BAR HARBOR — The Acadia Choral Society will perform its annual spring concert on Saturday and Sunday, May 12 and 13, at St. Saviour’s Episcopal Church in Bar Harbor. The program features American music and poetry with roots in the mid-19th century. Jamie Hagedorn directs the chorus, and the accompanist is Julia Morris-Myers.

The first half of the concert includes music by several contemporary composers based on the poetry of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. A highlight, said organizers, is William Bolcom’s “May-day,” which is described as “an exciting choral and pianistic showpiece that celebrates the discovery of the spiritual world in the reawakening of spring.” Greg Gilpin’s “Live Your Dream” also is on the program, and is described as “an inspiring anthem that combines a quotation from Thoreau with the words of Eastern philosophers.”

Aaron Copland’s “Old American Songs” will be performed, too; they are settings of songs that date from about 1830 to the time of the Civil War. Many styles are represented, including sea songs, children’s songs, ballads, hymns and spirituals. The most familiar is “Simple Gifts,” a hymn from the Shaker community of Alfred, Maine. Mr. Copland arranged these songs from 1950 to 1952, and they have been popular crowd-pleasers since then.

Performances are set for Saturday, May 12 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, May 13, at 3 p.m. Tickets are $12 each, or $40 for a family of four; they can be purchased at Sherman’s Books & Stationery in Bar Harbor, the Northeast Harbor Library, the Southwest Harbor Public Library, and SevenArts gallery in Ellsworth. Tickets also are available from chorus members.

The Acadia Choral Society also will present an additional gala performance at Gates Auditorium at College of the Atlantic, on Saturday, June 16, at 7 p.m. This fund-raising event will feature a variety of vocal and instrumental music – from sea shanties to Broadway to opera – performed by chorus members and friends.

For more information, visit www.acadiachoralsociety.org.

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