Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers

On June 15, Fort Myers City Council awarded $150,000 in arts and culture grants. Of the 47 applicants this year, grants were awarded to 19 arts organizations, one group and one individual artist. The total awarded, $150,000, was the same amount the city awarded last year.

The Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers will premiere an extraordinary choral work titled “The Witness: Incidents of the War of the Rebellion.” The work was conceived by the choral group’s artistic director, Matthew Koller, and inspired by the memoir of his great-great, grandfather, James Waxler, about his time serving in the Union army during the American Civil War. The memoir’s message is as cogent today as it was when he wrote it in 1888.

The Fort Myers Symphonic Mastersingers has served as the region’s premiere choral ensemble for nearly two decades. The chorus performs a broad spectrum of…