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Meet Ryan de Ryke
The baritone arias in Chorale’s upcoming production of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, as well as the role of Pilate, will be sung by Chicago-based Ryan de Ryke. Ryan has performed at many of the leading...
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Ellen Hargis, soprano, will sing with Chicago Chorale
Two years ago, Ellen Hargis sang the soprano solos in Chicago Chorale’s performance of Bach’s St. John Passion. Lawrence Johnson, in Chicago Classical Review, wrote, “Sunday’s performance…benefited...
View ArticleDa pacem Domine
Having laid our St. Matthew Passion to rest, Chorale now moves on to our spring project, Da pacem Domine. This will be a radical departure from the other concerts of our 2014-15 season: whereas both of...
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Centeno and Pärt, composers
Da pacem Domine, the title of Chorale’s spring concert preparation, is taken from a sixth century Gregorian hymn : Da pacem Domine in diebus nostris Quia non est alius Qui pugnet pro nobis Nisi tu Deus...
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The Americans
Chorale’s June concert program will include a cappella pieces by American composers Stephen Paulus (1949-2014), Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987), Jean Berger (1909-2002), Morten Lauridsen (b.1943), and...
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This spring’s early music
When putting our Da pacem, Domine program together, I did not intend to be dogmatic about chronology or style. Circumstances require that all of our selections be unaccompanied; theme dictates that...
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Eriksson, Olsson, and Rautavaara– our nod toward the North.
Chorale will not sing much Scandinavian or Baltic music on its spring concert, nor on its tour of the Baltic countries later in the summer. This is not our norm: we tend to sing a large amount of music...
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The rest of our June 13 program
Many American choirs—and their conductors—are head over heels with English choral music, of all historic periods, and with the English choral sound. Much of this music is indeed extraordinarily good,...
View ArticleExcelsior! Onward and Upward
Our musically and emotionally successful Da pacem Domine spring concert now behind us, Chorale faces a busy summer. Twenty-seven of our members will travel to the Baltic countries and present...
View ArticleBaltic Tour Concert Details– maybe you’ll be there to here us!
Wed 8 July KAUNAS Kaunas Basilica 7 PM Thur 9 July VILNIUS St. Kasimir’s 7 PM Sat 11 July RIGA St....
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Excelsior! Chicago Chorale begins its 15th Season
Chorale had an eventful summer. Our concert tour to the Baltic countries was an unqualified success– we sang in magnificent, acoustically rich venues, for standing room-only audiences; we ate wonderful...
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Our first rehearsal of the season
Chorale’s 1st rehearsal 2015 (Photo by Erielle Bakkum) Chorale held it’s inaugural rehearsal of the 2015-16 season last night! It was great to be together again, to catch up with one another, to...
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Kit Bridges, Chorale’s Rehearsal Accompanist
Kit Bridges – Photo by Erielle Bakkum A good rehearsal accompanist can be essential to a choir’s success, especially a larger choir, like Chorale. If the conductor is tied to the piano, constantly...
View ArticleReady… Set… RETREAT!
Each autumn, close to the beginning of the new season’s rehearsal period, Chorale holds a Saturday retreat, at which we eat three times, rehearse for about five hours, and have a chance to interact...
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Arvo Pärt at 80
Chorale’s November concerts are built around the music of Arvo Pärt, in honor of his 80th birthday. A third of our selections will be by Pärt, the other two thirds by composers associated with him in...
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A letter from Angela Grimes, Chicago Chorale’s board president
Join Chicago Chorale as we embark on our 15th season of sublime music making! This anniversary season we are offering you performances of exquisite a cappella repertoire, performed at the standard you...
View ArticleKnut Nystedt– an early minimalist?
Spiritual minimalism is a term used to describe the musical compositions of a number of late-twentieth-century and early twenty-first century composers of Western classical music. These compositions...
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A Good Potato
Norman Gulbrandsen I have been thinking a lot lately about my voice teacher, Norman Gulbrandsen, who died five years ago. Interestingly, when I think about mentors and teachers who had the greatest...
View ArticleRihards Dubra and Vytautas Miškinis
Some of the composers featured in Chorale’s upcoming Arvo Pärt at Eighty concert are veritable rock stars in today’s classical music world. Pärt himself, John Tavener, and Henryk Gorecki, have...
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Jan Sandström and Urmas Sisask
The era of spiritual minimalism has encouraged composers and performers to range widely, and to explore many sources—musical, religious, and philosophical– in search of inspiration. One recurring theme...
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