East End Women’s Choir is an intergenerational group of musicians dedicated to excellence in the performance of women’s choral literature. The choir performs two major concerts during the year, in January and in June. In addition to these concerts, the choir sponsors various community events, including a cabaret night in the spring. East End Women’s Choir performed as a guest choir at the New York ACDA conference in the fall of 2016.
East End Women’s Choir consists of members who are music educators, directors of school and church ensembles, solo artists, and women who simply enjoy ensemble singing. In a short amount of time the choir has grown to become a diversely talented group of 45 women.
East End Women’s Choir grew from a passing thought in late August of 2013 to a 45-voice choir by its first rehearsal on October 3, 2013. Founding Director Kamilla Ozman, a retired high school choral director, hoped her idea of a women’s choir would be well received in this area of Long Island, New York, and indeed it was. The response was overwhelming with inquiries and emails pouring in. Within a two-month period, rehearsal venues and concert dates were set and East End Women’s Choir was formed.
The East End Women’s Choir continues to strive toward a goal of providing the community and its members with artistic performances of quality choral music written for women’s voices.
The purpose and mission of East End Women’s Choir is to foster and promote choral music of quality through performances of high artistic value; to provide artistic, cultural and spiritual experiences to its members, the community and its audiences; provide members an opportunity to enhance their own musical skills and musical knowledge; to be role models to female singers of all ages; and to encourage the value of singing as a life-long avocation.
East End Women’s Choir performs a variety of sacred and secular works for women’s voices. It is a diverse repertoire with an emphasis on contemporary choral composers such as Gwyneth Walker, Z. Randall Stroope, Paul Basler, David Childs, Ola Gjeilo, Tarik O’Regan and many more.
The Artistic Director of the East End Women’s Choir is Kamilla Ozman. Kamilla has been a conductor and music educator for more than 30 years; she remains passionate about music and enjoys working with singers of all ages and abilities. Mrs. Ozman, a retired choral director from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, New York, remains busy conducting, accompanying, teaching and performing. Currently an adjunct professor at Suffolk Community College, Mrs. Ozman also maintains a private voice and piano studio, and holds the position of Organist and Choir Director at the Presbyterian Church of the Moriches. Mrs. Ozman earned a BS in music education from Concordia College in Bronxville, New York and a MA in music from Long Island University, C.W. Post in Greenvale, New York.
Repertoire of the East End Women’s Choir includes:
Fall/Winter 2017-2018: Gloria – Vivaldi; O Antiqui Sancti – Michael Engelhardt; The Shape of My Soul – Andrea Clearfield; Alleluia – Paul Basler; There Will Come Soft Rains – Kevin Memley; Revelation – Z. Randall Stroope; Go Where I Send Thee – Caldwell/Ivory.
Spring 2017: Six Choral Songs for Treble Voices, 1. Glory, 2. Night, 3. The Pine Tree, 4. Now the Waves Are Drowsing, 5. Captivity, 6. The Angel Op. 15 – Sergei Rachmaninoff; Bogoroditse Devo – Sergei Rachmaninoff; Mass No. 6 Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus – Benedictus, Agnus Dei – Gyorgy Orban; Lauda Sion – Gyorgy Orban.
2015-2016: The March of the Women – Ethel Smyth; In Praise of Music: I Pant for Music Which is Divine – David Conte; Joy – Jocelyn Hagen; In the Sweet By and By – Joseph Webster, Arr. by Daniel Hall; Even When He is Silent – Kim Arnesen; Makedonska Humoreska – Todor Skalovski; Dixit Dominus – Baldassare Galuppi; I See the Heaven’s Glories Shine – Andrea Ramsey; Northern Lights – Eriks Esenvalds; Jubilate Deo – Gyongyosi Levente; Keep On Singing – Simon Wawer; I’m Gonna sing ‘Till the Spirit Moves in My Heart – Moses Hogan, Arr. by Peter Eklund; Hildegard Motets 1. O choruscans lux stellarum, 2. O virtus Sapientie, 4. Nunc gaudeant – Maria Löfberg; Moon Goddess – Jocelyn Hagen; Everything She Touches – Joan Szymko; Keep Yo’ Lamps – Rosephanye Powell; Les sirèns – Lili Boulanger; When I am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple – Ruth Watson Henderson; The Gate of the Year – Eleanor Daley; Canticle of Mary – Libby Larsen; Malala – Joan Szymko; Lessons Learned: Scheherezade – Emily John; Universal Dream – Jenni Brandon; From Dusk to Dawn – Gwyneth Walker.
2014-2015: Sing Creations Music On – Stephen Paulus; Ave Maria – Franz Biebl; Wanting Memories – Yasaye Barnwell; Ad Amore – Lee R. Kesselman; Nada Te Turbe – Joan Szymko; Nothing Gonna Stumble My Feet – Greg Gilpin; Song of the Stars – Bob Chilcott; Song of the Universal – Ola Gjeilo; Psalm 23 – Z. Randall Stroope; Still I Rise – Rosephayne Powell; Listen to a Jubilant Song – Tim Sarsany; Two Offetories, Op. 65 for Treble Voices; Ave Verum, Tantum Ergo – Gabriel Faure; I Cannot Dance O Lord – Stephen Paulus; Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda, No. 3 1 Hymn to the Dawn, Hymn to the Waters, Hymn to Vena – Gustav Holst; No Time – Susan Brumfield; Song of Perfect Propriety – Carol Barnett; Triptych 1.Threnody, 2. As We Remember Them, 3. From Heaven Distilled a Clemency – Tarik O’Regan; I Thank You God – Gwyneth Walker; Sisters (My Girls, No. 3) – Gwyneth Walker.
2013-2014: Hoj, Hura Hoj – Otmar Macha; Prayer of the Children – Bestor/Klouse; Invocation – Z. Randall Stroope; Alleluia (from “Songs of Faith”) – Paul Basler; Nigra Sum – Pablo Casals; Voice Dance – Greg Jasperse; I Am Not Yours – David Childs; Love is a Rain of Diamonds (from Songs for Women’s Voices) – Gwyneth Walker; Gaudete – Michael Engelhardt; Ain’t No Grave Can Hold My Body Down – arr.by Paul Caldwell & Sean Ivory; Autumn Leaves – Johnny Mercer/Joseph Kosma, arr. by Ryan O’Connell; Bumble Bee – Words and Music by Anders Endenroth; The Lake Isle of Innisfree – Eleanor Daley; The Moon is Distant from the Sea – David Childs; Hexenlied – Felix Mendelssohn; Tundra – Ola Gjeilo; To Be Sung on the Water – Samuel Barber; Anadyomene – Kevin Memley; Sicut Cervus – Giovanni Palestrina; Ngana – Stephen Leek; Revelation – Z. Randall Stroope; Lessons from the Sea – Gwyneth Walker.
