The New Dominion Chorale, headed by Tom Beveridge, offers a free concert next month at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. The choral group will perform “Yizkor Requiem: A Quest for Spiritual Roots” on Nov. 2. Photo courtesy of New Dominion Chorale

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The Washington area has many choral groups, who perform in some of the grandest and most historic venues in the nation. With 150 members, the McLean, Virginia-based New Dominion Chorale is perhaps the area’s largest such group.

Now in its 35th season, New Dominion Chorale will perform “Yizkor Requiem: A Quest for Spiritual Roots” at 4 p.m. on Nov. 2 at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.

“This concert is free — our gift to the community,” said the chorale’s founder and artistic director, Thomas Beveridge.

Beveridge composed the “Yizkor Requiem,” which premiered in 1994 at St. Mark Catholic Church in Vienna, Virginia.

The piece has since been performed about 30 times, including at Orchestra Hall (Chicago), Merkin Hall (New York), Washington National Cathedral (Washington, D.C.), and at the Kennedy Center with the Choral Arts Society and members of the National Symphony. The work has been recorded by The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.

“It’s hard work,” said Beveridge of producing the performance. At 87, he speculates that he will direct fewer performances of “Yizkor Requiem” in the future. But he intends to keep the piece alive as long as he can.

Beveridge, a retired master sergeant in the U.S. Army, spent 20 years as a bass soloist and staff arranger for the U.S. Army Chorus, based in Arlington, Virginia.

Upon his discharge, Beveridge stayed in the Washington, D.C., area, where his career as choral singer, composer and conductor grew. At one point, he was doing six jobs at once, including teaching voice, directing a chorale at George Mason University and serving as Chorus Master of the Washington National Opera.

Beveridge remains a prolific composer and arranger. Many of his 700 compositions and arrangements have been published, and he has received distinguished commissions from Harvard University, Harvard Divinity School, Union Theological Seminary, The Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation at the Library of Congress.

Beveridge lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife of 50 years, Meryle Secrest. She is the renowned biographer of artists and composers such as Salvador Dalí, Leonard Bernstein, Richard Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim. Her groundbreaking biography Princess Margaret and the Curse was recently published.

Prolific composer

Born in New York, Beveridge was exposed to music at an early age. He began playing the piano at six and sung professionally at age 8 at New York’s St. Thomas Church. He began composing music at age 11. By the time he entered Harvard University in 1955, Beveridge had written 75 pieces.

He was heavily influenced by his father, Lowell P. Beveridge, who served on the music faculty of Columbia University and was organist and choirmaster at Columbia’s St. Paul’s Chapel.

After his ordination as an Episcopal priest, his father taught at the Virginia Theological Seminary and served on the faculty of the Union Seminary School of Sacred Music.

Beveridge’s parents traveled to Israel, where his father studied at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem. Thus began his interest in the liturgical similarities between Judaism and Christianity.

His father’s death in 1991 inspired Beveridge to compose the “Yizkor Requiem.” The composition reflected his father’s influence by combining elements of the Jewish burial prayer (Yizkor) and the Catholic requiem mass, using a cantor speaking in Arabic and Hebrew and a chorus singing in English and Latin.

“The piece is unique,” Beveridge said. “It speaks very clearly, in a ritual way, to both traditions. I don’t know of another work like it.”

About the chorale

In 1991, Beveridge left the McLean Chorale Society, taking many of its members with him to form the New Dominion Chorale. From the beginning, the Chorale has had a no-audition policy.

“All of us choral directors in town were kind of aghast at first when we heard about the no-audition policy,” said Robert Shafer, artistic director emeritus of the City Choir of Washington. “All it takes is one loud, wobbly singer to ruin a work, but Tom’s group really sounds good.”

The New Dominion Chorale is also unique in its organizational structure.

“The group is a singer’s cooperative, with no paid support staff,” said New Dominion Chorale president and singer Rosemarie Hunziker. “All the members pitch in to set up the rehearsal hall, organize programs and get them printed, chauffeur soloists, recruit advertisers, and countless other things that it takes to put on a high-quality performance of great choral works.”

Many of the singers have been with the group for decades.

“My first rehearsal with the Chorale was the Monday after the 9/11 attacks,” Hunziker recalled. “It proved to be a lifesaver to have an escape when 150 or so of us could join together to do something that took our minds off the dark times we were living through. The group was so warm and welcoming that I’ve been a faithful member for 25 years.”

The Chorale will perform Handel’s “Messiah” (with soloists and orchestra), at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 14 at St. Luke Catholic Church, McLean, Va. For ticket information, go to newdominion.org.