Monmouth Civic Chorus

The Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance was the Chorus's first performance in May 1950 at the Carlton Theater (now the Count Basie Center for the Arts) in Red Bank, New Jersey.

He added to the Monmouth Civic Chorus operetta repertoire and expanded its concert performances to new stages, among them the then-Garden State Arts Center with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra conducted by Henry Lewis.

Monmouth Civic Chorus received the ASCAP/Chorus America Alice Parker Award for the March 2007 world premiere of contemporary composer Jorge Martin's Stronger Than Darkness, an adaptation of his opera Before Night Falls, based on the memoir by Cuban dissident Reinaldo Arenas.

Dr. Brandau's arrangements are featured in the Monmouth Civic Chorus holiday concert performed annually in December, and on its CD, A Merry Little MCC Christmas, released in 2014.

Dr. Brandau prepared Monmouth Civic Chorus for a performance of Mahler's 8th Symphony by invitation at Carnegie Hall with the Canterbury Choral Society in November 2017.

Rare and contemporary music performed by Monmouth Civic Chorus includes: Among the choral classics performed by Monmouth Civic Chorus are: Guest artists featured in Monmouth Civic Chorus concerts and solo recitals include mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano Barbara Dever, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green, and soprano Angela Meade, who have all performed leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera.

Eric Einhorn, a director at the Metropolitan Opera and many other stages, directed Monmouth Civic Chorus in the premiere of Golden Gate, a musical by Richard Pearson Thomas and Joe Calarco.

Tony winner Victoria Clark led a master class for musical theater singers to benefit Monmouth Civic Chorus in 2009.

Monmouth Civic Chorus toured Central Europe in 1993, directed by Dr. Shapiro, and Scandinavia in 1996, under the baton of then-Assistant Conductor Steven Russell.