Joseph Haydn:Die Schöpfung (The Creation)

On April 22nd at 7:30pm in First Christian Church, the Bloomington Chamber Singers, under the direction of Musical Director Gerald Sousa, presented Haydn’s masterpiece, The Creation. A work of incomparable beauty and a personal statement of Haydn’s deeply religious faith, it reflects a belief in a world that is full of wonder and of a God who created life to be cherished and revered. There are few works in the repertoire that are as cheerful and optimistic as Haydn’s Creation—and from it performers and listeners alike draw joy, inspiration, and meaning.During his first visit to London in 1791-92, Haydn attended the annual Handel commemoration in Westminster Abbey where he heard over a thousand performers sing Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt. He was transformed by what he heard in Handel’s music, particularly the musical depictions in Israel in Egypt of the buzzing flies, hopping frogs, and violent hailstorms. Over the next few years he became increasingly drawn to composing a work on a similar Biblical scope. It was on his return to England in 1795 that the impresario Johann Solomon handed him a libretto that had been among Handel’s effects at his death. That text, most likely by one of Handel’s authors, combined passages from Genesis and the Psalms with a smattering of Milton’s Paradise Lost into an epic retelling of the story of creation. Haydn was immediately drawn to it, and composed the oratorio between 1797 and 1798, setting it to a German version prepared by his collaborator, Baron Gottfried van Swieten.The first public performance was held in Vienna in 1799 and was a remarkable success. The Creation was performed more than forty times in Vienna during Haydn's lifetime:  in addition, performances were mounted throughout Austria, Germany, and England, in Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, Spain, Russia and the United States.The oratorio is structured in three parts. The first deals with the creation of light, of heaven and earth, of the sun and moon, of the land and water, and of plants. The second treats the creation of the animals, and of man and woman. The final part describes Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, portraying an idealized love in harmony with the "new world.”BCS previously performed the work in 1990; it was Music Director Gerald Sousa’s first major concert with the ensemble that he has now led for 26 years. See also our program booklet and program notes.

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

Reviews: Chamber singers and university singers convey joyful, holy sounds

By Peter Jacobi | H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com | April 24, 2017How about that Haydn!They call him Father of the Symphony and Father of the String Quartet. They speak of him as a major influence on Mozart and Beethoven. And as one listened to a performance of his oratorio “The Creation” on Saturday evening, the thought struck: Haydn was a true citizen of the Enlightenment.His outlook on life must have been positive, optimistic, cheerful. Listening to “The Creation,” the text prepared for the oratorio by Gottfried van Swieten, the music Haydn attached to the words, one is enveloped by an ebullience that expresses faith, hope and love. One leaves the venue in which it is performed — in this case, Bloomington’s First Christian Church — with a smile, having been surrounded for close to two hours with joyful music: music that says God is good, the creation of the Earth is good, nature is good, the introduction of humankind into this stupendous act of breathing life into the cosmos is good.

Of course, a score of such breadth and length requires a performance that stresses jubilance, embodies artistic belief and features musical excellence. All that came to be, what with the Bloomington Chamber Singers and their longtime conductor, Gerald Sousa, at the center of the action. When Sousa and his chorus are involved in a project, one has come to expect high quality, and high quality there was, not only from his carefully trained community choir but from the five soloists he chose and from the orchestra he put together.Maestro Sousa often stimulates his musicians to work beyond expectation. That he did once again on Saturday. The chorus sang with superb clarity, with solidity and beauty of tone. When “the heavens proclaim the glory of God,” the singers did proclaim. When the libretto stated that “the Lord is great,” the statement rang gloriously. When, at oratorio’s end, the chorus is asked, “Sing to the Lord, all voices,” the voices surely did.So, too, when light came out of darkness and chaos, the orchestra established brilliant light, thanks to score and performance. When there were birds or creatures or waves or meadows or sun or moon, the orchestra dutifully and impressively shaped Haydn’s sounds.Praise must go also to the five soloists, each successfully selected, each a major contributor to the whole of the presentation. As the three angels — Raphael, Uriel, and Gabriel — baritone Christopher Burchett, tenor John Punt and soprano Ashley Valentine added drama to the performance. So did bass-baritone Rafael Porto and soprano Eunji Kim as they vocally portrayed Adam and Eve.All the elements worked. “The Creation” proved an auspicious way for the Bloomington Chamber Singers to conclude their 47th season....(link)

Auditions for our 2015-2016 seasonTuesday, September 1st and Tuesday, September 8th

Bloomington Chamber Singers will hold auditions for its 2015-2016 season Tuesday, September 1st and Tuesday, September 8th, from 5:30pm-7:00pm at the Universalist Unitarian Church, located at the corner of Fee Lane and the Bypass. Interested singers should have demonstrated experience in choral groups, have sung repertoire in a variety of languages in addition to English (typically Latin, German, and/or French), be able to follow a choral score, and be able to read a simple chorale or hymn. In addition, singers should be familiar with the basics of vocal production and techniques of singing in a choral ensemble. Singers are encouraged to bring a prepared piece to sing, although that is not required; an accompanist will be provided.For more information, feel free to contact Gerry Sousa, the group's Music Director, at gerry@gsousa.com.

Annual Community Messiah Sing

Now nearing its 28th year, this FREE Bloomington Christmas tradition draws hundreds of area singers (and listeners) who come together to sing Part One and the “Hallelujah Chorus” of Handel's beloved oratorio, Messiah. Conductor Dr. Greg Geehern, now in his 5th year as Assistant Director of Bloomington Chamber Singers, will lead the combined singers.Sunday, December 13th, 2015 at 7pm at St. Mark's United Methodists Church in Bloomington.Admission is free, but please bring a canned good to contribute towards a local food bank donation.

J.S. Bach: The Six Motets

 Our third and final concert this season was a musical tour de force: the six great Bach motets, BWV 225-230, presented complete, Saturday evening, April 23rd, 2016, at the First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington.John Eliot Gardiner, who arguably has performed Bach's choral works more extensively than any other living conductor and consisitently with universal acclaim, approaches these six compositions with what can perhaps best be described as a spiritual reverence. In the deeply personal notes that accompany his brilliant 2012 release of the motets [Gardiner/Monteverdi Choir: The Bach Motets (2012:Soli Deo Gloria)], he reflects on the profound place of the six motets in the repertoire:"Bach's motets constitute the most perfect, and in some ways the most hypnotic, set amongst his works. ... They grew out of a genre which the Bach family had cultivated for generations, and the formed the core repertory Bach expected all his pupils to sing and to master. ... Through their extraordinary complexity and density they make colossal demands of everyone who performs them, require stamina, exceptional virtuosity and sensitivity to the abrupt changes of mood and texture, as well as to the exact meaning of each word. ... Above all they can touch the listener as well as the performer, revealing Bach's essentially compassionate nature, his dance-like joy in the praise of God and his total certitude in the contemplation of death."We enjoyed sharing some of the most remarkable music left to us by one of the greatest minds of Western music. Our program booklet is here.

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

Singers triumph with Bach and new opera scenes

By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Apr 25, 2016The human voice was at stage center for two weekend programs: for the Bloomington Chamber Singers to celebrate The Six Motets of Johann Sebastian Bach on Saturday evening and for the Indiana University New Music Ensemble to introduce four new opera scenes written by IU students the night before.In the First Presbyterian Church, artistic director Gerald Sousa led his Chamber Singers through 80 minutes of probably the most difficult choral music Bach conceived, music written to praise and plead with his God, music with long stretches when everyone on stage, the chorus and the soloists, sings something different, yet music that miraculously and time after time comes together into one grand and glorious sound.Also miraculously, Maestro Sousa led his community chorus, his ensemble of part-time singers, successfully through this added assignment, just as he had done on three prior occasions this season: for the Coronation Anthems of Handel, the Sing-Along “Messiah,” and the Requiem Mass of Mozart.By tradition, that would have been the totality of the season’s performed repertoire and enough to prove the wonders conductor Sousa so often works with his ensemble. But when he decided his loyal band of singers deserved to take on an extra responsibility, his band happily agreed to follow along and to tackle those very taxing Bach motets.Lo and behold, the Bloomington Chamber Singers, guided by their leader, triumphed once again.Not only did they solve the technical issues, keeping all those strands of music under control, unified and balanced, but as is their way, they also sang with understanding and conviction.The understanding was supplied by mentor Sousa, who studies in depth his chosen scores and passes along his knowledge for use; he insists on the singers knowing what they’re singing, in this case with a grasp of how Bach served his God and why.The conviction comes from careful preparation and rehearsals.By the time they perform, they know their music well. They sing with assurance.And all that the Chamber Singers did on Friday. Bolstered by eight vocal guests, all graduate students in the Jacobs School, and by ten instrumentalists, they maneuvered through a beginning-to-end song expressing love for God, fear of God, trust in God, and faith that, when death comes, God and Jesus will be there to assuage sorrow and welcome believers into a glorious eternity.The words address all that, and Bach’s richly embroidered music sings to all that. Gerald Sousa and his musicians honored Bach and his motets by treating them with respect for their artistry and devotion for what they must have meant to Bach....(link)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:Requiem in d minor, K. 626Ave verum corpus, K. 618Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K. 546

On February 20th, 2016, The Bloomington Chamber Singers performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem, K.626.  The last, and possibly greatest choral work of the composer, the work was left unfinished; Mozart died before completing the Mass.   His pen stops poignantly, sadly,  after the first few measure of the  "Lacrimosa." And then there is only silence.Shortly after Mozart’s death, two of his students, Joseph Eybler and Franz Süssmayr, approached Constanze Mozart offering to complete the work. Constanze needed the money that the completed commission would provide, and thus gave both students permission to tackle the task. Eybler completed several movements but then felt he was unable to continue, so it fell to Süssmayr to complete the lion’s share of the finishing work, and he, therefore, is credited with bringing the work to the state where it could be actually performed. Nonetheless, it still is quite clearly a torso and not the work of the brilliant musician who conceived it and sketched its initial movements.Over the years, various editors and musicologists have published their own reconstructions of the work, some more successful than others. A number of years ago, BCS performed the Requiem using the relatively recent edition of Robert Levin, a reconstruction that was quite in vogue for a number of years.We performed Süssmayr’s edition, which most scholars and musicians now agree most honestly reflects Mozart’s style, techniques, and intentions.Also on the program was the Communion motet "Ave, verum corpus" and, as a prelude, the Adagio and Fugue in C Minor, K. 546.BCS Music Director Gerald Sousa, now in his 27th season, conducted the Chamber Singers and Orchestra in this masterwork concert. Our program booklet is here.
Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times:

2 moods of Mozart delight music lovers in weekend concerts

  • By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com

 ...More MozartThere was more Mozart on Saturday evening, but of very different mood. At the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, the Bloomington Chamber Singers performed the Mozart Requiem for what looked like a theater-filling crowd. That audience, too, responded favorably with a standing ovation for this always marvelously trained community chorus.

The group’s trainer, its conductor, its artistic director for the past 27 years, Gerald Sousa, did the expected once again. His singers seemed swept up by the sublime beauty of the music. They were in excellent voice attending to a masterpiece that Mozart did not finish before his death.Indeed, the commission to write the Requiem was, at first, not meant to be personal, but Mozart — increasingly ill and also spooked by how the assignment came to him from a mysterious figure that knocked on his door — started to believe he was writing it for himself. Later, it was discovered the strange figure worked for a noble seeking to have the music and take credit for it. But as he worked, he increasingly believed it as an ominous gift to himself.A student of Mozart’s, Franz Sussmayr, upon the composer’s death, agreed to finish the Requiem, based on sketches that Mozart left. And more often than not, the Requiem is heard in the finished-by-Sussmayr version. It was on Saturday with the enrichment of the radiant motet “Ave verum corpus.” Sousa drew his singers into the world of Mozart, his time and anguished mind, and they sang with solemn purpose and strength of spirit.They were joined by a quartet of soloists, all of them studying voice at the Jacobs School and all adding fine talents and devotion to the cause: soprano Ahyoung Jeong, mezzo Elisabeth Culpepper, tenor Thomas Drew, and bass-baritone Rafael Porto. The gathered pick-up orchestra sounded not “pick-up” at all; the instrumental contingent added significantly to the high quality of the performance.(link)

George Frideric Handel:A Concert of Firsts

The Bloomington Chamber Singers opened our 46th season with an all-Handel concert Friday evening, December 4th, at 7:30pm at the First Presbyterian Church.The concert brought together some of Handel's most performed works, which also, remarkably, share the characteristic of all being "firsts."  Opening the concert were the magnificent four Coronation Anthems, Handel's first royal commission as a naturalized British subject, composed for the coronation of George II and Caroline in Westminster Abbey on October 11, 1727.   The four anthems are, as one would expect, brilliant and resplendent.  Set for chorus and orchestra (no soloists!), the works paint a stunning aural picture of the world of pomp and ceremony that accompanied the royal coronation of the British monarchy in the eighteenth century.  Also on the program was the psalm setting Dixit Dominus, one of Handel's first choral compositions, composed in 1707 when he was twenty-two years old and had just arrived in Italy.  Dixit Dominus is a choral tour de force,  and shows the choral genius of the composer from the outset--a work full of complex counterpoint, dramatic word painting, and rich textures.  The final work on the program was the joyful occasional work, the Utrecht Jubilate ("O be Joyful"), one of Handel's first compositions in English, composed for the Peace of Utrecht and performed at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 7, 1713. Our program booklet is here.

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

Uplifting holiday music and amplified sounds

  • By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com

Outside the First Presbyterian Church on Friday evening, it was raw and gloomy; a fog had settled in. Inside, the atmosphere was quite the opposite; the church was brightly lit and the music was joyous and triumphant.Conductor Gerald Sousa, his 51 courageous Bloomington Chamber Singers, an orchestra of 22 and five soloists filled the air with gorgeous music written by George Frideric Handel to mark celebrations: the four Coronation Anthems for the ascendance to the throne of George II in Westminster Abbey; the “Dixit Dominus” for a Roman Catholic Church patron while, as a young man, he lived in Italy, and the “Utrecht Jubilate,” conveniently composed as diplomats finalized a peace treaty at Utrecht to end the War of Spanish Succession.From the opening strains of “Zadok the Priest,” the first of the four anthems, the choir sang with clarity and power. There could be no question about the purpose for the music. Sousa and his collaborators captured the jubilation Handel sought to depict for those celebratory occasions.

For a Bloomington audience in 2015, it seemed appropriate to hear jubilant, upbeat music, this not only to mark the holiday season but to balance the grief and chill coming out of San Bernardino. The Coronation Anthems had a royal and also ecclesiastic tone. “Dixit Dominus” was Handel’s call to Vespers. The “Utrecht Jubilate” uses Psalm 100 to state its case: “O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: serve the Lord with gladness and come before his presence with a song.” Adding to the musical excellence were the soloists: sopranos Elizabeth McConnaughey and Daisy Schon, countertenor Andrew Rader, tenor Nicholas Fitzer, and bass-baritone Daniel Thomas Lentz. But the hardest workers were the members of the chorus, the chamber singers, who mastered Handel’s style and hardly ever stopped singing. It is our good fortune to have a community choir consistently challenged by its conductor and music director....(link)

Adams: On the Transmigration of Souls (2002) Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem

 

Click here for a press release (PDF) of information about this concert!

Saturday April 18th 7:30 P.M. @ ECC Church

 Bloomington Chamber Singers presented the Indiana premiere of John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls, and Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, on Saturday, April 18 at 7:30 PM.  The concert was presented at the Evangelical Community Church, 503 South High Street, Bloomington, Indiana.  Gerald Sousa, in his 26th year as Artistic Director of the Chamber Singers, conducted the choral ensemble, treble chorus, and orchestra. 

When the New York Philharmonic approached John Adams in January 2002 about creating a work to commemorate the lives lost during the September 11th attacks, the composer remembers saying “yes” without any hesitation.  He had good reason to refuse; normally a commission as large as this would come at least a year in advance but this would need to be completed in less than six months. What emerged was a sound-collage that mixes a large orchestra, mixed choruses, and pre-recorded sounds and spoken phrases recalling those who perished in the attack.   Adams' intention was that the work would go beyond the actual event to summon human experience on a universal level.  For that reason he refers to his work as a “memory space,” a soundscape for each listener to go and be alone with thoughts and emotions.    Adams received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in music for the piece.

Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem stands undisputed as one of the most revered works in the choral-orchestral repertoire.  The work’s reputation is based not only on its remarkable musical construction, but also on the inspired text, which Brahms assembled from carefully-selected Biblical passages.  Brahms’ intention was, like Adams’, to create a “universal” expression—a work profoundly spiritual yet non-denominational that reaches beyond the walls of churches to offer solace and hope to those confronting grief and loss.  

 

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times:

Reviewer hears an excellent Requiem

By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Apr 20, 2015Two very different works dealing with grief and consolation were objects of attention for the Bloomington Chamber Singers during their Saturday evening concert in the spacious and nearly filled Evangelical Community Church,Artistic director and conductor Gerald Sousa led his vocal ensemble, along with an added Women’s Chorus, and a full-scale orchestra, in a program that included John Adams’ 21st century “On the Transmigration of Souls” and the mid-19th century “Ein Deutches Requiem” (“A German Requiem”) of Johannes Brahms, works as dissimilar as two compositions could be but both certainly capable of capturing the emotional heart of most any listener.The Adams piece was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, which premiered the work in September 2002, a year after the tragedy of 9-11, an event it was designed to remember. The composer said his work was not meant to be a memorial but a “memory space,” a private place one could escape into for contemplation. As for the transmigration of souls, he said he was honoring those souls suddenly moved from life to death, the victims, and those suddenly left behind, souls forever changed by the loss.The score does not call for grandiose or eloquent statements. Rather, it offers street sounds of a day at first normal and then chaotically abnormal. One hears traffic. One hears voices, electronically produced before the concert, emoting human thoughts from that horrendous day: “Missing,” “Missing: Jennifer de Jesus,” “Missing: Manuel Damotta,” “Jeff was my uncle,” “A silver ring, his middle finger,” “Shalom,” “The father says, ‘I am so full of grief; my heart is absolutely shattered,’” “My sister,” “My brother,” “I love you,” and more. The chorus and the orchestra, meanwhile, weave a pattern of sounds: from quiet to shattering and back again and again and again, from calamity to calm and also back again.The impact on this listener was considerable, not only because of memories brought back but because “On the Transmigration of Souls” packed an artistic wallop dramatically shaped by composer Adams and lovingly, thoughtfully filled in by Maestro Sousa and his performing colleagues.How different the sounds produced for Brahms’ magnificent “German Requiem,” a work of sublime choruses and profuse lyricism. The death of the composer’s mother had been an early reason to write the piece, one that took time-and-again rethinking and rewriting across a span of years. In the process, Brahms told a friend he should have titled the Requiem “Human” rather than “German.” He used quotations from the Bible as his libretto, which contributes to the work’s universality, something larger, broader, deeper than just a German context.The Brahms Requiem is not new territory for Sousa and his chorus. They’ve done it a before; they’ve even recorded an earlier performance. But on this occasion, there seemed a loftier sense of communion than previously, a conductor and his musicians driven by hard work and conviction to delve more vigorously into the beauties and significance of this profound masterpiece. They must have done so, because one heard an excellent Requiem. Singers and instrumentalists did nobly, as did two fine soloists: soprano Wai-Yin Li and baritone Reuben Walker.Conductor Sousa put together a memorable concert....(link)

Our 2014-2015 season

Our 2014-2015 season will open Saturday evening, November 15th, at 7:30pm in the First Presbyterian Church with a concert of 20th century French music. Included on the program will be Maurice Ravel's Trois Chansons, Francis Poulenc's Quatres petites prières de Saint François d'Assise and the composer's Huit Chansons Françaises. Also on the program are Gabriel Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine and Pavane, and Frank Martin's rarely-heard and delightful Chansons (1931).On December 14th, BCS once again will host a community sing-along of Part One and the Hallelujah Chorus of Handel's beloved Messiah, a long-standing Bloomington holiday tradition.On Friday and Saturday, April 17th and 18th, 2015, Gerald Sousa will conduct the chorus and orchestra in Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem. We thank all of our friends, donors, sponsors, and singers past and present for making BCS the well-supported and respected organization it is. We hope to see you at our concerts this year!

20th Century French Choral Masterworks

Bloomington Chamber Singers, an auditioned choir of community members and students, performed a unique concert of twentieth-century French choral music at First Presbyterian Church in Bloomington on November 15. Gerald Sousa, in his 26th year as Artistic Director of the Chamber Singers, conducted the fifty-voice choral ensemble, soloists, and instrumental accompanists.The program of works by French masters Ravel, Poulenc, Faure, and Martin was designed to delight and surprise the audience. From somber tales of lost lovers to witty, fast-paced chansons about nymphs and sprites, the Bloomington Chamber Singers’ fall concert was an inspiring set of engaging music.Coming on the heels of a boom in artistic freedom in Europe, French composers of the first half of the twentieth century explored new types of voicings, new topics, and unusual harmonies to create some of the most enjoyable works of the choral canon. Audiences appreciated the fundamentally tonal and accessible melodies overlayed by creatively striking harmonic arrangements. Performed by the always engaging Bloomington Chamber Singers, which sold out both performances of its Spring 2014 concert of Annelies by James Whitbourn, the November concert was a satisfying adventure for all who took part in it. 

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

24 choral pieces performed with some beautiful singing

By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Nov 18, 2014Come April, and the Bloomington Chamber Singers will offer two performances of the Brahms “German Requiem” and John Adams’ September 11-commissiond choral work, “On the Transmigration of Souls.”Big pieces for this hard-working community choir to undertake, just as is the annual “Messiah Sing Along,” coming up soon to mark the Christmas season. BCS members, however, are used to challenges. They expect music director and conductor Gerald Sousa to supply them.On Saturday evening, in Bloomington’s First Presbyterian Church, at the ensemble’s fall concert, the music sung was of a different, less grandiose nature: for change of pace, an 80-minute program of 20th century French choral masterworks. Into those 80 minutes, Maestro Sousa packed 24 compositions, the last one an encore.Think of it: 24 choral pieces, a program of short items versus big ones. Now, please consider. Mastery of a major work is, indeed, a major accomplishment; it generally brings cheers and bravos. But consider that, for the weekend concert, conductor and chorus had to prepare 24 different works, each package of music and words a little world in itself. What about that as a challenge?For example, to begin, Sousa selected “Trois Chansons” by Maurice Ravel: “Nicolette,” who chose money over the fields of her youth; three birds of paradise casting magic at a time of war, and “Ronde,” a patter song about “the woods at Ormond,” overrun with satyrs, centaurs, and other devilish creatures. Each Ravel song contains scene, characters, and action; they need to be carefully established and were.Gabriel Faure’s “Cantique de Jean Racine” requires music that suits these words: “Pour on us the fire of your powerful grace so that all hell flees at the sound of your voice.” Lili Boulanger’s “Hymne au Soleil” expresses the triumph of each day’s “reborn sun” rising in splendor.The concert included a dozen songs by Francis Poulenc. A few of them praise God. Most of them tell a story: about little girls dancing in a ring on a lovely Sunday; about Margoton going to a well and falling to the bottom, only to be saved by “handsome lads;” about the “prince’s little daughter who wishes to marry” tells a serenader that her “heart is full of tears because you have captured it.”Other composers given attention were Frank Martin and Pierre Villette. As a package, the chosen works provided a listener with a rich representation of French choral music in the 20th century, some of it lyrical and harmonic, some of it dissonant, some of it rousing, some of it in a variety of styles. Conductor Sousa had captured essences which, master musician that he is, he instilled in his singers. One heard some beautiful singing, to which assistant conductor and accompanist Gregory Geehern effectively added instrumental context on the piano.(link)

Annelies

Bloomington Chamber Singers presented the regional premiere of James Whitbourn’s Annelies on Saturday, April 12 at 7:30pm, and Sunday, April 13 at 3pm, in a site-specific performance at The Warehouse, 1525 S. Rogers Street, Bloomington. Gerald Sousa, in his 25th year as Artistic Director of the Chamber Singers, conducted the sixty-voice choral ensemble. The role of Anne Frank was sung by Elizabeth Toy, a professional soprano completing her doctorate in voice at the Jacobs School.  Joining Sousa and Toy was a distinguished quartet of chamber solo musicians who provided the instrumental foundation for Whitbourn's remarkable score.British composer James Whitbourn’s Annelies is the first adaptation of the Anne Frank's diary into a major choral work.  Whitbourn, a graduate of Magdalen College, University of Oxford, began his musical career in the BBC, for whom he has worked as composer, conductor, producer and presenter. His compositional output has achieved acclaim for its direct connection with performers and audiences worldwide and for its ability to “expand the experience of classical music beyond the edges of the traditional map of classical styles."  Several seasons ago, BCS performed to great acclaim Whitbourn’s Son of God Mass, scored for the unique and remarkably effective sonority of chorus, organ and soprano saxophone.Whitbourn originally conceived of Annelies as a work for chorus and large orchestra, and it had its first complete performance in that version on 5 April 2005 in London, conducted by Leonard Slatkin.  Following that performance, Whitbourn rescored the work as chamber music, replacing the orchestra with a quartet of violin, clarinet, cello, and piano.  In its recast form, the work takes on a intimate, transparent, and vulnerable quality, poignantly reflecting Anne's isolation and inner struggles as she confronts her loneliness and fear,  all the while seeking to retain her trust in hope, truth, and goodness.Annelies is structured as a sequence of fourteen chronological vignettes, beginning with the Franks’ plan to go into hiding, and ultimately ending with their capture and final transfer to the concentration camp.   The diary itself, and Whitbourn’s intensely expressive musical vocabulary, inspire profound reflections on issues that are universal and relevant in our time.   BCS presented Annelies as a dramatic, multimedia work, with hundreds of images projected during the course of the work, compiled and sequenced by BCS Artistic Director Sousa.  The venue for the evening, The Warehouse, is just that—a huge warehouse in Bloomington that was in the process of being converted into a youth center.  The open expanse and stark atmosphere of the vast space was chosen specifically to provide an immersive environment for Whitbourn's music.   Our work on Annelies has fostered a number of collaborations with other local and regional groups, including local schools, religious organizations, and the Candles Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Terre Haute, which loaned exhibit material that was displayed before and after the performances.The 65-minute work was performed in English with supertitles without an intermission.

Annelies Reviewed

Peter Jacobi, Arts Reviewer for the Bloomington Herald-Times, wrote the following (April 15, 2014):For 24 years, Gerald Sousa has challenged the Bloomington Chamber Singers with musical assignments that should have been beyond their abilities. After all, the choir consists of amateurs who give of their time and energy after hours in an endeavor set apart from their professional pursuits and qualifications....At the center of the performance was Elizabeth Toy, a soprano from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, whom many of us have seen in IU Opera Theater productions. She was this production’s Annelies, and she was remarkable in projecting, through music and manner, the unquenchable faith that this young girl exhibited throughout the years of hiding, the innate goodness she sustained right to the end, when the world around her turned into horror and hell. Toy’s voice embraced the role, both Anne’s engaging youth and the beyond-her-years maturity that circumstances forced upon her.Sousa’s devoted choristers sang with tremendous fervor and cast a spell unbroken until, after the final notes and a long silence, the applause rang out.The instrumentalists — violinist Muriel Mikelsons, cellist Adriana Contino, clarinetist Iura de Rezende and pianist Alice Baldwin — were marvelous, adding to the sought-for moods demanded by story and music.A remarkable occasion!(link)

Annual Community Messiah Sing

Now nearing its 26th year, this FREE Bloomington Christmas tradition draws hundreds of area singers (and listeners) who come together to sing Part One and the “Hallelujah Chorus” of Handel's beloved oratorio, Messiah. Conductor Dr. Greg Geehern, now in his 4th year as Assistant Director of Bloomington Chamber Singers, will lead the combined singers.This year BCS will offer two opportunities to experience this great work:Sunday, December 22nd, 2013 at 3pm at Nashville United Methodist Church in Nashville; andSunday, December 22nd, 2013 at 7pm at St. Mark's United Methodists Church in Bloomington.Admission is free, but please bring a canned good to contribute towards a local food bank donation.

We sing of Winter, of Joy, and of Hope

Bloomington Chamber Singers presented a holiday offering with two performances of We Sing of Winter, of Joy, and of Hope, on Saturday, December 7 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, December 8 at 3:00 PM, at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, 100 North State Road 46 Bypass, Bloomington. Gerald Sousa, in his 25th year as Artistic Director of the Chamber Singers, conducted the sixty-voice choral ensemble, soloists, and orchestra.  The concert began with winter carols from the 21st century, representing the best of contemporary British and American composers.  It ended with more traditional songs of the season from around the world, chosen for their unique choral arrangements and brilliance of orchestration.  The centerpiece of the concert was Ottorino Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity, an Italian work from the early 1900’s that beautifully tells the story of the birth of Christ from the viewpoint of shepherds and angels. 

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

Concerts beautifully sung

By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Dec 10, 2013For devotees of choral music, Saturday brought a cornucopia of pleasures. In the afternoon, William Jon Gray led the Indiana University Oratorio Chorus, organist Mason Copland and a brass/percussion ensemble in a festive program given the appropriate title of “Holiday Fanfares.” In the evening, conductor Gerald Sousa, his Bloomington Chamber Singers and an orchestra made good on a promise; the publicized label for the concert was “We Sing of Winter, of Joy, and of Hope.” They did....The evening eventIt was interesting to note, that not only did both Gray and the Bloomington Chamber Singers’ Gerald Sousa seek out holiday music for the most part not frequently heard or even widely known, but their selections included only one shared piece, the touching tribute to “The Lamb,” set by the British John Tavener to words of William Blake.The two performances turned out to be tributes to the composer as well; he died two weeks ago.Sousa divided his program, presented in St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, into three parts. First, the choir sang carols commissioned by King’s College at Cambridge University for its annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, works of contemporary composers like Tavener, John Woolrich, Jonathan Harvey, Bob Chilcott, Jonathan Dove and Arvo Part. Part’s joyous “Bogoroditse Djevo” (“Rejoice, O Virgin Mary”); Harvey’s “The Angels,” with its overlapping lines and harp enhancement, and two mellifluous carols about shepherds by Chilcott had particularly strong appeal, and the singers treated them insightfully.Part 2 was given to Ottorino Respighi’s 1930 cantata, “Laud to the Nativity,” a beatific work far different from the composer’s well-known and richly hued tone poems, “Pines of Rome” and “Fountains of Rome.” One can discern hints of very early music, that of the Renaissance and even medieval times, but the harmonies force the listener to remember this is 20th century music. The mixture works to evoke the mystery of the Nativity as experienced from the perspective of the shepherds. Sousa’s 52-member chorus sang almost rapturously, very much in support of the loving aura that Respighi’s score begs for.The Bloomington Chamber Singers concluded their concert with “A Christmas Tapestry: Carols for Choir and Orchestra.” Here, one heard more familiar tunes (“Ding dong! Merrily on high” and “The Twelve Days of Christmas”) and music from various lands: the Dutch traditional, “King Jesus Hath a Garden;” the Celtic “Child in a Manger;” a French carol, “Quelle est cette odeur agreeable” (“Shepherds, what is that lovely fragrance”); “The Shepherd’s Farewell” from Berlioz’ “L’enfance du Christ;” a stirring new carol, “All bells in paradise,” by the British John Rutter, and more. All were beautifully arranged and beautifully sung....(link)

Our 2013-2014 Season

Our 2013-2014 season includes the following repertoire:

DECEMBER 7 and 8, 2013
  • Ottorino Respighi's Laud to the Nativity
  • A selection of carols settings with orchestra by John Rutter and David Willcocks
  • Works about the season of winter by contemporary composers, including Giles Swayne, Arvo Pärt, Jonathan Harvey, Alexander Goehr, and Jonathan Dove

DECEMBER 22, 2013

  • Our 28th Annual Community Messiah Sing-Along (which attracts hundreds of singers each year)

APRIL 12-13, 2014

  • One of the first regional performances of Annelies, an oratorio composed in 2005 by the British composer James Whitbourn, with a libretto compiled by Melanie Challenger from The Diary of Anne Frank.

Bloomington Chamber Singers provides an opportunity for experienced singers to perform choral repertoire, including major works with orchestra, at a high level of musical excellence under the direction of a professional conductor.

J. S. Bach:Mass in b minor

Johann Sebastian Bach's monumental Mass in b minor is among the greatest artistic creations of Western music.  Vast in concept, profound in spiritual depth, and remarkable for the diversity and intricacy of its musical language and architecture, the work inspires musicians and listeners alike.As part of its ongoing commitment to cultivating artistic partnerships among regional arts organizations, Bloomington Chamber Singers engaged the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra for this production. A professional ensemble founded in 1999, the orchestra has rapidly become one of the region's most respected interpreters of seventeenth and eighteenth century music. We performed this magnificent music with instruments and timbres that reflect Bach's time and taste, and in collaboration with musicians who are specialists in the performance practices of this period. The two-hour work is scored for eight-part chorus and soloists, strings, winds, and brass. Its compositional techniques represent the mature genius of Bach, and are a compendium of his compositional styles. BCS Artistic Director Gerald Sousa, in his twenty-seventh season with the sixty-voice ensemble, conducted. Two performances were offered: 8pm Saturday evening, April 13th, and 3pm the next day, Sunday, April 14th at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church. 

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

Music review: Maestro, music and performers make Mass a highlight of season

By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Apr 15, 2013Halfway, an hour into Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor — after plentiful requests for God’s mercy (Kyrie eleison), expressions of praise (Gloria) and statements of belief (Credo) — the text turns to the emotional heart of the matter at hand: the descent from heaven of God’s son, made incarnate, the Crucifixion and Resurrection.Bach supplied three powerful multi-part choruses, the first somber, the second grief-laden, the third explosively jubilant. For the chorus, handling the technical details and interpretive responsibilities becomes not only formidable but critically imperative. There should be no musical lapses; there should, however, be an impassioned, even impetuous arc of moods.On Saturday evening in St. John the Apostle Catholic Church, the Bloomington Chamber Singers, ably aided and abetted by the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra and a handful of soloists, met the requirements, offering the close to venue-filling audience a commendably sensitive and focused reading of those central moments and, indeed, Bach’s full masterpiece. A second performance followed on Sunday afternoon.It was an act of courage on the part of Gerald Sousa, the longtime music director of the Bloomington Chamber Singers, to take on the B Minor. But that has been his intrepid way, determined always to treat his talented but part-time and amateur choir like pros. Give them a real challenge, he will tell you, and the singers will work diligently to conquer it.The Bach was chosen as this season’s major challenge, and conquer his choristers did. Not all was perfection, but expressive intensity rarely waned, and technical values earned high marks. As conductor, Sousa certainly seemed in continuing control, drawing from the musicians, the vocal and instrumental, their best, perhaps in some instances, then some.The choruses — from the brief and striking Kyrie that opens the Mass to the faith-affirming and jubilant “Dona nobis pacem” (“Grant us peace”) that ended it — were delivered persuasively. The Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, with numerous familiar faces for devotees of the Bloomington Early Music Festival and Indiana University’s Early Music Institute, was bedrock solid in support.The well-selected soloists included soprano Colleen Hughes, an IU Jacobs School of Music alum active as freelancing guest artist and now full-time elementary school music teacher; prominent countertenor Steven Rickards, currently on the music faculty at Butler University, and three advanced students from the Jacobs School: mezzo-soprano Jacquelyn Matava, tenor Travis Bloom and bass Daniel Lentz.When in the mix with the chorus or each other, they added expressive firepower. Those also assigned one of Bach’s harrowingly difficult arias, of which there are several in the B Minor, treated them with contextual respect if not always full vocal refinement and color, but then, few singers find full comfort handling this tricky material, Bach at his most intractable.In other words, shortcomings were minor. Indeed, with Maestro Sousa at the helm, performers and music fused this Mass in B Minor into a stirring event, one of the season’s high points.(link)

Annual Community Messiah Sing

Now nearing its 24th year, this FREE Bloomington Christmas tradition draws hundreds of area singers (and listeners) who come together to sing Part One and the “Hallelujah Chorus” of Handel's beloved oratorio, Messiah. Conductor Gerald Sousa, now in his 24th year as Music Director/Conductor of Bloomington Chamber Singers, will lead the combined singers and a chamber orchestra.This year BCS will offer two opportunities to experience this great work:Sunday, December 9th, 2012 at 3pm at the First Presbyterian Church in Martinville; andSunday, December 9th, 2012 at 7pm at St. Mark's United Methodists Church in Bloomington.Admission is free, but please bring a canned good to contribute towards a local food bank donation.

Come Sing With Us! Auditions announced for 2012-2013 season...

Auditions for new singers: Tuesday, September 4th5:30-6:45pm Unitarian Universalist Church (at the corner of Fee Lane and the Bypass)

Chamber Singers, the area’s premier vocal ensemble, will hold auditions for new singers interested in joining our 70-voice choral ensemble, now entering its 43rd season.Principal concerts for 2012-2013 include:•    November 10,  2012:   MASSES AND MADRIGALS—THEN AND NOW

William Byrd    Mass for Five Voices  (c. 1595)Arvo Pärt    Missa syllabica  (1977)Claudio Monteverdi    Madrigals from Books I-VIII  (1587-1638)Morton Lauridsen    Six Madrigali on Italian Renaissance Poems  (1987)

•    December 8,  2012

Our 25th Annual MESSIAH SING

•    April,  2013

J.S. BACH:  MASS in B MINOR, BWV 232with the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra

BCS, a 70-voice mixed chorus, is open by audition to experienced choral singers of all ages.  Interested singers should bring a prepared piece to sing; an accompanist will be provided.  Openings are available in all sections.  For questions or additional information, contact the group's musical director, Gerry Sousa (director@chambersingers.info).

Masses & Madrigals—Ancient & Modern

Over the ages, Western composers have turned repeatedly to certain musical forms.  The most enduring (and challenging) of these forms is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass.  Throughout the ages the Mass text has inspired some of Western civilization's most profound compositions.  Its secular counterpart was the madrigal, or partsong, a form that originated in Florence in the mid-16th century and quickly spread throughout Europe and England, where it influenced and transformed regional variants such as the French chanson, German lied, and English partsong.  Much of its great popularity came from the profound and emotional texts of contemporary poets that inspired composers, particularly during the late 16th century when madrigals reached their maturity.  Though the madrigal waned in popularity as the Baroque era blossomed, it has returned in recent years to attract contemporary composers, many of whom were drawn to the same great Renaissance poets that inspired the early madrigalists.Masses & Madrigals—Ancient & Modern, then, was a concert of comparison and contrast.  Two Masses anchored the two halves of the concert. The Mass for Four Voices by the English composer William Byrd (1539-1623) is one of the masterpieces of the Renaissance.  Its counterpoint is brilliant and clear, its textures mystical and evocative.  Estonian composer Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) is one of the most prominent composers of contemporary sacred music. His Missa syllabica is quite different in compositional style from Byrd's Mass, yet both works are anchored by a deep and profound spiritual conviction and respect for the text.Over the course of his life, the great Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) published nine books of madrigals. These remarkable volumes show a fascinating evolution from unaccompanied declamatory works found in the early books to a fully-realized concertato style in Book VIII, a style that reflects the use of continuo and the conventions of opera, a form invented by Monteverdi himself in 1607 that rapidly grew in popularity and swept throughout Europe during the 17th century. The contemporary American composer Morton Lauridsen (b. 1943) composed his Madrigali: Six 'Firesongs' on Italian Renaissance Poems in 1989. Lauridsen states in his preface that they are derivative from and indebted to to Monteverdi for their style and emotion.This was a fascinating exploration of the sacred and the secular, the old and the new. 

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

Singers give admirable concert

By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Nov 12, 2012...The Bloomington Chamber Singers opened their season Saturday evening in a packed First Christian Church, fully ready to regale those present with “Masses and Madrigals, Ancient and Modern.”The challenging program split not only the musical fare but the chorus.Part 1, pre-intermission, was devoted to the 1593 Mass for Four Voices by British composer William Byrd and selected madrigals of Claudio Monteverdi, dating from late in the 16th century to early in the 17th. BCS music director Gerald Sousa led that part of the program, using about two dozen of the choir’s singers.After intermission, assistant conductor Greg Geehern guided a somewhat larger contingent through the 1996 “Missa Syllabica for Chorus and Organ” of Arvo Part and selections from Morten Lauridsen’s 1987 “Madrigali: Six ‘Firesongs’ on Italian Renaissance Poems.”Mood was a dominant feature throughout: urgently somber in Byrd’s contrapuntal Mass, with its transcendental ending; the Monteverdi madrigals, so laden with imagery as the singers evoked rapturous romance or tormented love; the Estonian Part’s restrained modern extension of the Renaissance Mass, its traditions distinctly modified by introduced dissonances and pronounced silences; Lauridsen’s devotion to Monteverdi and his contemporary, Gesualdo, in spirited madrigals based on Renaissance love-and-loss poetry and vocalized so that old subtly blended with new.Sousa and Geehern accomplished much with their choruses, fully serving the music. A small instrumental ensemble added to the Monteverdi. Christopher Lynch provided organ accompaniment for the Part. Admirable concert.(link)

Ludwig van Beethoven: Missa solemnis, op. 123

Bloomington Chamber Singers presented Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis in D, op. 123, on Saturday, April 21st, 2012, at 8pm at the Evangelical Community Church, 503 South High St. in Bloomington. Music Director Gerald Sousa conducted the eighty-voice choral ensemble and orchestra.  Joining BCS as guest artists were soloists Meghan Dewald, soprano; Sarah Ballman, mezzo-soprano; Michael Day, tenor; and Samuel Spade, bass-baritone.One of the pillars of Western choral-orchestral music, Missa solemnis was composed at the peak of Beethoven’s creative output, and is universally recognized as a work of extraordinary musical and spiritual importance. 

Here is the review of our concert in the Bloomington Herald-Times: 

Review: Beethoven Mass, one-act operas show dedicated workmanship

By Peter Jacobi H-T Reviewer | pjacobi@heraldt.com Apr 23, 2012Listening to Saturday evening’s performance of the Beethoven “Missa Solemnis” in Bloomington’s Evangelical Community Church, one could imagine the composer laboring over the score, a primary object of attention during four of his later years.Conductor Gerald Sousa, his Bloomington Chamber Singers and four young soloists from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, along with a gathered-together orchestra, really seemed to have gotten it. This very personal “Solemn Mass” comes from a composer who could no longer actually hear what he was writing except in his imagination, from a man who recognized a host of shortcomings in his character. The music seesaws from heralding shouts to God that he, Beethoven, be heard and beseeching whispers to God that he be forgiven.Sousa extracted from his musicians those desperate cries for attention and pleas for understanding. The climaxes expressing God’s glory shook the rafters. The supplications hovered in the air, almost haltingly, as if questioning acceptance from on high.What one heard from this community chorus was remarkable. Even its rough-around-the-edges moments were made to sound just right, remindful of Beethoven’s struggle with the score and his own conscience. Maestro Sousa’s grasp of the music and dedicated workmanship as choral leader made that possible, as also they brought about the quieter effusions, here imbued with smooth radiance.The soloists — soprano Meghan Dewald, mezzo Sarah Ballman, tenor Michael Day and bass-baritone Samuel Spade — proved a key ingredient in the performance’s success, lending their fine voices to the endeavor. They, too, appeared to be deep into the spirit of the occasion, aware of an interpretation designed to capture a composer’s internal and musical struggles.A fifth soloist was the orchestra’s concertmaster, Benjamin Hoffman. He played the important and extended violin solo in the Benedictus exquisitely. Hoffman did his share, too, as concertmaster, helping to make the orchestra a contributing element to the whole of this exceptional “Missa Solemnis.”...(link)

BCSlogo-transparent-hi-res.png

Bloomington Chamber Singers
bcs@chambersingers.info