Choral Stream

On Thursday, June 7, 2012, Minnesota Public Radio held its first Harmony in the Park, an annual, outdoor choral event. One Voice Mixed Chorus, the Minnesota Boychoir, and VocalEssence were all on hand. Enjoy these photos from the event.

As Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee celebrations kick off, former King's Singer Tony Holt has been reminiscing about being a boy soprano in the coronation day choir at Westminster Abbey, and how he started singing in the first place.

In celebration of the North American choral conference in Minneapolis this June, VocalEssence and Chorus America are producing Sing Minneapolis! hosted by Don Shelby and conducted by Garrison Keillor.

The Twin Cities Compline Choir gathers for a monastic service that dates from the 6th century, a service for the close of the day or Compline.

The St Olaf Choir celebrated its 100 anniversary with a mid-winter tour. The highlights of which are in this week's Regional Spotlight. Anton Armstrong leads the choir and orchestra of St Olaf College students in the Bach motet: Sing to the Lord a New Song, and the world premiere of a work written especially for the centennial celebration of the St Olaf Choir by St Olaf alumnus, Minnesota composer, Ralph M. Johnson: On Horizon's Brim.

Johannes Brahms, like all composers, had a "day job." Brahms was the music director of several singing societies in Vienna. Pouring all of his melodic gifts into numerous works for choir, the choral pieces from his late fifties are especially filled with a kind of nostalgic golden glow. The South Dakota Chorale led by Charles Bruffy brings a slow-burning, mature passion to a performance of Brahms Four Quartets Op 92. Their performance from January 14 at Dordt College is in this week's Regional Spotlight.

For the holiday, the first three parts of Johann Sebastian Bach's beloved Christmas Oratorio - from Dresden, where an annual performance of this inspired music is a treasured tradition. Tune in on Sunday, December 25 at 1:00 p.m. to hear this joyful work.

One of the nation's most cherished holiday celebrations, the St. Olaf College Christmas Festival includes hymns, carols, choral works, and orchestral selections celebrating the Nativity and more than 500 members of St. Olaf College's five choirs and the Orchestra. An encore presentation airs at 7 p.m. December 23.

We can't play 10,000 choirs--though it sometimes seems like Minnesota has that many. But for one hour, we will look at Christmas through the lens of Minnesota's rich choral culture: choirs from Concordia in Moorhead to Kantorei in the Twin Cities, from Bemidji to Rochester and more. Listen on December 21, 2011 at 7:00 p.m.

Tune in on Tuesday, December 20 at 8:00 p.m. to hear Ralph Vaughan Williams' Cantata, Hodie. His last major choral/orchestral work, it is a fun and beautiful piece for this Christmas season.