New Classic Singers continues its 28th concert season with BEAUTY, a concert of beautiful choral music, on Saturday, March 13, at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.  The 8 p.m. concert will feature guest artists John Floeter, string bass, Michael Buckwalter, French Horn, and regular NCS pianist William Buhr.  Founder and Music Director Lee Kesselman will conduct.

BEAUTY will feature music by some of America's leading and most popular composers of choral music. The concert program will include two works by California composer, Morten Lauridsen.  “Lauridsen’s Les Chanson Des Roses and Three Nocturnes are two of the most beautiful and heartful choral works in the modern repertory,” says director Kesselman. “The composer masterfully sets the poetry of Rilke, Neruda, and Agee in these works.”  The Nocturnes offer a starring role for William Buhr, who has accompanied NCS for over 20 years and is known as one of the finest collaborative pianists in the Chicago area

The program will also include Eric Whitacre’s Little Birds, an imaginative setting of poetry by Octavio Paz, and Paul Basler’s Songs of Faith, for chorus, French Horn and piano.

Director Lee Kesselman's As One is One, is also on the program.  As One is One was originally commissioned by Wheaton Warrenville South High School, and premiered by the composer's son on string bass, with Buhr on the piano.  Kesselman is annually honored by ASCAP. His choral music is frequently performed by choirs all over the world. This will be NCS’ first performaqnce of As One is One.

NCS members include solo vocalists, educators, and other fine singers from through the Chicago area. The ensemble is known for its imaginative programs and vocal excellence.

Director Lee Kesselman is widely known as a conductor, composer, and arranger. His choral music is performed internationally and his leadership of NCS has made the ensemble a beacon of choral music in the Chicago area. He founded New Classic Singers in 1982.

Tickets for BEAUTY are available at the Arts Center Ticket Office at 630-942-4000. Special rates are available for students, seniors, and groups.  For this concert, a new special student rate is available.

Guest Artists

Michael Buckwalter began playing the Horn at the age of twelve in Vallejo, CA. His musical education includes studies at The San Francisco Conservatory and Northwestern University, as well as private studies with Dale Clevenger, Norman Schweikert, David Krehbiel, and John Cerminaro.

Mr. Buckwalter has served as Third and Associate Principal Horn of the Nashville Symphony, co-Principal of the RAI Torino Symphony (Turin, Italy), and Solo Alto Horn of the Jack Daniel’s Silver Cornet Band. He is currently an active freelance player in the Chicago area, where he is Solo Horn and founding member of the Ars Viva Symphony, and Principal of the Lake Forest Symphony, the Key West Symphony and the Woodstock Mozart Festival. He is also a member of the Northwest Indiana Symphony, The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, has played horn and Wagner tuba with the Indianapolis Symphony, and plays with various theaters, industrial shows, symphony orchestras, chamber ensembles, ballet (including  Joffrey) and opera companies throughout the area, as well as specialty ensembles including The Chicagoland Pops and Too Hot To Handel.

Mr. Buckwalter teaches privately at the Music Institute of Chicago, and at his home.  Mr. Buckwalter lives in Chicago with his wife, ‘cellist Elizabeth Anderson.

John Floeter has been an active bassist in the Chicago area since 1979, covering several genres of music, including classical, jazz, folk, and musical theater. He is currently a Principal Bass of the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra, and a member of the Grant Park Orchestra and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. John is also the Instructor of Double Bass at Northern Illinois University.