Paul Madore

Paul Madore, founder and continuing director of The Paul Madore Chorale, has performed throughout the Boston and North Shore areas as solo pianist and organist, with various chamber groups and orchestras and as accompanist to well-known singers and instrumentalists. A man with several professions, he is currently retired from Salem State College where he was a professor of French for many years, as well as department chair. Mr. Madore is Director of Music and organist at the First Church in Salem, the oldest Protestant congregation in the United States, a position he has held for the last twenty-eight years. He maintains a vocal coaching studio in Salem for professional
singers. His keyboard teachers include Celia Salata, Caroline Benner, David Barnett (New England Conservatory) and Joseph Bloch (Julliard). He has worked in choral conducting under such well-known conductors as the late C. Alexander Peloquin, the late Robert Shaw and Lorna Cooke DeVaron. When the Chorale traveled to France, he performed on the
celebrated Cavaille-Coll organ at St. Etienne in Caen, France, and concertized throughout Normandy. He has given concerts in several of the major French cathedrals, including Bayeux and Chartres. For many years he was piano accompanist for Bachelor and Master recitals at the New England Conservatory of Music where he was also a member of the Graduate Chorale. Local solo performances include Saint Saens' Carnival of the Animals (two pianos) with pianist and PMC member, Marjorie Zoll and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the Salem Philharmonic Orchestra. He performs frequently with local orchestras when the piece has a piano part.

Throughout his career as conductor of the Chorale, Mr. Madore has presented the major works of the choral repertoire and several grand operas. The Chorale sang Puccini's Turandot with the Boston Concert Opera at Symphony Hall, and Orff's Carmina Burana with Boston Ballet at the Opera House in Boston. Under his direction, the Chorale has presented fully staged performances of several operas, including Carmen, Die Fledermaus and HMS Pinafore. The Chorale has traveled to France on two major tours, performing Mahler's Resurrection Symphony and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In 1997, the Chorale toured Italy where, in addition to concerts in Venice at St. Marks and other cities, he and the Chorale participated in High Mass at St. Peter's in Rome, an honor rarely bestowed on American choruses. Throughout the history of the Chorale, Mr. Madore has received accolades for performances of the Verdi Requiem (including one in MIT's Kresge Auditorium in Cambridge) and the Berlioz Requiem in collaboration with the New Hampshire Symphony with performances there and locally. The Chorale has recorded several CD's and cassettes under his direction.