FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Joyce Kirkpatrick, 860/347-5709 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Premiere Sold Out and Preview Performance Added

GREATER MIDDLETOWN CHORALE's world premiere performance of Letter from Italy, 1944, is sold-out for Sunday, April 28, and a preview performance has been added for Friday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. The story of war, family love and post-traumatic stress is an original work commissioned by the GMC.

The story is told with GMC’s 80 singers, a full orchestra, staging and multimedia projection. GMC’s Artistic Director, Joseph D'Eugenio, is collaborating with the GMC's Drama Director in Residence, Dr. Sheila Garvey, using all the tools of the modern theater to present the work at the Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School.

Connecticut residents Sarah Meneely-Kyder, a Grammy-nominated composer, and her sister, published poet Nancy Meneely, collaborated on the true story of their father, Dr. John Meneely, a Yale-trained doctor who served as a medic in the 10th Mountain Division in Italy near the end of the World War II. D'Eugenio has been working with the Meneely sisters for over two years to bring Letter from Italy, 1944, to the stage.

The world premiere performance sold out three weeks ahead — a record for GMC – and there is strong demand for the added preview performance. This Friday evening show will be presented in its entirety, with full orchestra, although the audience may see some breaks to correct technical problems. Tickets for the April 26 preview are available through the production’s web site, LetterFromItaly.com, where information about the creative process and PTSD is also provided.

The Greater Middletown Chorale is a private, non-profit organization that has been providing great music for the people of Connecticut for 36 years. It is funded with the support of the State of Connecticut, Middletown Commission on the Arts, Connecticut DECD/Office of the Arts, Aetna Foundation, Chevron Humankind Grants and Pfizer Foundation, Unilever Foundation, United Technologies.

The Chorale's Letter from Italy, 1944, project is made possible with grants from Choral Arts New England, New England Foundation for the Arts' Meet the Composer/New England program, Connecticut DECD/ Office of the Arts, Community Foundation of Middlesex County, through the foundation’s Ann and George Petry Fund and The Arts Fund, Tenth Mountain Division Foundation, and sponsors Kaman Corporation, Brown & Brown and Middle Oak.