Robert De Cormier’s Final Recording Honors His Friend Pete Seeger. Acclaimed Choral Conductor Bets on Kickstarter to Fund: Clock Ticking in More Ways Than One.

Montpelier, VT – April 20, 2015 – Vermont’s professional vocal ensemble Counterpoint is midway into a Kickstarter campaign to fund a recording of new choral arrangements of Pete Seeger songs.

Counterpoint founder Robert De Cormier opens the pitch video with this statement: “I may be the oldest person to ever launch a Kickstarter campaign… I’m 93.”

Robert De Cormier and Pete Seeger first met in 1946 when both were fresh out of the army. They maintained a friendship and musical partnership that lasted until Pete Seeger’s death in 2014. Both spent their entire lives connecting people through the power of music. De Cormier was the director of the Harry Belafonte Singers, and music director for Peter, Paul and Mary for 32 years.

Pete Seeger’s songs are woven throughout the fabric of our culture. He was fond of saying “The concert isn’t over until the audience sings.” Counterpoint sees the project as much more than a tribute that looks to the past. Robert’s arrangements and Counterpoint’s talents promise a one-of-a-kind recording that will be available to people in families, schools and community choruses, inspiring singers young and old to keep singing these songs. It’s a way to encourage the tradition of group folksinging that Pete embraced with such ardor.

In addition to the title track, All Mixed Up features some of Pete’s well known songs, and some that are not so well known: Who Killed Norma Jean? and To My Old Brown Earth.

“We’re taking a chance using Kickstarter to fund this album,” says Melissa Chesnut-Tangerman, the coordinator of the campaign. “The goal is an ambitious one. We felt that hearing fresh arrangements in choral form will appeal to a wide swath of people in the folk and social justice worlds – and just as important, that Robert, who has been doing the same kind of work as Pete all his life, would be able to give these arrangements to the world before he leaves it.”

The Counterpoint Kickstarter page is here: www.kickstarter.com

Founded in 2000, Counterpoint (www.counterpointchorus.com) is a nationally recognized, Vermont-based, professional vocal ensemble dedicated to performing choral chamber music and engaging with student musicians to enhance the cultural life of communities in Vermont and beyond.

Contact:
Melissa Chesnut-Tangerman
802-235-2050
tango@vermontel.net