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The King’s Singers: 50th Anniversary Celebration

Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, Carnegie Hall

Acts

Bob Chilcott, Guest Conductor
King's Singers Reunion Concert

This evening celebrates the 50th anniversary of The King’s Singers with a reunion concert featuring past and present members of the noted British a cappella ensemble and the Distinguished Concerts Singers International. The program features works by Eric Whitacre, Billy Joel, and an anniversary commission by Nico Muhly conducted by King’s Singers alumni Simon Carrington and Bob Chilcott.

Repertoire to include:
Bob Chilcott – We Are (US Premiere), conducted by Bob Chilcott
Eric Whitacre – The Stolen Child, conducted by Simon Carrington
Bob Chilcott Thou, my love, art fair, conducted by Bob Chilcott
Hubert Parry – My Soul There is a Country, conducted by Simon Carrington
Bob Chilcott – High Flight, conducted by Bob Chilcott 
Eric Barnum - Moonlight Music, conducted by Simon Carrington
Bob Chilcott – En La Macarenita, conducted by Bob Chilcott
Nico Muhly – To Stand in this House, conducted by Simon Carrington
Billy Joel, arr. Bob Chilcott – And So It Goes

Simon Carrington, Guest Conductor
King's Singers Reunion Concert

This evening celebrates the 50th anniversary of The King’s Singers with a reunion concert featuring past and present members of the noted British a cappella ensemble and the Distinguished Concerts Singers International. The program features works by Eric Whitacre, Billy Joel, and an anniversary commission by Nico Muhly conducted by King’s Singers alumni Simon Carrington and Bob Chilcott.

Repertoire to include:
Bob Chilcott – We Are (US Premiere), conducted by Bob Chilcott
Eric Whitacre – The Stolen Child, conducted by Simon Carrington
Bob Chilcott Thou, my love, art fair, conducted by Bob Chilcott
Hubert Parry – My Soul There is a Country, conducted by Simon Carrington
Bob Chilcott – High Flight, conducted by Bob Chilcott 
Eric Barnum - Moonlight Music, conducted by Simon Carrington
Bob Chilcott – En La Macarenita, conducted by Bob Chilcott
Nico Muhly – To Stand in this House, conducted by Simon Carrington
Billy Joel, arr. Bob Chilcott – And So It Goes

Also Featuring:

The King's Singers, Special Guest Ensemble

Participating Groups

The Christopher Wren Singers

Choir of the University of Duisburg-Essen

BOUNDLESS vocal ensemble

Prosper High School Varsity Mixed Choir

Cantare Chorale of the Sierra Foothills

St. Louis University High School Varsity Chorus

Christ Episcopal Church Chancel Choir

Toronto Youth Choir

Eastwood Chamber Choir

Rhythmos Choir

The CharlieChords

Pilgrim Choir of First Congregational Church, Riverside

Cony High School Madrigals

Yreka High School Vocal Ensemble

CAPA Concert Choir

Chorus of East Providence

Holland Park School Choir

Sounds of the Southwest Singers

Ozark's Technical Community College Choral Ensemble

Swansea University Choral Society

Bel Canto Chorale

Les Petits Chanteurs de Laval / Le Choeur des Jeunes de Laval

Stellenbosch Madrigal Singers

Special Guests

Artist's Name

Bob Chilcott

Artist's Name

Simon Carrington

Artist's Name

The King's Singers

Participating Group Directors

Choir of the University of Duisburg-Essen
Hermann Kruse
Hermann Kruse, born 1966, studied Music and English at the University of Dortmund and has worked as a choirmaster since 1985. His teachers were among others Helmuth Rilling, Petr Eben, Michael Kibblewhite, Eric Ericson and former members of the King's Singers. Kruse repeatedly won several prizes at composition competitions. His repertoire now includes over sixty oratorical works from Bach to McCartney. From 2004 - 2011 he took a teaching position in choral conducting at the University of Dortmund.

The Choir of the University of Duisburg-Essen is a successful amateur choir for over 25 years with currently 140 singers. Since 2001 Hermann Kruse leads the choir. Contrasting programs like "University Choir Goes Latin", a musical program, the Brahms Requiem, Bernstein’s Candide, the Rutter Requiem, "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. "A Proms Night" in 2012, a “Caribbean Mass" or extraordinary projects such a live performance to the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean 2” show the variety of the choir.

The Christopher Wren Singers
Halla Walcott
Halla Walcott is a junior at the College of William and Mary. Her background in music is in vocal performance, as an alum of the Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Salem High School in Virginia. While her involvement in music is through this student-run group, her academic majors are Sociology and Education. This is her first year directing the Wren Singers, and is the first African-American director of the group in its 30 years at the College. She is also a member of No Ceiling, William and Mary's competitive collegiate a cappella group.

The Christopher Wren Singers are The College of William and Mary's oldest student-run a cappella group, dating back to the fall of 1987. They maintain a steady number of members of diverse majors and social classes, with very few actual music majors. They are a co-ed ensemble whose unique repertoire includes madrigals, spirituals, jazz, Gospel, contemporary choral pieces, holiday tunes and the like. They have performances throughout the academic year, including holiday and spring concerts. They often perform at churches and are available for hire to sing at special events. In addition, they tour in the spring, with such destinations reaching as far west as Texas and as far north as New York.

BOUNDLESS vocal ensemble
Vicki Blake Thompson
Conductor Vicki Blake Thompson began conducting in 1996 after a career as a dancer/choreographer. Vicki loves creating “choral theater” works combining choral music with spoken word and visuals. She taught at Bonners Ferry High School from 2001-2007 developing the program from a single 35 voice choir to 3 choirs, one of which, ARIOSO, was featured at the All Northwest MENC Conference in Portland, OR in 2007. She is currently conductor for the Bonners Ferry Community Choir, as well as an international touring choir SPIRITSONG, and the select ensemble BOUNDLESS which is included in this program. Her choirs have performed on every continent except Antarctica! Vicki is a graduate of Luther College where she also taught dance and toured frequently with the Nordic Choir, under the direction of Weston Noble.

BOUNDLESS vocal ensemble was formed in 2013. This ensemble of 8-10 performers creates evening length works of highly varied choral genres around themes incorporating spoken word, projected visuals, instrumentals, and movement. The ensemble is directed by Vicki Blake Thompson but performs without a conductor. Recent "choral theater" works have included "The Elusive Heart" which centered on the science, myth, and metaphor of the heart, and "Stardust" which explored the cosmos in science, story, and music and photography. BOUNDLESS is thrilled to be a part of tonight's performance with The King's Singers. The ensemble hails from Bonners Ferry, ID, a village of 2600 people nestled in a valley between three mountain ranges.

Prosper High School Varsity Mixed Choir
Aaron Tombrella
Aaron Tombrella is Director of Choirs for Prosper High School. He holds Masters Degrees in Educational Leadership and Music Education from the University of North Texas and Stephen F. Austin State University, respectively, and a B.S. in Bible and Music Education from Dallas Christian College. This is Mr. Tombrella’s 6th year to teach in Texas public schools, and 4th year in Prosper ISD. Students under his direction have won Sweepstakes awards at UIL Concert & Sight Reading and Outstanding Soloist awards at State Solo & Ensemble contest. One of his life’s joys is making music with his students every day!

The Prosper High School Varsity Mixed Choir was established in 2010 by then director, Connie Miserak. This auditioned group of men and women perform choral music of various styles ranging from Renaissance to Modern, with the majority of their repertoire a cappella. In recent, the varsity mixed choir has performed the Vivaldi Gloria with Southeastern Oklahoma State University, collaborated on a refugee awareness project involving Imagine Dragons, and has performed at the Morton H. Meyerson symphony center with the Dallas Youth Orchestra.

St. Louis University High School Varsity Chorus
Addie Akin
This is Addie Akin's 3rd year at St. Louis University High School. She has held other high school teaching positions in the St. Louis area and Tucson, AZ. Originally from Iowa, she holds a bachelor's degree from Belmont University in Piano Performance and Composition, as well as a master's degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona. Her choirs have consistently earned superior ratings at contests and festivals. She is also active as an accompanist, composer, and arranger.

Varsity Chorus is the top auditioned vocal ensemble at St. Louis University High School, an all-male Jesuit college preparatory institution. Ensemble members range from sophomores to seniors, and perform high-level repertoire, including everything from Renaissance to contemporary a cappella. Varsity Chorus has previously toured in Boston, New Orleans, Nashville, China, and more.

Cantare Chorale of the Sierra Foothills
Mariia Pechenova
Mariia Pechenova joined Cantare as Artistic Director in 2014. Ms. Pechenova holds a Master’s degree in Conducting from St. Petersburg State University, Russia. Her conducting experience includes work with professional choral groups and orchestras. Ms. Pechenova is Assistant Professor at Folsom Lake College, Folsom, CA and pianist and organist for traditional and contemporary services at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, El Dorado Hills, CA. She is a leading local authority in vocal training and performing arts. Ms. Pechenova serves on the Sacramento Valley Choral Coalition’s Board of Directors and is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, the National Association for Music Education, and a member of the International Federation for Choral Music. She has been awarded the title of “Laureate”, and has been the winner of the “Grand Prix” and “First Prize” at numerous European and Russian competitions. Mariia has assisted internationally renowned artists Vladimir Miller, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Elena Obraztsova, and conductors Yuri Temirkanov, Saulius Sondeckis, Alexander Sladkovsky, Andreas Spörri.

Cantare Chorale of the Sierra Foothills, founded in 1992, is a community chorus of mixed voices based in El Dorado County, California. Their mission is to bring quality choral music to their community and to provide a venue for aspiring musicians to develop and share their talent. The group includes singers from diverse musical and personal backgrounds--administrators, businesspeople, educators, engineers, homemakers, designers, medical professionals, and more. Singing a variety of styles of music—classical, madrigal, sacred, secular, folk, jazz, Broadway, spiritual, contemporary—with pleasure they share their voices and music with the El Dorado County community and beyond.

Toronto Youth Choir
Matthew Otto
Matthew Otto is an innovative conductor, educator, and performer. This season marks Mr. Otto’s fifth year as conductor of the Toronto Youth Choir and his seventh season with the Toronto Children’s Chorus. He has been privileged to direct the TCC Chamber Choir on tour, including Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, USA, and Spain. The Chorus has also premiered his treble arrangements of works by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Vaughan Williams. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Education at the University of Toronto, where his research interests include cultural identity as seen in the choral music of Canada, and choral music education in a pluralistic context.

Now in its fifth season, the Toronto Youth Choir is committed to providing young singers the opportunity to enrich their lives through the art of choral music. As part of the Toronto Children’s Chorus, the TYC is comprised of choristers aged 16 to 30. The ensemble offers exceptional opportunities to study and perform music as part of a world-renowned choral organization. This season, the TYC is honoured to perform a number of concerts, including the annual Toronto Children’s Chorus concerts at Roy Thomson Hall and the Toronto Centre for the Arts, a collaborative concert with Incontra Vocal Ensemble, and its first-ever tour - to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Christ Episcopal Church Chancel Choir
Rachel Root
Rachel Root received her DMA from the University of Washington under the mentorship of Abraham Kaplan and Dr. Geoffrey Boers, and she received a Master’s in Church Music and Organ Performance from Northwestern University where she studied with Wolfgang Rubsam. She has served as an Organist/Choir Director in many different church denominations, in Michigan, Washington State, Illinois, Texas, and Florida. Rachel chaired the Music Department at Trinity Lutheran College in Everett, Washington for several years, and for the past 8 years has served as Director of Music and the Arts at Christ Episcopal Church, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. She founded a School of the Arts through the church, which uses professional artists in their field to give quality training an instruction to children, youth, and adults. Under Rachel’s direction, The Arts at Christ Church, (which includes musical theater,) has striven to break through the barriers to personal creativity and exploration, to use art for spiritual growth, conversation, and community building.

The Christ Episcopal Church Chancel Choir has grown steadily through the years from its inception, as the church has grown to be the third largest Episcopalian church in the country. The choir sings regularly for worship services, and performs special concerts, and services throughout the church year. We are privileged to be able to offer student scholarships to music majors in local colleges, and high school students aspiring to major in music, to sing with us, through the Mallory Family Fine Arts Fund. We sing a diverse repertoire, both accompanied and a cappella works. Our specialty is singing newly created works by current composers. We recently commissioned an anthem by Bob Chilcott, “Epiphany,” which we premiered last January after a joint workshop with the University of North Florida Chamber Singers, under the direction of Cara Tasher. We are looking forward to hosting Dr. Z. Randall Stroope, in 2019, both for commissioning of a new anthem, and a 3 day workshop in conjunction with UNF.

Eastwood Chamber Choir
Tammy McMath
Tammy McMath is the head of the vocal department at Eastwood Collegiate Institute as part of their Integrated Arts Program.

Eastwood Chamber Choir is a auditioned based choir under the direction of Tammy Mcmath. This group has achieved a gold standard at both Musicfest Nationals 2015 & 2016.

Rhythmos Choir