The City Choir of Washington (TCCW) welcomes new Artistic Director Erin Freeman in July 2022. The 2022-2023 season, following in City Choir’s tradition of choral excellence and creative program, will feature four concerts with themes of joy, peace, and light, featuring over 20 composers in four different venues around the Metropolitan D.C. area. Partnerships with D.C area organizations, composers, and soloists will highlight TCCW’s deep connections to the Washington, D.C. artistic scene.
Of her inaugural season, Erin Freeman states: “I’m excited to explore this music with these singers who are so devoted to the art of choral singing, and to enhancing the Washington, D.C. region with moving and exciting concerts. From Rossini’s epic (and at times irreverent) Petite Messe Solennelle to Bach’s monumental cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis to John Corigliano’s Fern Hill, the music is rich and absolutely a treat to sing. With music by Florence Price, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber and living composers Sharon Farber, Gilda Lyons, Ola Gjeilo, Armando Bayolo, Chen Yi, Huang Ruo, and our own Bob Shafer, this season will highlight the breadth and depth of musical expression inherent the American choral tradition.”
Celebrate Mozart’s 268th birthday with the City Choir of Washington! Be swept away by the beauty and solemnity of W.A. Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor on January 28, 2024 (the day after Mozart’s birthday) in the stark grandeur and quiet majesty of National Presbyterian Church.
It’s date night with City Choir! Join us for “Songs of Love, Loss & Connection” at your choice of venue: the exciting new arts complex east of the river, THEARC in Washington, DC on March 16; and Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland on March 17.
This romantic program, with string quintet and piano, will feature music by Roderick Williams, Johannes Brahms, Eric Whitacre, and Jake Runestad, topped off with Irish songs of love and loss.
Roderick Williams: Eriskay Love Lilt | Love Bade Me Welcome | O Guiding Night
Johannes Brahms: Selections from Liebeslieder Waltzes
On our final concert of the season, the City Choir of Washington celebrates our favorite art with “An Homage to Music.” Join us at Schlesinger Hall on June 2, 2024—Edward Elgar’s birthday—for an evening of music about music, featuring Elgar’s rarely-performed The Music Makers, with works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Reena Esmail, and Robert A. Harris.
Celebrating the year of the Rabbit with music of Ola Gjeilo, Florence Price, Elaine Hagenberg, Huang Ruo, Chen Yi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Strauss, Jr, and Giuseppe Verdi.
March brings a concert of music by GRAMMY-winning film composer Sharon Farber paired with the mournful-turned-triumphant Cantata BWV 21 by Johann Sebastian Bach. Although oceans and centuries apart, Farber and Bach both tap into the human need for hope in times of grave despair. Featuring a full orchestra and traditional Middle Eastern instruments, including Ney, Oud, Flamenco Guitar, and Doumbek.
The season rounds out with a celebration of American music old and new in June. To the set of Old American Songs by Aaron Copland, the City Choir of Washington will add commissions of “New American Songs” by D.C. Area composers, including Armando Bayolo, Jessica Krash, and City Choir’s own Robert Shafer.
Begin your holiday celebrations early, with “Magnificent Bach” at the start of Thanksgiving week. Amid the historic environs and glorious acoustics of the Church of Epiphany, Artistic Director Erin Freeman will lead chorus, soloists, and orchestra in J.S. Bach’s Magnificat in E-flat. You will not want to miss Bach’s original version of his Magnificat (premiered in 1723) at its 300th anniversary, complete with the rarely performed four Christmas interpolations. The concert will open with a cappella works inspired by the Christmas interpolations.
Eva Toller, arr.: Ett barn är fött på denna dag | Jan Sandström: Gloria | Sergei Rachmaninoff: Bogoroditse Devo | Anton Bruckner: Virga Jesse Floruit | Elaine Hagenberg: Alleluia