NEW CLASSIC SINGERS ANNOUNCES  26th SEASON

New Classic Singers and its Founder-Director, Lee Kesselman, announce four entertaining concerts for its 26th season at College of DuPage. The 36-voice adult ensemble has brought outstanding music to west suburban audiences since 1982.

The season begins on Nov 3 with NOVEMBER MEMORIES — music of Thanksgiving, Veteran’s Day, and a  reprise of NCS commission From the Heart, by New York composer Daniel Brewbaker on words by Carl Sandburg. Brewbaker’s work will feature longtime NCS accompanist William Buhr as he celebrates in his 21st season with the Singers. Other works include Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing by Herbert Howells, music by Billings, Daley, and Kirke Mechem.

NCS continues its season with its annual pair of holiday concerts — A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS on Dec 15, and FAMILY CHRISTMAS ALBUM 26 on Dec 16 for more mature audiences. “Both concerts program high-quality, beautiful music for the holidays,” says Kesselman, “But we scale the CHILD’S concert for younger audiences with a visit from Santa, carol sing-alongs, and a shorter concert,” the theme of the Dec 17 concert is “In the Dark of Winter’s Night”. Both concerts will feature harpist Stephen Hartman.

The March 15 concert, DRUMS AND LOVERS, will feature Mike Folker on percussion. The music  will include Dominick Argento’s powerful I Hate and I Love, Eric Whitacre’s Cloudburst, director Kesselman’s Moonplay, and other works by Gwyneth Walker, Stephen Hatfield, and music from Boadway on themes of Love.

The final concert of the 26th season will be MAGNIFICAT AND THE MASTERS on May 10. Works by Bach and Mozart will be matched with Portuguese composer Eurico Carrapatoso’s magical Magnificat, for chorus, strings and recorders.

New Classic Singers was founded in fall of 1982 in order to create a high-quality adult choral ensemble in the Western suburbs. Since then, NCS has entertained DuPage audiences with a creative blend of sacred and secular music. The ensemble has welcomed guest artists, commissioned and premiered new works and spanned the globe and centuries with a mix of great choral repertoire. Members include soloists, conductors, teachers and other highly trained choral musicians from throughout the metropolitan Chicago area.

Director Kesselman has been Director of Choral Activities at College of DuPage since 1981. He is widely known as a composer, teacher and conductor. Over 60 of his compositions have been published and he has taught conducting in 6 countries.  In October of this year, Kesselman will serve as composer-in-residence in Mumbai, India.