Announcing our 2024-25 Season!
Our 24-25 season promises to bring you more of what you’ve come to expect from Kantorei: standards of the choral repertoire mixed with new and exciting voices, performed at the highest artistic level.
Highlights of our season include the world premiere of a new work we’ve commissioned from GRAMMY award-winning composer Christopher Tin in October. Chris will join us for these concerts, and I’ve invited him to conduct half of the concerts. We’ll be recording this program for our third internationally released album in January.
At the holidays, we’ll be featuring the talents of our collaborative pianist, Alicia Rigsby as we perform American composer Randall Thompson’s Frostiana featuring poetry of Robert Frost which includes his “Choose Something Like a Star” and “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Alicia will also accompany the choir in Eric Whitacre’s “The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus”, Ogden Nash’s poem about a boy who mocked the existence of Santa.
In March, we will split Kantorei in half to perform concerts of music for double and expanded chorus, including our dear friend, composer Terry Schlenker’s Mass for Double Choir. We’ll also perform the music of Brahms, Mendelssohn and, Healy Willan.
Our last concerts in May will bring the immigration and displacement crisis to light. Caroline Shaw wrote “To the Hands” combining texts and thematic musical ideas from Dietrich Buxtehude’s 17th century masterpiece, Membra Jesu Nostri with Emma Lazarus’ sonnet The New Colossus, famous for its engraving at the base of the Statue of Liberty. The poem’s lines “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are the inspiration for the title of these concerts. We’ll also perform the regional premiere of composer Melissa Dunphy’s N-400 Erasure Songs, a multi-movement work with texts derived from different sections of the N-400 Application for Naturalization (the form immigrants must complete to become U.S. citizens.)
I hope you are able to join us for the entire season. Please consider introducing us to some of your friends! To make that easy, we’re returning our season membership that gives you significant discounts to invite people into the Kantorei experience.
Joel
Join us as we kick off our 2024-25 season with a performance of Grammy Award-winning Christopher Tin's captivating choral music. The program features the ethereal Transfigurations with lyrics by Charles Anthony Silvestri, focusing on the transfiguration of light into life, life into dust, and the transfiguration of the soul. Also featured is the world premiere of a piece commissioned by and written for Kantorei. Christopher Tin will conduct half of this concert, providing a rare opportunity to see a composer lead his own works.
Experience Tin's signature blend of classical and world music influences, with sweeping melodies and texts in multiple languages. This concert promises an unforgettable journey through the composer's evocative musical landscape.
This time-honored annual tradition brings together Kantorei and the Meistersingers of Cherry Creek High School. We are always pleased to be joined by this excellent group of young singers, as we encourage them to pursue the gift of singing beyond their high school experience. We invite you to bring the whole family for a program of familiar songs of Christmas – you’ll want to make it a part of your own holiday traditions.
Celebrate the magic of the season with a festive concert featuring beloved winter classics and contemporary holiday gems. This enchanting program promises to warm hearts and kindle the spirit of the season.
Featured in these performances will be Randall Thompson's beloved Frostiana, a seven-movement work setting the poetry of Robert Frost to music. Thompson's lyrical, expressive style perfectly captures the essence of Frost's words, creating a musical landscape as vivid and evocative as New England in winter.
Also included in the program is Eric Whitacre's playful The Boy Who Laughed at Santa Claus, based on the poem by Ogden Nash; Ola Gjeilo's Wintertide, a hauntingly beautiful work that evokes the quiet wonder of a snowy landscape; and Sarah Quartel’s A Winter’s Day, featuring cello and piano.
Rounding out the program will be a selection of seasonal favorites, including traditional carols and modern holiday classics. From the jubilant to the serene, celebrating both the joy and the peaceful contemplation of the season.
This unique program offers a rare opportunity to experience multiple double-choir works in a single concert, providing insight into how different composers throughout the ages have approached the spatial and textural possibilities of two choirs in this challenging and rewarding format.
Featured in this concert will be Colorado’s own Terry Schlenker's Mass for Double Choir, a modern masterpiece that pays homage to the great polychoral traditions of the past while infusing them with contemporary harmonic language.
We will also explore Johannes Brahms' Fest- und Gedenksprüche (Op. 109), Healey Willan’s An Apostrophe to the Heavenly Hosts, and Felix Mendelsohn’s Heilg.
Whether you're a longtime choral music enthusiast or new to the world of antiphonal composition, this concert promises to be a memorable exploration of the rich possibilities of the human voice.
In this powerful exploration of human longing and belonging, Kantorei will perform Caroline Shaw’s To the Hands, a modern response to Dieterich Buxtehude's 17th-century work Ad Manus (also included in the program). Shaw’s piece touches on crucial themes of human connection, suffering, and compassion, often drawing parallels with current social issues, such as the refugee crisis. Also featured is Melissa Dunphy’s N-400 Erasure Songs, a multi-movement work with texts derived from different sections of the N-400 Application for Naturalization (the form immigrants must complete to become U.S. citizens), using the erasure technique - selectively removing words from existing text to create poetry.
Experience how these diverse works, spanning from Baroque to contemporary, address themes of humanity, compassion, and identity. Each piece offers a unique perspective on our shared struggles and aspirations. Join us for a performance of moving choral music that speaks to the human condition and our collective yearning for connection and understanding.
