Choralis is offering an exciting mix of concerts, competition, and community sings to celebrate its 20th Anniversary Season: The Language of the World. Season highlights follow.
- July 30 and August 13, 2019: Summer Sings Series – Choralis will invite community members to participate in “Summer Sings” of choral masterworks on these two dates, both, led by Artistic Director Gretchen Kuhrmann and with professional soloists, and keyboard accompaniment. The July 30th Sing will be of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem (in German), and the August 13th Sing will be of Mozart’s Requiem and Chilcott’s Requiem. Both will be held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Falls Church, VA.
- Saturday, September 28, 2019: Young Artist Competition – Emerging vocal soloists will compete at Fairfax Presbyterian Church to be featured soloists for the March 22, 2020 Move Him Into the Sun concert. The competition will be open to the public throughout its time frame of 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.
- Sunday, October 20, 2019: The Maestra’s Eclectic Requiem – Choralis will perform a requiem consisting of beloved movements from a variety of masterpiece requiems, including those written by Mozart, Verdi, Duruflé, Brahms, Britten, Fauré, and Reger. The performance will be at National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.
- Sunday, December 1, 2019: A concert and sing-along of Handel’s Messiah , with strings and pipe organ accompaniment, Choralis and guest soloists will perform Messiah (Part I), with the audience invited to sing-along on the choruses. The event will be held at Fairfax Presbyterian Church.
- Sunday, December 8, 2019: “A Classic Brass Christmas” Concert – Choralis, Echos, and The Classical Brass Quintet will perform holiday favorites at The Church of the Epiphany in Washington, DC.
- Sunday, February 9, 2020: “Jewels in the Choral Crown” – Echos will perform musical gems from the 15th through 20th centuries, including both well-known and less well-known pieces. The concert will be at The Falls Church Episcopal Church.
- Saturday, March 21, 2020: “Come and Sing with Bob Chilcott” – Bob Chilcott, one of the world’s most popular current composers of choral music, will lead attendees in a choral music workshop to explore his newest compositions and discuss his work. The workshop will be held at Fairfax Presbyterian Church.
- Sunday, March 22, 2020: “Move Him Into the Sun” – Choralis will perform J.S. Bach’s Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, BWV 230, and Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms as well as two pieces by Bob Chilcott, Move Him Into the Sun and Canticles of Light, with the latter featuring special guests The Children’s Choir of Washington. The performance will take place at The Falls Church Episcopal Church.
- Sunday, June 7, 2020: “Experiments in Music” – The grand finale of our 20th season will be three crowd-pleasing works composed by 1930s contemporaries. Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana crosses the musical bridge of the sacred and profane and is currently among the most-performed choral works; Stravinsky’s Symphonie de psaumes is a three-movement symphony in which the chorus replaces part of the traditional orchestra; and Gershwin’s piano concerto, Rhapsody in Blue, written as “an experiment in Modern Music,” melds the seemingly incongruous styles of jazz and European art-music. The concert will be at the George Mason University Center for the Arts.
Singers interested in joining Choralis for the 2019-20 season should email: auditions@choralis.org to schedule an audition. Information about the audition process is provided on the Auditions page of this website.
Choralis also will continue its exceptional High School Singing Scholars (HSSS) program through which 12 high school-aged singers participate as full members of Choralis with waivers of the membership dues, and Choralis also will offer free concert tickets to many area high school choirs. Please visit the Education page of our website for more information about the HSSS program and how interested young singers can audition.