Album Notes

'Beatitudes-Amidon Choral Arrangements' includes original compositions by the Amidons, as well as choral arrangements of: Christmas and Easter spirituals & hymns, African American spirituals and gospel, and miscellaneous American sacred and secular pieces. The singers on the CD are drawn from the incredibly rich singing communities of southeastern Vermont. First written for the Guilford Community Church '9 o'Clock Choir' these pieces are elegant and accessible; perfect for church choirs and for high school, college and community choruses.

Peter Amidon is a teaching and performing musician dedicated to traditional song, dance and storytelling. While he is a highly respected dance teacher and caller, and, with his wife Mary Alice, a popular workshop leader and performer of programs of stories and songs, many folks know Peter best as an inspiring leader of group harmony singing and as a gifted choral arranger and composer.

Peter has led Sacred Harp and gospel singing at the Old Songs Festival and the Dance Flurry Festival for over ten years. He and Mary Alice lead annual week-long sessions of adult harmony camps in Vermont and Scotland. The Amidons have led harmony singing at many Country Dance and Song Society summer camps of traditional dance and song. Peter has been organizing and helping to lead the monthly Brattleboro area Sacred Harp singings for over 20 years.

Peter is a choir director at the Guilford, VT Community Church, and his choral arrangements, most of which were first written for the Guilford Community Church '9 o'Clock' Choir are being sung by community and church choirs across the U.S. and the U.K. Peter and Mary Alice Amidon were two of 25 Vermont composers commissioned to write original choral pieces for the Burlington based Social Band chorus.

Peter has been on several tours and recordings with Larry Gordon's Northern Harmony and Word of Mouth Chorus. He has collaborated with the New England Youth Theatre's Stephen Stearns, writing music, lyrics and piano accompaniment to three original musicals based on traditional folktales. The Amidons' album Hymns and Ballads is the most recent of the their many albums of songs for adults and children. The companion book to the 'Beatitudes' CD will be released in the spring of 2006.