Join the Cleveland Chamber Choir for our 2023/2024 Ninth Season
Full details about all three concert series can be found in our season announcement press release
Full details about all three concert series can be found in our season announcement press release

Twenty-five years ago, on Oct. 6, 1998, two men offered to give Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, a ride home from the Fireside Lounge in Laramie. Instead, they drove him to the middle of nowhere, pistol-whipped and tortured him, tied him to a fence, and left him for dead. After Shepard lay in a coma for eighteen hours, a passing cyclist–who at first thought Shepard was a scarecrow–called for aid. Six days later, Shepard died from the brain damage.
In his concert-length oratorio, Considering Matthew Shepard, Craig Hella Johnson seamlessly weaves together passages from Shepard’s personal journal, interviews with his parents, texts from Rumi, Hildegard von Bingen, and a panoply of musical styles to create a work that The Washington Post says “demonstrates music’s capacity to encompass, transform and transcend tragedy.” The Choir will be joined by Lakewood Symphonic Mixed Choir for these performances, under the direction of Rayna Brooks.
In his concert-length oratorio, Considering Matthew Shepard, Craig Hella Johnson seamlessly weaves together passages from Shepard’s personal journal, interviews with his parents, texts from Rumi, Hildegard von Bingen, and a panoply of musical styles to create a work that The Washington Post says “demonstrates music’s capacity to encompass, transform and transcend tragedy.” The Choir will be joined by Lakewood Symphonic Mixed Choir for these performances, under the direction of Rayna Brooks.
Saturday, October 21, 2023 at 7:00pm, Avon Lake United Church of Christ,
32801 Electric Blvd., Avon Lake
Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 4:00pm, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Free-will donations accepted. A portion of donations collected will be directed to QYou, a program supporting queer youth through the LGBT Center of Cleveland. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire, PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 45 minutes before each performance. This concert is presented with generous grants from The Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, and Local 4 Music Fund and in collaboration with Avon Lake UCC and Trinity Cathedral Cleveland.
Click here to register for FREE tickets for Considering Matthew Shepard
32801 Electric Blvd., Avon Lake
Sunday, October 22, 2023 at 4:00pm, Trinity Cathedral, 2230 Euclid Ave., Cleveland
Free-will donations accepted. A portion of donations collected will be directed to QYou, a program supporting queer youth through the LGBT Center of Cleveland. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire, PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 45 minutes before each performance. This concert is presented with generous grants from The Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, and Local 4 Music Fund and in collaboration with Avon Lake UCC and Trinity Cathedral Cleveland.
Click here to register for FREE tickets for Considering Matthew Shepard

In Holidays from the Iberian Peninsula, we celebrate the rich history of carols, villancicos and ensaladas, and Sephardic and Ladino music from Spain and Portugal. Specifically highlighted are the works of Afro-Portuguese composer and music theorist Vicente Lusitano, whose work was neglected and excluded because of his race.
Friday, December 15, 2023 at 8:00pm, Fairchild Chapel, Oberlin College, 50 W. Lorain St., Oberlin
Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 7:00pm, First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland, 3630 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland
Free-will donations accepted. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire, PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 45 minutes before each performance. This concert is presented with generous grants from The Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, and Local 4 Music Fund.
Click here to register for FREE tickets for Holidays from the Iberian Peninsula

In Choral Splendor: Old and New, we trace how today’s composers, including Amy Lowell, Claudia Hinsdale, Andrew Rindfleisch, and Caroline Shaw, have responded to composers from the past, such as Igor Stravinsky and Dietrich Buxtehude. Continuing our mission of commissioning the works of living composers, this concert will include two world premieres from Northeast Ohio composers: a co-commission with Oberlin College & Conservatory from Jeff Scott, co-founder of Imani Winds, as well as a commission from Cleveland State University student Joshua Estok.
Saturday, March 2, 2024 at 7:00pm, First Lutheran Church, 1019 W. 5th St., Lorain
Sunday, March 3, 2024 at 4:00pm, First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland
3630 Fairmount Blvd., Cleveland
Free-will donations accepted. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire, PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 45 minutes before each performance. This concert is presented with generous grants from The Cleveland Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, Local 4 Music Fund and the Bascom Little Fund.
Click here to register for FREE tickets for Choral Splendor: Old and New

Cleveland Chamber Choir is thrilled to announce the appointment of our next Artistic Director, Dr. Gregory Ristow.
Read our recent press release to learn more about Dr. Ristow
Cleveland Chamber Choir strives to collaborate with other local artists to help feature and celebrate the amazing artistic talent of the Northeast Ohio region. In Season 3, CCC performed John Corigliano's beautiful setting of Dylan Thomas' poem Fern Hill with Bluewater Chamber Orchestra. We have partnered with local photographer Elisa Vietri to set the recording of the performance with images she has taken of our local landscapes.
Please enjoy this beautiful piece, conducted by CCC Artistic Director Scott MacPherson, and featuring mezzo soprano soloist Kira McGirr, recorded live at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland in May 2018. Bill Marx, Sound Engineer Daniel Meyer, Artistic Director, BlueWater Chamber Orchestra Caroline Carlsmith, Cover Design |
|

In Season Six, CCC was proud to announce the release of our first album, I Sing to Use the Waiting: Live with the Cleveland Chamber Choir
Order your CDs through the CCC website
or download a digital version of the album here.
Thank you for your support!
A Vehicle for Good
The Cleveland Chamber Choir organization is a family of performing artists, administrators, audience members, and over 230 individual donors brought together in the philosophy that choral music is a vehicle for good in the world. Since its founding in 2015, CCC has donated more than $10,000 to help further the missions of:
- Battered Women’s Shelter of Summit & Medina Counties
- CASA Ohio
- Greater Cleveland Food Bank
- More Than Music Artist Relief Fundz
- The Music Settlement
- Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence
- United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland
- VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System
- Women 4 Women Ohio
- YMCA of Greater Cleveland
- BlueWater Chamber Orchestra
- Case Western Reserve University
- Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital
- Cleveland Composers Guild
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Cleveland State University
- Kent State University
- Oberlin Choristers
- Theodore Roosevelt High School
- VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System
- WCLV 104.9 Ideastream Public Media
- Youngstown State University
|
|
Cleveland Chamber Choir performs "God's Grandeur" from A.M.G.D. (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam) by Benjamin Britten at our March 2018 "March Choral Madness" concert at First Baptist Church of Greater Cleveland
|
CCC's performance of Jonathan Quick's "Loch Lomond" at our September 2018 "Remembrance: War, Peace, and Comfort" concert at the Maltz Performing Arts Center
|
The Cleveland Chamber Choir is an ensemble of professional singers from Northeast Ohio.
Committed to the Northeast Ohio region, the Cleveland Chamber Choir is dedicated to growing a diverse audience of choral music and presents concerts throughout Cleveland and its surrounding communities.
Email clevelandchamberchoir@gmail.com