BRIDGES 1: Black Voices Amplified, with Border CrosSing;
Adrian Davis, guest conductor
Saturday, October 23, 2021
 
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 9, with Minnesota Orchestra;
Juraj Valčuha, conductor
Thursday – Saturday, November 18-20, 2021; Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
 
HANDEL: Messiah Sing, with guest organist Lynn Trapp;
Kathy Saltzman Romey, conductor
Sunday, December 5, 2021; St. Olaf Catholic Church, Minneapolis
 
Minnesota Chorale Family Concert: A Joyous Reunion!
with Minneapolis Youth Chorus, Prelude Children’s Choir, and Voices of Experience
Kathy Saltzman Romey, Pat Arasim, Cindy Bergstrom, and Jerry Rubino, conductors
Saturday, December 11, 2021
 
ORFF: Carmina Burana, with Minnesota Dance Theatre;
Barbara Brooks, conductor
Friday-Sunday, January 14-16, 2022; Goodale Theater – Cowles Center, Minneapolis
 
Minnesota Chorale 50th Anniversary Legacy Concert, with our family of choirs and special guests
Kathy Saltzman Romey, conductor
Saturday, February 26, 2022
 
BRIDGES 2: Puentes, with Border CrosSing;
Anaida Carquez, conductor
Saturday, April 2, 2022
 
THOMPSON: Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, with Twin Cities choral partners & Minnesota Orchestra
Thomas Wilkins, conductor
Thursday – Saturday, May 19-21, 2022; Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
 
MAHLER: Symphony No. 8, with National Lutheran Choir, Minnesota Boychoir, Angelica Cantanti, and Minnesota Orchestra;
​Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Thursday – Saturday, June 10-12, 2022; Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis

MINNESOTA CHORALE ANNOUNCES 2021-22 CONCERT SEASON
“Looking Forward, Looking Back”
 
The Minnesota Chorale announces details for the organization’s 50th concert season with a return to in-person performances, including the launch of a concert series amplifying voices of color, concerts with the Minnesota Orchestra, self-produced concerts with a range of artistic partners, and performances featuring all four of the Minnesota Chorale’s choirs.
 
Chorale artistic director Kathy Saltzman Romey is enthusiastic about the upcoming season:
 
“I am thrilled to resume live music making with the Chorale as we celebrate fifty years of singing and community! We are embarking on an exciting and varied season, which reunites us with our family of choirs, commemorates Osmo Vänskä's tenure with the Minnesota Orchestra, and offers a new collaboration with Border CrosSing in exploring repertoire by BIPOC composers under the direction of esteemed colleagues from across the country. I know it will be a year of great joy and growth as we reconnect with our audiences in the powerful and shared experience of song.”

The season opens October 23rd with the first of a series of concerts designed to reimagine the canon of choral music: guest conductors of color will lead singers from the Minnesota Chorale and Border CrosSing in works by composers whose music has historically been under-represented on the concert stage. The initial concert, Black Voices Amplified, will be led by acclaimed music educator Adrian Davis, director of the choral program at Minneapolis Roosevelt High School and conductor of the University of Minnesota Gospel Ensemble. Selections include works by Rosephanye Powell, William Dawson, Roderick Williams, Sydney Guillaume, and Arnold Sevier. The second program in the series, set for April 2, 2022, and focusing on music of Latin American composers, will be led by Anaida Carquez, director of Miami’s Amazonia Vocal Ensemble. These concerts are supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
 
On November 18, 19, and 20, the Chorale returns to the stage of Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, for concert performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, under the direction of Juraj Valčuha, who is quickly becoming a fan favorite in Minnesota. Terry Blain of the Star Tribune described Valčuha’s November 2019 performance with the Minnesota Orchestra as “one of the most musically rewarding concerts of the past few seasons.”
 
The Chorale’s annual Messiah Sing is set for Sunday, December 5, with organist Dr. Lynn Trapp, at St. Olaf Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Presented online last December, we look forward to resuming this popular offering in person.
 
A Joyous Reunion is the apt title for the first live post-pandemic concert featuring our family of choirs, with singers aged 8 to 80+ in all four of our ensembles: Minnesota Chorale, Minneapolis Youth Chorus, Prelude Children’s Choir, and Voices of Experience seniors choir. The December 11th concert will include music both familiar and new to audiences and singers alike, centering on themes of optimism, hope, collaboration, and connection. Guest artists from the Philippines, MacPhail Center for Music, and the Chorale’s 2020-21 Bridges program will join the choirs in this musical celebration of community.
 
The new year features a renewal of the Chorale’s participation in Minnesota Dance Theatre’s presentation of Carmina Burana, at the Cowles Center for Dance, on the weekend of January 14-16, 2022. With dancers and singers dramatically intermingled onstage, this electrifying production has become a staple in MDT’s repertoire.
 
The first of the Chorale’s planned celebrations of the 50th anniversary of our founding is the Legacy Concert, slated for February 26. With repertoire drawn from a half-century of performances, the concert will include special guests and the multiple ensembles that are now part of the Chorale, bespeaking our evolution from a single choir to a multi-generational, multi-ensemble choral organization.
 
On May 19, 20 and 21, Twin Cities choral partners and the Chorale will join forces with the Minnesota Orchestra to present Joel Thompson’s poignant and haunting Seven Last Words of the Unarmed Man, with texts drawn from the dying words of seven unarmed Black men killed by police. Guest conductor Thomas Wilkins leads the ensembles in the regional premiere of this work.
 
The season concludes with Gustav Mahler’s towering Symphony No. 8, under the direction of Osmo Vänskä. For these performances of the “Symphony of a Thousand,” the Chorale will be joined by the National Lutheran Choir, Minnesota Boychoir, and Angelica Cantanti. Performances take place on June 10, 11 and 12 at Orchestra Hall.
 
Tickets to Minnesota Chorale performances with the Minnesota Orchestra are available at the orchestra’s website, minnesotaorchestra.org, or by calling the Orchestra Hall box office: 612.371.5656
 
Concerts produced by the Minnesota Chorale are presented as free-will/pay-what-you-can events.
 
More about the Minnesota Chorale: mnchorale.org/aboutus
 
Link to Romey bio: mnchorale.org/artistic-staff