Anna Crusis Women’s Choir is set to celebrate its 35th anniversary with performances June 12 at Arch Street United Methodist Church and June 13 at Unitarian Society of Germantown. Since its founding in 1975, the nonprofit group has supported numerous causes and performed to benefit organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Congreso de Latinos Unidos, the Maternity Care Coalition and many AIDS awareness groups.
For these special performances, the country’s oldest and longest-running feminist choir is reaching back throughout its history for some special guests.
“We invited back both of the former directors and there’s only been three in the 35 years,” said Jacqueline Coren, the choir’s artistic director. “Unfortunately, the founding director is unable to come but her spirit is still very present with us. The more recent director, Jane Holting, will be there and she will conduct a number of pieces.”
In addition, Coren said some of the original soloists will return to sing pieces, with about 12-14 alumni who will form a small choir for the performances, as well as 20 former choir members who’ll also return.
“What we’re trying to do is just bring back a lot of former Anna Crusis members to participate in various ways in the program,” she said. “Since the choir has been going for 35 years, that’s a lot of audience members. Our hope is they will come back and see old friends that they used to see singing and enjoy that retrospective reunion quality of it.”
Coren, who has been singing with the choir since the 1990s and has been artistic director for five years, added that the choir is also revisiting its long history for the songs they will be performing.
“There will be songs from the early days, the middle days and the current days,” she said. “If you had a favorite, it might be on the show. I wouldn’t call it a complete retrospective, but there are songs from each segment of our history.”
Coren said both the June 12 and 13 shows will feature the same program with one exception.
“The only difference will be that on Sunday, the choir is giving an award called the Themis Award,” she said. Named for the goddess of justice, this is the second year the award has been given to someone who exemplifies the choir’s philanthropic mission.
Doris Polsky and her sister Shirley, who owned Twin Realty in Mt. Airy, are this year’s recipients.
“Over the years, in their work together, they’ve been largely responsible for the integration of Northwest Philadelphia,” Coren said. “It’s a very diverse community through their efforts and inspiration. Her sister died last summer [but] they both will be mentioned on the award. So Doris and her family will be there on Sunday.”
Anna Crusis Women’s Choir performs at 8 p.m. June 12 at Arch Street United Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad St., and 4 p.m. June 13 at Unitarian Society of Germantown, 6511 Lincoln Dr. Tickets are available at The Dovetail Artisans, 105 E. Glenside Ave., Glenside. For more information, visit www.annacrusis.org.
Larry Nichols can be reached at [email protected].