New Classic Singers, DuPage County’s leading choral ensemble since 1982, announces its 29th concert season. Under the direction of founder Lee Kesselman, the Glen Ellyn-based ensemble will perform four varied programs of classics, popular composers, holiday favorites, and recent works.

Highlights of the season include works by Aaron Copland & Leonard Bernstein, jazz stylings by tenor sax Mark Colby, the midwest premiere of David Lang's 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning the little match girl passion, spirituals, East European sacred music, Romantic part-songs, and tunes from the American Songbook.

Season subscriptions are available at www.newclassicsingers.org. Special rates are available for seniors and students.

AARON & LENNY

8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov 6 at St. Petronille Church, Glen Ellyn

What says ‘American music’ more than a concert featuring the works of Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland? We commemorate the 20th anniversary of the deaths of these two giants in a wide-ranging concert of their choral and theater music. Sacred music, folk songs, selections from his Mass, West Side Story, and Candide.

IN THE SWEET MID-WINTER

4 p.m. on Sunday, Dec 12 at McAninch Arts Center, Glen Ellyn

The little match girl passion

BOYS & GIRL

8 p.m.on Saturday, May 7 at McAninch Arts Center, Glen Ellyn

From the Romantic part-songs of Brahms and Schubert to the ballads of the Great American Broadway songbook, we celebrate the oldest human sport, the interplay of the X’s and Y’s. Together and apart, the women and men of the NCS sing into spring with flash and dash, and all we can say is — Vive La Difference!

NEW CLASSIC SINGERS, a select 36 voice adult choral ensemble, will hold auditions for 2010-2011 membership, in the month of August, by appointment.

Auditions are open to all highly skilled adult singers, and will include singing two prepared selection, sight-reading, vocalizing and a brief interview. Auditions are by appointment only and may be made by contacting the director at lrk@newclassicsingers.org as soon as possible. An accompanist will be provided.  There are openings in all sections.

Repertoire for the 2010-2011 season includes music by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, holiday music, Russian and East European sacred music, David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning the little match girl passion, Romantic part-songs by Brahms, Schumann, and Schubert, in addition to other sacred and secular selections.

Founder/director Lee Kesselman is internationally known as a conductor, pianist, teacher and award-winning composer. He has developed the New Classic Singers with a love for the vocal art and interests in a great breadth of literature. The Singers have performed Chicago-area premieres of scores of works, and are known for imaginative and unique programming in the choral world.

New Classic Singers performs a season series of four main concerts in Glen Ellyn, with additional concerts in nearby locations.

NEW CLASSIC SINGERS, a select 36 voice adult choral ensemble, will hold auditions for 2010-2011 membership, in the month of June, including June 10, 17 and 26.

Auditions are open to all highly skilled adult singers, and will include singing two prepared selection, sight-reading, vocalizing and a brief interview. Auditions are by appointment only and may be made by contacting the director at lrk@newclassicsingers.org as soon as possible. An accompanist will be provided.  There are openings in all sections.

Repertoire for the 2010-2011 season includes music by Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland, holiday music, Russian and East European sacred music, David Lang’s Pulitzer Prize-winning the little match girl passion, Romantic part-songs by Brahms, Schumann, and Schubert, in addition to other sacred and secular selections.

Founder/director Lee Kesselman is internationally known as a conductor, pianist, teacher and award-winning composer. He has developed the New Classic Singers with a love for the vocal art and interests in a great breadth of literature. The Singers have performed Chicago-area premieres of scores of works, and are known for imaginative and unique programming in the choral world.

New Classic Singers performs a season series of four main concerts in Glen Ellyn, with additional concerts in nearby locations.

New Classic Singers continues its 28th concert season with The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass, on Saturday, May 8, at St Petronille Church in Glen Ellyn.  The 8 p.m. concert will feature guest artists, the Ad Hoc Pickers bluegrass band. Founder and Music Director Lee Kesselman will conduct. Long-time accompanist of the NCS, William Buhr, will accompany from the keyboard.

Carol Barnett’s Bluegrass Mass is a marriage of a choral mass with the down-home sparkle of bluegrass. The music is cheery, folklike and energetic.

The Ad Hoc Pickers is comprised of five of Chicagoland’s finest instrumentalists:

• Pat Otto — mandolin
• Pete Smith — banjo
• Alex Koffman — fiddle
• Jim Cox — bass
• Michael Pettersen — guitar

New Classic Singers will open its 28th concert season as a professional choral ensemble with Ein Deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms. on Saturday, November 7th at 8 p.m. at St Petronille Church, 420 Glenwood Avenue, in Glen Ellyn. The concert will be repeated at St Francis Xavier Church, 124 N Spring Ave, in La Grange at 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 8^th.

Brahms’ German Requiem is one of the most beloved and revered works off all choral music. Rather than a formal religious service for the dead, Brahms chose a variety of texts to comfort the bereaved. It is a work of great beauty and comfort. NCS will sing Brahms’ own version for piano 4-hands, featuring guest pianist William Koehler and resident accompanist William Buhr.

New Classic Singers is a 40 voice professional choral ensemble in residence at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The ensemble is known for its imaginative programs of the very finest choral literature. Members are professional singers, choral directors, music teachers from Chicago's western suburbs and beyond. Lee Kesselman is Founder and Music Director of New Classic Singers. He has been Director of Choral Activities at College of DuPage since 1981.

William Buhr appears throughout North America as an accompanist, chamber musician and clinician. Widely sought as a performer, he has appeared in numerous international festivals and has accompanied the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus at the invitation of director Margaret Hillis. Mr. Buhr is a member of the music faculty at College of DuPage and is the long-standing principal accompanist of the Anima Young Singers, formerly Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus. This season is Mr. Buhr’s 24th with New Classic Singers.

William Koehler has taught piano at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb since 1985. A recipient of a 2001 Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award from NIU, he was named a Presidential Teaching Professor in 2005. He has recorded for Cedille Records, Canti Classics, and Centaur Records as a collaborative pianist, and has performed with the Vermeer, Arianna, and Prague string quartets and the Craftsbury Chamber Players. Since 1991, he has been pianist for the Midsummer’s Music chamber ensemble in Door County, Wisconsin.

His competition awards include first prizes in the 1984 San Antonio International Keyboard Competition and the 1989 New Orleans International Piano Competition. From 1988 to 1990, Mr. Koehler was an Affiliate Artists Xerox Pianist. Koehler is a past president of the Waubonsee Valley chapter of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association and is the pianist for DeKalb’s First United Methodist Church.

New Classic Singers and its Founder-Director, Lee Kesselman, announce four outstanding concerts for its 28th season. The 36-voice adult ensemble has brought beautiful music to west suburban audiences since 1982. Beginning this season, more concerts will take place in some of the western suburbs most stunning churches.

The season begins on Nov 7 and 8 with EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM by Johannes Brahms.  Performed in Brahms’ own piano four-hands version, the German Requiem will feature pianists William Koehler and William Buhr, NCS’ regular pianist. The concert will be performed at both St Petronille Church in Glen Ellyn (Nov 7)  and St Francis Xavier Church in La Grange (Nov 8). Other selections on the program will be pieces which use the same sacred texts that Brahms used in his Requiem.

NCS continues its season with its annual holiday concert — FAMILY CHRISTMAS ALBUM on Dec 13. The theme of this year’s concert is “Navidad Nuestra,” a celebration of Hispanic carols. Most of the program will be arrangements of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American carols. Family Christmas Album will take place at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage.

The March 13 concert, BEAUTY, will feature some of the most beautiful contemporary choral music by Eric Whitacre, Morten Lauridsen, Paul Basler and director Lee Kesselman. The concert will feature French horn Michael Buchwalter and pianist William Buhr. This concert will take place at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage.

The final concert of the 28th season will be a bluegrass celebration on May 8. The major work on this program will be Carol Barnett’s THE  WORLD BELOVED: A BLUEGRASS MASS. The Chicago premiere of this work will feature some of the area’s finest bluegrass players. The program will be rounded out with American hymns and spirituals. This concert will take place at St Petronille Church in Glen Ellyn.

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 75 of his compositions have been published and he has taught conducting in 6 countries.

Season tickets for NCS be ordered at www.NewClassicSingers.org. McAninch Arts Center tickets (December and March)  are available at the McAninch Arts Center ticket office or by calling 630-942-4000. Special subscription rates are available until the date of the first season concert. Special group rates are available by calling 630-654-9717.

The New Classic Singers, a professional choral ensemble based at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, will hold auditions for new members in all sections by appointment on August 19 and 25. The 36 voice chorus has openings in all sections for the 2009-2010 season, its 28th. Directed by Founder Lee Kesselman, the New Classic Singers perform a wide variety of classical music in a 4+ concert season in Glen Ellyn. Singers will also perform repetitions of some concerts and special events.

Auditions are open to all interested adults, and will include sight-reading, vocalizing, and the performance of 2 contrasting pieces. Auditions are by appointment only and may be made by contacting auditions@newclassicsingers.org

An accompanist will be provided.

This season's repertoire will include works encompassing a variety of styles, ranging from Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Hispanic holiday music, music by contemporary American composers (including Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, Paul Basler, and Lee Kesselman), and Carol Barnett’s A World Beloved (a bluegrass mass).

NCS is a premiere choral ensemble which has performed for state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. In the past, the New Classic Singers has performed with Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Kronos Quartet, Chiesa Nuova and has recorded new issues for Boosey & Hawkes music publishers.

The New Classic Singers, a professional choral ensemble based at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, will hold auditions for new members in all sections by appointment on  July 22 and 23. The 36 voice chorus has openings in all sections for the 2009-2010 season, its 28th. Directed by Founder Lee Kesselman, the New Classic Singers perform a wide variety of classical music in a 4+ concert season in Glen Ellyn. Singers will also perform repetitions of some concerts and special events.

Auditions are open to all interested adults, and will include sight-reading, vocalizing, and the performance of 2 contrasting pieces. Auditions are by appointment only and may be made by contacting Lee Kesselman (lrk@newclassicsingers.org). An accompanist will be provided.

This season’s repertoire will include works encompassing a variety of styles, ranging from Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Hispanic holiday music, music by contemporary American composers (including Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, Paul Basler, and Lee Kesselman), and Carol Barnett’s A World Beloved (A Bluegrass Mass).

NCS is a premiere choral ensemble which has performed for state and regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. In the past, the New Classic Singers has performed with Fulcrum Point New Music Project, Kronos Quartet, Chiesa Nuova and has recorded new issues for Boosey & Hawkes music publishers.

An 800th anniversary is somewhat rare. To celebrate the milestone of the founding of the Franciscan Order, Chiesa Nuova, a not-for-profit Franciscan ministry for the performing arts in Chicago will present "A Celebration of Hope and Peace" at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 26 and 27 at Lund Auditorium in the Performing Arts Center, Dominican University, 7900 Division St., River Forest, IL. Performing will be world-renowned bass-baritone Alan Held, mezzo-soprano Stacy Eckert, the Ars Viva Symphony Orchestra, and the New Classic Singers.

The concert will consist of three major works: "Prayer for Peace" by Chicagoan Fr. Robert Hutmacher, O.F.M., "Five Mystical Songs" by Ralph Vaughn Williams, and "Dialogue of Francis and Clare" by Fr. Hutmacher. The featured work will be the oratorio "Dialogue of Francis and Clare," which tells the story of a period after Francis experienced the Stigmata in 1224, a story of healing and mystical prayer between two people consumed by the love of God.

The story of this work is Fr. Hutmacher's interpretation of one of the world's classic stories of a love rooted in God, medieval mystique, and human passion for life. "'Dialogue of Francis and Clare' may help the listener to discover our common journey to God," said Fr. Hutmacher.

Tickets are $40 - 50. For tickets or more information, call the Lund Auditorium box office at 708-488-5000 or visit: http://www.dom.edu/pac . For more information about Chiesa Nuova visit: http://www.chiesanuova.org.

New Classic Singers Celebrates Jewish Music as it begins its 27th season

New Classic Singers will open its 27th concert season as a professional choral ensemble with L’Chaim, Encore A Celebration of Jewish Music on Saturday, November 1st at 8 p.m. at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. Under the baton of Music Director Lee Kesselman, the Singers sing music which represents the  Jewish people in prayer, in celebration, in mourning and in  creative diversity.

New Classic Singers is a 38 voice professional choral ensemble in residence at the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The ensemble is known for its imaginative programs of the very finest choral literature.  Members are professional singers, choral directors, music teachers from Chicago's western suburbs and beyond. Lee Kesselman is Founder and Music Director of New Classic Singers. He has been Director of Choral Activities at College of DuPage since1981.

L’CHAIM ENCORE  will be a concert of Jewish music, both new and traditional.  Featuring harpist Marguerite Lynn Williams and the NCS Klezmer Band, L’CHAIM ENCORE celebrate the rich tradition of Jewish music in concert, worship and of the people. Songs of Srul Irving Glick, Debbie Friedman, Kurt Weill, and director Kesselman will be sung alongside Yiddish, Klezmer and Sephardic music.

The centerpiece of the concert will be Sheeru Ladonye Sheer Chadash (Sing Unto the Lord a New Song) by Canadian composer Srul Irving Glick, for chorus and harp. Guest artist Marguerite Lynn Williams will accompany the singers in this work.

Psalm and liturgical settings by Elaine Broad Ginsberg, Andrew Bleckner, Robert Applebaum will show the sacred side of the Jewish choral tradition. Composer Kurt Weill, whose father was a cantor, will be represented by his setting of Kiddush. The Singers will also perform popular contemporary songwriter, Debbie Friedman’s Mi Shebeirach.

A portion of the program will provide a special remembrance of the Holocaust, with director Lee Kesselman’s setting of the Yiddish song Tsvey Taybelekh  and Mi y’maleil by Stanley Hoffman.

The program will close with a pot-pourri of Yiddish, Klezmer, and Sephardic music, accompanied by the NCS Klezmer Band.

For ticket information, contact the Arts Center Ticket Office at 630-942-4000.

NCS will be joined by various instrumentalists to provide the accompaniment and traditional flavor of  the selections. Shelley Yoelin (clarinet) and Richard Armandi (bass) will perform. Yoelin plays the saxophone and clarinet and performs constantly with Jazz and Commercial music groups in the Chicago area. He has recorded four albums with the Maxwell Street Klezmer Band, and two albums with his own group, The Modern Klezmer Quartet.

Harpist Marguerite Lynn Williams has concertized throughout the United States, Europe and Asia as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestra member in such venues as Carnegie Hall (New York), Shostakovich Hall (St. Petersburg, Russia) and Symphony Center (Chicago).  Ms. Williams has won prizes in numerous competitions including First Prize of the Anne Adams National Competition sponsored by the American Harp Society in both 1998 and 1999; the National Endowment of the Arts Artist Recognition Talent Search (1997), the National Federation of Music Clubs (1997), the American Opera Society (2003) and Sigma Alpha Iota (2001).   During the 2007-2008 season she was named runner-up for both the San Diego and Toronto Symphony's Principal Harp positions as well as a finalist for the Cleveland Orchestra's Principal Harp audition. Ms. Williams has been appointed substitute Principal Harp with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the 2008-2009 season.

New Classic Singers and its Founder-Director, Lee Kesselman announce four entertaining concerts for their 27th 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 1 with L’CHAIM ENCORE -- a concert of Jewish music, both new and traditional. Featuring harpist Marguerite Lynn Williams and the NCS Klezmer Band, L’CHAIM ENCORE will celebrate the rich tradition of Jewish music in concert, worship and of the people. Songs of Srul Irving Glick, Debbie Friedman, Kurt Weill, and director Kesselman will be sung alongside Yiddish, Klezmer and Sephardic music.

NCS continues its season with its annual pair of holiday concerts: A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS on Dec 14, and FAMILY CHRISTMAS ALBUM 27 on Dec 15. “Both concerts feature high-quality, beautiful music for the holidays,” says Kesselman, “But we scale the Child’s Christmas for younger audiences with a visit from Santa, carol sing-alongs, and a shorter length.” The Dec 17 concert will be entirely carols. The program will include beautiful and entertaining music from the classic choral arrangers of the past — Alice Parker, Norman Luboff, Robert Shaw, Fred Waring, William Dawson — as well as music of the newest generation of composers and arrangers. Both concerts will feature pianist William Buhr.

The March 15 concert, CIRCLES OF PEACE, will feature Zen painter Kazuaki Tanahashi. Tanahashi will spontaneously paint his reflections on NCS’ choral singing in real time. The music will reflect themes of Circles, Japan, and Peace.

The final concert of the 27th season will be Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff’s awe-inspiring All-Night Vigil or Vespers. This Romantic masterwork is one of the greatest choral works ever written and will showcase the vocalism and musicianship of NCS in a large-scale work.