the University of Maine and also serves on the board of the Maine chapter of NATS. For more info, please visit: isaacbraybaritone.com
Colin Graebert
Colin Graebert, is a choral conductor, accompanist, jazz pianist, and singer currently serving as the Director of Vocal Music at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, Choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church, as well as the accompanist for the Bangor Area Youth Choir and Mount Desert Summer Chorale. He studied jazz piano at the Berklee College of Music and received his B.M. in Music Education, vocal emphasis, at the University of Maine. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association for Music Education. He resides in Stockton Springs with his wife, Hilary, and his two children, Eric and Ruth.
Christian M. Clough is Canon for Liturgy & Music at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland, Maine, where he oversees a lively music program that includes offerings for the cathedral community as well as the Episcopal Diocese of Maine and the greater Portland community. Last autumn, he led the Cathedral Choir and several visiting singers in two performances of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem with chamber orchestra. Other notable performances as conductor include Duruflé’s Requiem, Arvo Pärt’s Berliner Messe, Rheinberger’s Mass in C (Op. 169), and the North American—and worldwide liturgical—premiere of Jonathan Dove’s Köthener Messe. He led the Wallingford (CT) Chorus for three seasons.
Christian began piano studies at the age of 6, and organ lessons at the age of 13. While majoring in Geological Sciences at the University of Rochester, Christian was the accompanist for the U of R Chamber Singers, which David Schildkret founded while on the faculty there. Christian took Music Theory as an elective, and became hooked on music in a newly profound way. Following his graduation, he worked 
briefly at Walt Disney World, and took his first church music job in Central Florida, during which time he decided to pursue a profession in the field. He earned the Master of Music degree, with double concentrations in Organ Performance and Choral Conducting, from the Yale University School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music (ISM) in 1997, and later returned to Yale University Divinity School (and ISM) for the Master of Arts in Religion (Liturgical Studies concentration), which he received, magna cum laude, in 2003. He has studied vocal performance and organ improvisation. In more than three decades of work as a church musician, he has served congregations all over the United States.
Christian grew up in Hamilton, NY. In his spare time, he enjoys cooking, writing, traveling, photography, birdwatching, studying foreign languages, and the pursuit of a variety of outdoor activities. He is particularly interested in the life and worship of the Shakers, and is associated with the still-active Shaker community at Sabbathday Lake, in New Gloucester, Maine. He and his husband (the Rev.) Christopher Worthley, who grew up in Kennebunk, reside in South Portland with their beloved cocker spaniel rescue, Dakota.
Join us for wonderful music!
