Who We Are

The Bagaduce Chorale’s mission is to perform choral music at the highest artistic level. We are dedicated to building a musical community, fostering a deeper interest in the choral arts, and achieving choral excellence to enrich and inspire both audiences and performers.
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Where We Perform

We perform throughout Hancock County, with performances  at the First Congregational Church in Blue Hill, Ellsworth High School,  among other venues. We perform two concert seasons each year with a holiday concert in December and a spring concert in May.
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Our History

  Founded in 1974, the Bagaduce Chorale is an auditioned chorus of 80 to 90 singers. Members come from throughout downeast Maine and range in age from high schoolers to seniors. Under music director Bronwyn Kortge, the Chorale performs both classical and contemporary choral works in concerts featuring keyboard accompaniment and  musical ensembles.

The Chorale was founded by our beloved Mary Cheyney Gould and a group of dedicated and passionate volunteers, to whom we are eternally grateful. We hope to always honor these deep roots nurtured for so many years by Mary and Marcia Chapman.

Bronwyn Kortge
Director

Bronwyn is a graduate of American University in Washington, D.C., where she earned a bachelor of music in vocal performance and conducting. For twenty-three years she has directed the vocal ensembles at Mount Desert Island High School. For the past twenty years she has been the director of the Bagaduce Chorale. She is sought-after as a vocal coach and as an audition and performance adjudicator and clinician. 

As a soloist, she performed Carmina Burana in 2002, and Haydn Little Organ Mass and Durufle Requiem in 2009 with the Mount Desert Summer Chorale. Ms. Kortge has performed extensively in oratorio, operetta and musical theatre for organizations in Hancock and Penobscot Counties, including Laurie in Oklahoma, Maria in The Sound of Music, Mabel in The Pirates in Penzance, Yum-Yum inThe Mikado, and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore.

Board of Directors
Richard Shute, Interim President
Nancy Lowry, Vice President
Sandra Henderson, Treasurer
Claire Daniel
Gerry Freeman
Julia Gilmore
Eliza Hill
Linda Soukup
​Susan Loomis, ex-officio
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Douglas Beck
Accompanist
Douglas studied at the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University, earning Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees in Organ Performance and studying choral conducting, piano, and harpsichord. He earned a Master of Divinity from the Atlantic School of Theology, Halifax, graduating with honors.

Douglas has been making music in public since the age of four, debuting as a singer with his mother as his piano accompanist. His early talent soon developed into keyboard artistry. Douglas is also a folk harpist. Performing has taken Douglas throughout the US, Canada, England, and Germany as a keyboard musician and choral conductor, including St. Thomas Church in New York, venues in Canterbury, Bristol, Oxford and London (UK), and Cologne, Germany. Over the years, he has served on numerous board positions with the American Guild of Organists and the Royal School of Church Music.

Douglas has served congregations in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington DC, Maine, and Nova Scotia in musical and clergy positions. He is the current rector of St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church, Blue Hill.