Dartmouth director takes the Greater New Bedford Choral Society to new heights

When Dartmouth resident Brian Dean Sousa was growing up in New Bedford, he was drawn to music — first to instrumental then to choral.

“By the time I was in high school I was in the marching band, the concert band. I was in the pit band for the musicals. I was in the jazz band,” he said.

But despite the depths of his involvement in the area’s music scene, it wouldn’t be until years later that he discovered the Greater New Bedford Choral Society and became its new director.

“It’s such an interesting group of people,” Sousa said. “We have retired people, we have working people. We had students, you know, it's just a wonderful cross section of Americana.”

He added, “You get together these people from all different backgrounds, and all the differences get laid aside, and we create something beautiful together,” noting that there’s “nothing else like this in the world.”

Founded in 1964, the Greater New Bedford Choral Society used to collaborate with other area music organizations like the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.

“I'd like to get us to the point where we could do that again,” Sousa said

He noted that the Choral Society has a rich history and said that “upholding the great legacy and all the hard work of the people before us is important.”

Sousa called being the director a “privilege” but said it’s also “a large weight because I want to do it justice for how many years that they've been doing it.”

As the artistic director, Sousa selects the music, conducts the choir and gives suggestions about new things the choir could try doing.

He recently started a program where the choir sings at an assisted living facility every month. He also is looking to create an auditioned choir and to get high school students involved through an assistant program or competition.

“If there's a budding composer, I'd like to have a competition for all local … high schools,” Sousa said. “The great thing would be the work that gets selected after the competition would be performed, and the student conductor could conduct it, and the student pianist could play it.”

Now, Sousa and members of the Choral Society are preparing what will be Sousa’s first major program with the Choral Society, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 3.

The concert, called “250 Years: Music of America,” will be featuring songs a lot of people will know, such as “America the Beautiful,” “What a Wonderful World” and “Amazing Grace.”

With this concert set to be Sousa’s first with the Greater New Bedford Choral Society, Sousa said he wanted to create a program that would “appeal to most people.”

“This year with the 250th anniversary, I thought an American theme might be a good idea,” he said.

He added, “If someone sees a concert flyer, and it says ‘America the Beautiful’ or ‘God bless America,’ or something like that, it's going to ring a bell, and they'll be attracted to it.”

Since January, Sousa and the choir have been preparing for the show, working to create something "beautiful" that Sousa said would “resonate with people.” 

“It's really special when you are in the room, and you feel what it's like to be with the other people listening to it, and hearing the acoustic, or feeling the incredible bass notes of the organ while the choir sings at the top of their lungs,” he said.