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Home > Press FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE June 4, 2007
CHICAGO A CAPPELLA EMBARKS UPON LANDMARK COMMISSIONING SERIES
Acclaimed vocal ensemble will sing 14 performances at
five Chicago-area venues Chicago, IL — Chicago a cappella will commission five new works from three brilliant composers to celebrate the group’s fifteenth season in 2007-08. The acclaimed nine-voice ensemble will present these works in a season comprised of four different concert programs, performed in Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, and Naperville, IL. The 15th Anniversary Commissioning Series is exclusively sponsored by the Sara Lee Foundation and will bring to life new works by Rollo Dilworth, Stacy Garrop, and Tania León. Chicago a cappella introduces its new flexible subscription this year, which allows patrons to choose from among any of its fourteen performances when buying a four-ticket subscription. The group also moves to a new venue for three Chicago performances in 2007-08: the beautiful Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall at the Merit School of Music, a lovely concert hall with comfortable seating, warm acoustics, easy parking, and close proximity to restaurants in the vibrant neighborhood just west of the Loop. Chicago a cappella also adds a second performance in Naperville to its schedule, returning to the western suburb in December and February. The season begins with Days of Awe and Rejoicing: Hidden Gems of Jewish Music. Audiences will experience the riches of the a cappella Jewish tradition, including many rarely heard works. Superb settings from Chicago’s own Max Janowski are combined with selections from the very finest in contemporary Jewish music worldwide, in songs that reflect the high holidays just completed and the rich cycles of Jewish life. Inaugurating the 15th Anniversary Commissioning Series will be the first of two new works by Stacy Garrop. Garrop has received awards from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s First Hearing Composition Competition, and she was a finalist for the 2001 Rome Prize. She served as composer-in-residence of Chicago’s Music in the Loft chamber series, and Cedille Records will release a recording of her String Quartet No. 2 in 2007. Garrop’s works have been performed by the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Minnesota Orchestra, and the New England Philharmonic, among many others. Dr. Garrop is an Associate Professor in Composition at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. Days of Awe and Rejoicing will take place on Thursday, October 11, 7:30 p.m., at Gottlieb Hall at the Merit School of Music, 38 S. Peoria Street in Chicago; Saturday, Oct. 13, 8:00 p.m., at Pilgrim Congregational Church, 460 Lake Street in Oak Park; and Sunday, Oct. 14, 4:00 p.m., at the Music Institute of Chicago, 1490 Chicago Avenue in Evanston. Chicago a cappella will ring in the holiday season with Holidays a cappella: The Season of Light, a new collection of brilliant a cappella music for Christmas and Chanukah, focusing on the image of light as a beacon of hope. Audiences can expect medieval music, beloved spirituals, and new music from around the world. The 15th Anniversary Commissioning Series will continue with a second work by Stacy Garrop and the first of two new works by Rollo Dilworth. Dilworth is Director of Choral Activities at North Park University School of Music in Chicago. He studied composition with Robert Ray, Pauline Oliveros and Marta Ptaszynska. An active and respected conductor, educator, and clinician with engagements literally around the world, he is especially acclaimed for his masterful arrangements of African-American spirituals. Holidays a cappella: The Season of Light will take place on Sunday, Dec. 2, 7:30 p.m., at the Music Institute of Chicago in Evanston; Friday, Dec. 7, 8:00 p.m., at Fourth Presbyterian Church, Michigan Avenue at Delaware in Chicago; Saturday, Dec. 8, 8:00 p.m., at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Oak Park; and Sunday, Dec. 9, 4:00 p.m., at Community United Methodist Church, 20 N. Center St. in Naperville. In February, Chicago a cappella will groove on two very different musical styles in Romanticism and Rock ‘n’ Roll. Gems from the 19th-century Romantic tradition, including partsongs from Brahms, Schubert, Schumann, and the English Romantics, are paired with energy-filled charts from the first generation of a cappella doo-wop music in the ‘50s and ‘60s. The 15th Anniversary Commissioning Series will continue with a second work by Rollo Dilworth. Performances will be Saturday, February 9, 2008, 8:00 p.m., at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Oak Park; Sunday, Feb. 10, 4:00 p.m., at Community United Methodist Church in Naperville; Friday, Feb. 22, 8:00 p.m., at Gottlieb Hall at the Merit School of Music in Chicago; and Sunday, Feb. 24, 4:00 p.m., at the Music Institute in Evanston. As a season finale, Chicago a cappella will present Voces latinas, a colorful explosion of the finest a cappella choral music to come from Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal. The group will sing works filled with rhythmic vitality and harmonic beauty from brilliant Latino composers, including many little known in this country. The 15th Anniversary Commissioning Series will conclude with a new piece by internationally acclaimed composer Tania León. Born in Cuba and based in New York, León has distinguished herself in genres from orchestral music to opera, ballet scores and film projects. She has written choral music for Chanticleer and the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble, and her music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNow series. She has received composition awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chamber Music America, and the Koussevitzky Foundation, among others. She served as New Music Advisor to Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic and has appeared as guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic, L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and the Gewaundhausorchester (Leipzig), among many others. León’s opera Scourge of Hyacinths was given at the Grand Théâtre de Genève (Switzerland), and an aria from it was recently recorded by Dawn Upshaw. Voces latinas will take place Sunday, April 13, 2008, 7:30 p.m., at the Music Institute in Evanston; Friday, April 18, 8:00 p.m., at Gottlieb Hall at the Merit School of Music in Chicago; and Saturday, April 19, 8:00 p.m., at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Oak Park. Chicago a cappella Chicago a cappella has become known as one of the area’s most accomplished and innovative vocal ensembles. Spanning a repertoire from Gregorian chant to the Beatles and beyond, the group is acclaimed for its superb ensemble singing, fascinating programs, and intimate, engaging performances under founder and artistic director Jonathan Miller. Since 1993, Chicago a cappella has presented over 100 concerts in the Chicago area in addition to appearances in ten states and in Mexico. The ensemble has released six CDs, and its 2005 release, Eclectric, was hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “an overflowing cornucopia of choral delights…a testament to Chicago's rich musical life.” American Organist magazine recently praised the group’s “breathtaking ensemble and control [and] stylistic elegance...Chicago a cappella is a jewel in the crown of Chicago's musical life.” Flexible subscriptions provide four tickets good for any combination of concerts; subscriptions are $125 for preferred seating, $100 for general seating, and $80 for seniors (62+) and full-time students (23 and under). Subscribers receive advance online program notes, subscriber e-mail newsletters, an invitation to an Open Rehearsal, and a free Guest Voucher for any concert. Individual tickets are $35 for preferred seating, $28 for general admission seating, and $22 for seniors (62+) and full-time students (23 and under). For subscriptions, tickets, or a season brochure, call Chicago a cappella at (773) 755-1628 or visit www.chicagoacappella.org.
Calendar Editors, Please Note: Chicago a cappella,
Jonathan Miller, artistic director: 2007-08 Season ###
Chicago a cappella is partially supported by The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; the MacArthur Fund for Arts & Culture at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; a CityArts Program 2 grant from the City of Chicago Dept. of Cultural Affairs and the Illinois Arts Council; the Oak Park Area Arts Council, in partnership with the Villages of Oak Park, Forest Park and River Forest; and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. ### |
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