BRUNSWICK – The Oratorio Chorale, an auditioned community chorus of 60 singers under the direction of Peter Frewen, begins its 34th season with concerts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17, at the Second Congregational Church in Newcastle, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 18, at the Sacred Heart Church in Yarmouth.

Since its founding in 1974, the group’s mission has been to promote choral music of the highest quality throughout midcoast Maine. Over the years the group has attracted a dedicated audience and now draws singers from the Portland area up through Newcastle and Monmouth.

This season is a particularly busy one as the chorale, besides offering its usual three programs, also joins Ray Cornils in “Christmas with Cornils” at Merrill Auditorium on Dec. 18, and joins the Portland Symphony Orchestra in a premiere performance of Brunswick-based composer Vin Shende’s “Three Longfellow Poems” on April 13.

With their offerings in the November concerts, the chorale celebrates the 80th birthday of the great American composer, Dominick Argento, by performing his engaging and and passionate setting for chorus and piano concertante of Wallace Stevens’s “Peter Quince at the Clavier.”

Argento shares the program with two other luminaries of the music world as the chorale presents J.S. Bach’s “Jesu Meine Freude” and Tchaikovsky’s melodious secular songs rejoicing in the beauties of nature. Bridget Convey accompanies the chorale.

As a non-choral offering, Will Bristol, a 14-year-old pianist from Freeport, will perform the “Hungarian Rhapsody No. 13 in A minor” by Franz Liszt.

For more information call 207-725-1420 or visit www.oratoriochorale.org.