About Us

MCS began in 1957 as a loose association of choirs to sing Handel's Messiah together. In 1969, MCS reorganized under the direction of Jim Dau, who retired in 1989 after 20 years of leading our community choir. The baton was then passed to Peter Hendrickson, and since 1993 has been held by our Music Director, Jere Lantz. In 2015, the MCS Foundation was created to sustain and expand our musical offerings.
 

We are a nonprofit organization supported exclusively from the funds raised by our members and by choir concert ticket sales. We rehearse from September to April/May and frequently perform with a paid professional orchestra. Our soloists are either paid professionals or MCS members.

The music we perform ranges from old masterworks such as Mozart and Haydn masses and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem to more contemporary compositions such as Vaughan Williams’ Hodie and Copland’s In The Beginning, to works by modern composers or arrangers such as John Rutter, Dominick Argento, Stephen Paulus, Elaine Hagenberg and Jeffrey Van. With a sprinkling of Broadway classics, opera, traditional folk songs from around the globe, and timeless carols, you’re sure to find new favorites!