Houston Chamber Choir

The Houston Chamber Choir is a professional chorus based in Houston, Texas. The ensemble regularly presents a five concert series of diverse, innovative choral programming throughout the Houston region. They have appeared nationally at conventions held by The American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, and most recently at Trinity Wall Street in New York and Yale University, and toured internationally from Mexico to Wales.

History

Founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Robert Simpson,[1] the Houston Chamber Choir has performed and collaborated with some of the world's leading artists, including Kim Kashkashian, Paul Hillier, María Guinand, Christopher Theofanidis, Daryl Robinson, Marguerite Brooks, Manfred Cordes, Daniel J. Knaggs, Elena Sharkova, Anton Armstrong, Jocelyn Hagen, Dave Brubeck, David Ashley White, Peter Phillips, Dominick DiOrio, Christian McBride, and Cynthia Clawson.

Recordings

Ravishingly Russian (2009)

Psalmi ad Vesperas (2012)

Soft Blink of Amber Light (2015)

Morton Feldman, Erik Satie, John Cage: Rothko Chapel (2015)


The choir has produced four recordings, with its latest efforts Soft Blink of Amber Light (MSR, 2015)[2] and Morton Feldman, Erik Satie, John Cage: Rothko Chapel (ECM, 2015)[3] met with international acclaim.[4][5][6][7]

Commissions

Beyond the known and celebrated choral works, the Houston Chamber Choir is also a champion of contemporary choral music, having expanded the repertoire with nearly a dozen commissions of new works. All but one of the compositions from Soft Blink of Amber Light are works commissioned and premiered by the ensemble.[8]

Awards and Accolades

In 2015 the choir was winner of The American Prize for Choral Performance.[9]

The 'Rothko Chapel' project, recorded in partnership with Da Camera of Houston Artistic Director Sarah Rothenberg,[10] was a US Billboard Top 10[11], UK Top 20[12] Classical Album and named one of the Best Classical Recordings of 2015[13] by The Chicago Tribune.

References

  1. ↑ Houston Chamber Choir- Our History
  2. ↑ CD MSR 1499
  3. ↑ CD ECM 2378
  4. ↑ Vittes, Laurence (January 2016) "Sounds of America" album review. Gramophone, page 7
  5. ↑ Mannheim, James AllMusic.com Review
  6. ↑ Kenyon, Nicholas (November 22, 2015). "Feldman, Satie, Cage: Rothko Chapel CD review- hypnotic and moving". The Guardian
  7. ↑ Gill, Andy (November 13, 2015). "Morton Feldman/Erik Satie/John Cage, Rothko Chapel- album review". The Independent
  8. ↑ Soft Blink of Amber Light
  9. ↑ Evans, Everett (January 6, 2016). "Houston Chamber Choir Wins National Honors". Houston Chronicle
  10. ↑ Da Camera of Houston- Chamber Music and Jazz
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ UK Official Specialist Classical Chart Top 30- 27 November 2015
  13. ↑ von Rhein, John (December 4, 2015. "The Best Classical Recordings of 2015". Chicago Tribune
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.