On Saturday, July 4th, 2015, in Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, at 20:30, a music event will be held with the participation of the PPC-DEDDIE Choir under the direction of the conductor Kostis Konstantaras and the American Chorus, New Amsterdam Singers from New York, USA, under the direction of the conductor Clara Longstreth.

 

The program of the event includes hymns, spiritual and folk songs, songs from musicals etc.

 

The event is held under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Marine and Tourism and is realised within the framework of celebration of the American Independence and promotion of Greek-American cultural relations.

New Amsterdam Singers is an amateur chorus of 70 skilled singers whose concert performances in New York City and abroad have won critical acclaim. The group is known for the variety and interest of its repertoire, ranging from the 15th century to the present day. The chorus specializes in a cappella and double chorus repertoire and regularly performs 20th century, contemporary and commissioned works.

 

NAS appears internationally under Ms. Longstreth’s direction. The chorus has sung in the Irakleion Festival in Greece; the Granada Festival in Spain; the International Choral Festival at Miedzyzdroje, Poland; the Festival of the Algarve in Portugal; Les Choregies d’Orange in France; and the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, More recently, the chorus appeared in Turkey, Scandinavia, Croatia, Spain, Russia and the Baltics, and Argentina and Uruguay. In 2010, NAS was pleased to receive permission from the State and Treasury Departments to tour Cuba on a cultural visa. In 2013, NAS performed in South Africa.

Clara Longstreth has conducted New Amsterdam Singers since its formation in 1968. She has served on the faculty of Rutgers University, where she conducted the Voorhees Choir of Douglas College. A student of G. Wallace Woodworth at Harvard, Ms. Longstreth trained for her Master’s degree at the Juilliard School under Richard Westenburg. Further study included work with Amy Kaiser and Semyon Bychkov at the Mannes College of Music and with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival.

 

In 1997 Ms. Longstreth guest-conducted the Limon Dance Company in performances with NAS and the Riverside Church Choir. In 2010 she again conducted the Limon Dance Company at the Skirball Center at NYU. She is a frequent guest conductor at the annual Messiah Sing-In at Avery Fisher Hall and at the summer sings of the West Village Chorale, the New York Choral Society, and other choruses. She has also served as adjudicator of choral festivals, conducted the Riverdale Country School choral groups and conducted the Juilliard Chorus and Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. In 2006 she presented a lecture-demonstration on “Adventures in Programming” for the Eastern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association.

Of Ms. Longstreth’s programs, Allan Kozinn wrote in the New York Times, “When a director takes up the challenge of building a cohesive program around a broad theme, we are reminded that programming can be an art.”

PPC SA Choir was set up in 1978 by a group of employees of the company and was gradually staffed and completed with relatives and friends, sharing the same love in choral singing. Being active all these years, it has managed to have a major presence in the music events of Greece, by participating either in independent concerts and recitals or in Choir festivals, as well as by

joining force with many famous Choirs and Orchestras all over Greece and abroad (Czech Republic, Sweden, Bulgaria, Cyprus, etc.). Moreover, it has worked with well known Greek composers, popular singers and opera artists. It has performed in the most famous theatres

of Greece (Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Megaron- Athens Concert Hall and the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Panathenaic Stadium, Ancient Theatre of Delphi, Greek National Opera etc.).

 

Finally, it has participated in major sport events, such as the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and Paralympics of “Athens 2004”, the flame delivery at the Olympics of Barcelona and the opening ceremony of the World Championship in Athletics of 1997. Its large repertoire consists of musical works from different eras (from pre-classical songs to modern European Music) while it has excelled in Greek composers’ works and in Folk songs. In 2012 following the spin off of the Distribution Branch of the Company, the Choir was renamed PPC-DEDDIE Choir.

 

Today, 35 years later, the PPC-DEDDIE Choir consists of around 40 active choristers. Since February 2005, the Conductor Mr. Kostis Kostantaras has been Art Director of PPC-DEDDIE Choir.

The PPC SA and DEDDIE SA management as well as all people involved in the Choir wish that the Choir can continue its ever growing creative activity thus enriching Choral events in Greece.