2009-2010 Season Notes

The Chorale's educational activities and community collaborations take center stage in 2009-2010. Opening the season (Nov. 5-7) is Carl Orff's winning Carmina Burana, surely the most popular choral piece of the 20th century—staged in collaboration with our friends at Minnesota Dance Theatre. With choreography by Loyce Houlton and direction by Lise Houlton and Dominic Serrand, this multimedia Carmina promises to be irresistible. The Chorale's Barbara Brooks conducts; the soloists are Jennifer Baldwin Peden, Bradley Greenwald, and Justin Madel.
 
Next on the calendar (Nov. 21) is this year's Bridges community-engagement concert, Sing with Me, which spotlights the mentoring relationships that have blossomed between members of our Minneapolis Youth Chorus and adult singers in the Chorale. Mounted in collaboration with the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota, the program features a world premiere by Stephen Paulus ("Wake Up in the Morning!") as well as music by John Corigliano and Janika Vandervelde.
 
December offers the usual cornucopia of holiday fare: three performances of Handel's Messiah (Dec. 10, 11, and 13) and two of Jingle Bell Doc (Dec. 19 and 20) with the Minnesota Orchestra, along with the Chorale's annual Messiah sing-along (Dec. 6), led by Kathy Saltzman Romey. January brings concert performances of Igor Stravinsky's opera The Rake's Progress, with Edo de Waart conducting the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (Jan. 14 and 16).
 
In February, the Chorale showcases University of Minnesota graduate student Christopher Owen in its Emerging Conductor program (Feb. 20). Then it's back to Carmina Burana, this time in the company of the Minneapolis Youth Chorus and Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, with Kathy Romey and William Schrickel conducting (March 14). And for a rousing season finale, nothing beats Gustav Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony, with the Minnesota Youth Symphonies under Manny Laureano's direction (April 25).
 
The Minnesota Chorale, named principal chorus of the Minnesota Orchestra in 2004, has sung with the Orchestra for more than three decades. Now entering its 38th season—and its 15th under the leadership of Kathy Saltzman Romey—the Chorale is Minnesota's preeminent symphonic chorus and ranks among the top professional choruses in the United States.