Cleveland Chamber Choir Announces 2022-2023 Eighth Season

The Cleveland Chamber Choir, founded in 2015 by Artistic Director Scott MacPherson, presents
exceptional performances, blending music by living composers with choral classics, and emphasizing
works of composers historically excluded from the concert hall. We offer a vibrant and thought-
provoking listening experience as diverse, innovative, and varied as our audience. Over the course of
seven seasons, the Choir has commissioned and/or given world or United States premieres of over
thirty works. The Cleveland Chamber Choir brings performing artists, administrators, and audience
members together in the philosophy that choral music is a vehicle for good in the world.

On October 8, 2022, Cleveland Chamber Choir and BlueWater Chamber Orchestra join forces in
their long-awaited collaborative concert Heaven and Earth. Originally scheduled for May 2020, but
canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both organizations will open their respective seasons
with this concert. Drawing on their ability to present master choral works for chamber orchestra and
chorus, the two groups will perform under the direction of both Gregory Ristow, Associate
Professor of Conducting and Director of Vocal Ensembles at Oberlin College & Conservatory, and
Daniel Meyer, Artistic Director of BlueWater Chamber Orchestra. This concert will feature Ludwig
van Beethoven’s Mass in C Major, Op. 86 and American composer Gwyneth Walker’s emotionally
intense The Golden Harp, featuring Ideastream Public Media’s John Mills as narrator.

Saturday, October 8, 2022 at 7:30pm at Church of the Covenant, 11205 Euclid Ave, Cleveland.

Free-will donations accepted. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire,
PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 30 minutes before the performance. This concert is
sponsored in part by Ohio Arts Council and the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation.

November 12, 2022 features an octet of the Cleveland Chamber Choir performing as part of the
music series at St. Ambrose Parish. Words of Gratitude will explore choral music celebrating themes
of life and gratitude. This concert will highlight singers from the ensemble that are also choral
conductors. Featured composers include Ysaye Barnwell, Lisa Levine, Troy Robertson, Moira
Smiley, Carol Barnett, and Mickey McGroarty.

Saturday, November 12 at 6:00pm at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, 929 Pearl Rd, Brunswick. FREE

December 16, 17, and 18, 2022 will bring Winter Carols and Lullabies, showcasing the Cleveland
Chamber Choir under the direction of Jelani Watkins in a concert with more than two-thirds of the
works being from the twentieth or twenty-first centuries. The central features of this concert will be
the world premiere of newly-composed holiday carols by Ryan Farrell, a performance of two works
by Dolores White, and a commissioned Hanukkah piece by Mickey McGroarty – all three Northeast
Ohio composers. The concert will also intersperse Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols with carols
arranged by 21st century composers.

Friday, December 16 at 7:30pm at St. Sebastian Church, 476 Mull Ave, Akron.
Saturday, December 17 at 7:00pm at St. Peter Catholic Church, 1533 Superior Ave, Cleveland.
Sunday, December 18 at 4:00pm at Disciples Christian Church, 3663 Mayfield Rd, Cleveland Heights.

Free-will donations accepted. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire,
PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 30 minutes before each performance. This concert is
sponsored in part by The Mandel Foundation.

Of Sound Mind: From Darkness into Light will be a concert devoted to enduring mental health
issues and finding solace, relief, healing. On February 18 & 19, 2023, CCC will present repertoire
from diverse composers, representing a number of neurodivergent and mental health viewpoints,
including works by Lelia Adu-Gilmore, Giulio De Carlo, Eliza Gilkyson, Elaine Hagenberg, Shawn
Kirchner, Don MacDonald, Jake Runestead, Joan Szymko, Santiago Veros, and Eric Whitacre.

Saturday, February 18 at 7:30pm at St. Noel Church, 35200 Chardon Rd, Willoughby Hills.
Sunday, February 19 at 3:00pm at the Maltz Performing Arts Center, 1855 Ansel Rd, Cleveland.
Free tickets may be reserved at case.edu/maltzcenter

Free-will donations accepted. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire,
PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 30 minutes before each performance. This concert is
sponsored in part by Ohio Arts Council.

April 2, 2023 brings the final concert of the eighth season, and will be a collaborative concert with
the Cleveland Composers’ Guild. Building off of our successful collaboration with CCG in our
fourth season, Le Monde Musical will feature works both by members of this organization, as well
as Francophone choral music from all over the globe. The first half of the concert will include juried
works from the Guild. The second half of the concert will feature the music of France and France
Outre Mer, including classic French choral repertoire by composers Lili Boulanger, Lionel Daunais,
Claude Debussy, Sydney Guillaume, and Paul Hindemith, among others. This concert will showcase
the best compositional talents in our region, demonstrating how their music works in tandem with
established choral masterworks from around the world.

Sunday, April 2 at 4:00pm at Drinko Hall, Cleveland State University, 2001 Euclid Ave, Cleveland.
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Free-will donations accepted. A pre-concert talk will be presented by Charles Edward McGuire,
PhD, from Oberlin College & Conservatory, 30 minutes before the performance.