CARIBOU, Maine — Recordings of decades worth of local concerts by the Caribou Choral Society recently were transferred from cassette to CD, and on Nov. 16, the group’s director presented the discs to the Caribou Public Library.
Library Director Anastasia Weigle was thrilled to receive the music, adding that anyone interested in hearing the concerts will be able to borrow the CDs free of charge, much like a library book, regardless of whether or not they are a Caribou resident.
“A lot of choral society members are not from Caribou, so I asked if we could keep it open to everyone,” she said. “We will have a special card number when these are cataloged and if anyone wants to check them out, we’ll run it against the special card number so they don’t have to have a Caribou library card.”
Those interested in checking out the CDs will need to provide contact information, such as a phone number, so the library can remind them to return the discs.
Weigle also asked for and received permission to create a digital archive of the music, in case anything should happen to the physical discs.
The recordings go all the way back to the group’s first performance in the mid-1970s, which Choral Director Dan Ladner led and conducted.
“I was 40 when I started,” Ladner said. “Now I’m 80 and I’m still doing it.”
The Caribou Choral Society began in 1976 when the Bicentennial Chorus was still performing and Ladner was asked if he could provide music for a ceremony in which a young man was to be ordained a Catholic Priest at the Holy Rosary Church in Caribou.
“I thought, why not invite the Bicentennial Chorus,” Ladner said. “Their conductor just moved away, so I asked if they would sing, which they did.”
Ladner said that first concert was so much fun that the singers didn’t want to stop. Soon, a number of people began asking him if he would like to be their conductor. He was apprehensive at first, citing his busy schedule as an English teacher at Presque Isle High School, and suggested sharing the responsibility with a conductor who taught in Limestone.
However, the Limestone teacher backed out, leaving Ladner as the group’s only conductor.
“That Christmas, we met and changed the name to the Caribou Choral Society,” Ladner said. “We put out our first concert and I think there were more people in the chorus than the audience because of a snowstorm that night.”
“But the people wanted you to continue,” added Choral Society President Mary Warren.
Since then, they have continued to put on shows throughout The County, holding one hour-and-a-half long concert in the spring and another during the holidays.
Every one of those concerts was recorded to cassette, and Mary Lou Nelson kept every tape archived in her home.
Nelson approached the group about the tapes, and chorus member Mike Labbe of St. Agatha spent the summer transferring those tapes to CD.
“Some of those cassettes are four decades old,” Weigle said. “Wherever [Nelson] kept them, they were stored in a good place.”
While the choral society paid for the necessary materials related to the transfer, such as discs and cases, Labbe donated a significant portion of his time preserving the original tapes.
“There are 60 hours of music here,” Warren said, “all from local singers,” adding that Ladner has chosen every song in the collection, and continues to choose each song for the group’s performances.
“I try to choose something that’s challenging to both the singers and audience,” Ladner said.
“He chooses the most amazing selections,” Warren said.
Anyone interested in listening to the Caribou Choral Society’s work over the past four decades can stop by the Caribou Public Library on 30 High Street in Caribou.
