Choral Stream

Each December, the Center for Faith and Life at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, rings out with the sacred and the exuberant: the sounds of the Christmas season. Enjoy the 2022 program, ‘The Gifts They Gave Emmanuel.’

We recently offered a playlist of 10 great choral works, and listeners responded with their own choices. Here are some of their favorites.

YourClassical Minnesota Public Radio’s Bring the Sing returned to the Fargo-Moorhead area on Aug. 15, led by Fargo-Moorhead Choral Artists and director Michael Culloton. Check out a video of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and photos from this wonderful community sing-along!

The choral world was upended along with the rest of the world during COVID and everyone went virtual, using the Eric Whitacre model that was established before the pandemic. So we asked him back then to pick his favorite virtual performances.

I feel like I'm entering a war zone writing about this topic: being a soprano in a choir. There are so many preconceived notions about sopranos. Let's get those stereotypes out of the way now.

In lots of choral pieces, many people would have a hard time picking out the alto line. Yet if the altos were missing, the piece would feel wrong and empty. A singer with VocalEssence offers praise for that inner line.

Sociologists speak of class envy, students of grade envy and Freudians of penis envy. But in the choral world (and what is the choral world, after all, but a trembling microcosm of the very world itself?), it's tenor envy that seethes just beneath the surface.

Watch as the Minnesota-based ensemble 29:11 International Exchange, many of whose singers and instrumentalists hail from South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, tap into their African roots to, as co-founder Brendon Adams says, “spread love and reconciliation through our music.” Enjoy the results of their recent recording session with YourClassical MPR.

The singers traveled to England for a tour to raise money to build a technical college. Their story is receiving renewed attention because of a new dance performance based on the concert tour.

YourClassical MPR recently hosted the Voces8 Scholars in our flagship recording studio — and what an endeavor it turned out to be. Among the highlights of the three-day session by the U.S.-based training ensemble for the U.K.’s esteemed Voces8 was a recording of Paul Smith’s ‘Nunc Dimittis’ performed with the Minneapolis-based Augsburg/Mirandola Chamber Collective. Watch now!