With conductor, Harold Rosenbaum just back from his 14th European summer choir tour, the Westchester Oratorio Society is set to begin rehearsals on Tuesday, September 7th for its eighth season. Rehearsals are held each Tuesday from 7:30 to 10:00 P.M. at the Katonah United Methodist Church, which is located one block from Metro North at the intersection of Bedford/Woodsbridge and Edgemont Roads in Katonah. The chorus's president, Liz McDonald, invites new singers to "come and try us out." On Sunday afternoon, January 9, 2005, WOS will present two works: Benjamin Britten's St. Nicholas, featuring the Canticum Novum Youth Choir, and Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria. The group's spring concert, which will be held on Sunday afternoon, May 22, 2005, will feature Mozart's Requiem, a work the group's tour choir will perform next summer in Europe. WOS will perform both concerts at the Mary Lou Meese Theater in Bedford, NY, accompanied by the society's professional orchestra, which is led by Louise Schulman, co-founder of the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Named "Westchester's Best Amateur Chorus" in 2003 by Westchester Magazine, the group concluded this past season with an April performance of the Verdi Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the Brooklyn Philharmonic conducted by Mr. Rosenbaum. This past summer Mr. Rosenbaum toured southwest France, where he conducted The Canticum Novum Tour Choir in three concerts of the Durufle Requiem and several spirituals. He is currently organizing a two-week tour next July to the Czech Republic and to Germany. The first leg of the journey will feature three performances of the Requiem with WOS's tour choir, one which will be at the Dvorak Festival with the Dvorak Festival Orchestra. Interested singers can perform the work with WOS in May here in Westchester before taking it "on the road," or can simply sign up for the tour and rehearse in June. The second part of the journey will focus on professionally led tours to Leipzig and Berlin. Singers should feel free to contact Mr. Rosenbaum at 914-763-3453 with questions about the tours. Non-singers are also welcome on these trips.