Our 86th Season: 2021-2022
North Shore Choral Society was delighted to return to a full season of in-person concerts. We opened the season with "Free at Last," a profound and inspiring tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by living Chicago composer Lena McLin, one of the composers and works we had studied during our "virtual" rehearsals the previous year. This concert also featured a musical setting of "The Gettysburg Address," a world premiere by David Burger, commissioned for Julia Davids and the North Shore Choral Society. Our special guest, Dr. Thomas W. Jefferson, pianist and composer, performed his new arrangements of three familiar spirituals.
The return to live concerts could not have been more joyfully expressed than in our April 2022 concert with the Evanston Symphony Orchestra, when we performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, a choral and orchestral favorite with its iconic hymn to universal fellowship.
Our final concert of the season, titled "Lux," presented the music of John Rutter, including a new composition, "Ukrainian Prayer," a response to the tragedy unfolding in that country, and closing with Rutter's Requiem, a statement of our collective grief in the face of war and pandemic, and yet conveying a message of hope and comfort.
The return to live concerts could not have been more joyfully expressed than in our April 2022 concert with the Evanston Symphony Orchestra, when we performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, a choral and orchestral favorite with its iconic hymn to universal fellowship.
Our final concert of the season, titled "Lux," presented the music of John Rutter, including a new composition, "Ukrainian Prayer," a response to the tragedy unfolding in that country, and closing with Rutter's Requiem, a statement of our collective grief in the face of war and pandemic, and yet conveying a message of hope and comfort.
Our 85th Season: 2020 - 2021
North Shore Choral Society’s 85th season, suspended by the Covid-19 pandemic, became, under the leadership of Music Director Dr. Julia Davids, a time of substantive growth for us as individuals and as musicians. Weekly virtual rehearsals focused on vocal health, with extensive work on resonance, vowels, vibrato, and range development. Further, Dr. Davids invited an array of special guests for the enrichment of members’ musical knowledge. We also invited several prominent musicians to share their wisdom with us: Marques L.A. Garrett, Non-Idiomatic Black Choral Music; Thomas W. Jefferson, The History of the Spiritual; Felicia Patton, Unsung Sheroes of Gospel Music; Terrance J. Smith, Singing Gospel Music; Kateri Gormley, The Alexander Technique: A Tool for Embodied Living; Karen Brunssen, The Evolving Singing Voice; and Elias Wygodny, Mindfulness Workshop.
Our 84th Season: 2019-2020
The theme for NSCS' 84th season, "What Happens When," was cut short due to the Coronavirus pandemic. However, NSCS was delighted to be able to perform two of our three planned concerts, in addition to singing with the ESO in their "Evanston Symphony Christmas" celebration.
Ring in the Holidays!
What happens when the NSCS collaborates with the Chicago Bronze English Handbell Ensemble? An exhilarating concert of holiday favorites, of course! We enjoyed "ringing in" the holiday season with the Chicago Bronze and their director, Andrea Handley. The November 23 concert included Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols for SATB with harpist Ben Melsky, as well as Andrea Handley's new arrangement of three joyous carols. Our concert venue was the beautiful First Presbyterian Church of Evanston.
What Happens When She Sets the Beat?
North Shore Choral Society celebrated women in musical leadership at our February 29 concert, “What Happens When She Sets the Beat?” with a repertoire composed entirely by women. An exciting collaboration with Artemisia, Chicago’s most versatile women’s trio, along with a trio of accomplished female guest conductors, Anne Heider, Felicia Patton, and Tierra Whetstone, along with choral ambassadors from Golf Middle School, made the concert an inspiring intersection of talent, personal experience, and musical expression. The diversity of women in musical leadership was reflected as NSCS performed music with classical, gospel, folk, and contemporary influences.
Ring in the Holidays!
What happens when the NSCS collaborates with the Chicago Bronze English Handbell Ensemble? An exhilarating concert of holiday favorites, of course! We enjoyed "ringing in" the holiday season with the Chicago Bronze and their director, Andrea Handley. The November 23 concert included Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols for SATB with harpist Ben Melsky, as well as Andrea Handley's new arrangement of three joyous carols. Our concert venue was the beautiful First Presbyterian Church of Evanston.
What Happens When She Sets the Beat?
North Shore Choral Society celebrated women in musical leadership at our February 29 concert, “What Happens When She Sets the Beat?” with a repertoire composed entirely by women. An exciting collaboration with Artemisia, Chicago’s most versatile women’s trio, along with a trio of accomplished female guest conductors, Anne Heider, Felicia Patton, and Tierra Whetstone, along with choral ambassadors from Golf Middle School, made the concert an inspiring intersection of talent, personal experience, and musical expression. The diversity of women in musical leadership was reflected as NSCS performed music with classical, gospel, folk, and contemporary influences.
Our 83rd Season: 2018-2019
The theme for NSCS’ 83rd season was “A Few of Our Favorite Things.” One of our favorite things is singing an oratorio with full orchestra and soloists – as well as teaming up with Music Director Julia Davids’ husband, baroque violinist Martin Davids. On November 18, we performed G. F. Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus at a beautiful and inspiring venue, the Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston. Another of our favorite things is collaborating with Chicago musicians.
For our March concert we joined pianist and composer Thomas W. Jefferson as he shared numerous original works for piano, chorus, and band. We had the opportunity to perform in Evanston and at his home church, the magnificent Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows. This concert also featured the NSCS favorite, soulful soprano Felicia Patton.
Finally, we were delighted to join the Evanston Symphony Orchestra in its celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday by singing two of our all-time favorite pieces, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Auditorium.
For our March concert we joined pianist and composer Thomas W. Jefferson as he shared numerous original works for piano, chorus, and band. We had the opportunity to perform in Evanston and at his home church, the magnificent Basilica of Our Lady of Sorrows. This concert also featured the NSCS favorite, soulful soprano Felicia Patton.
Finally, we were delighted to join the Evanston Symphony Orchestra in its celebration of Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday by singing two of our all-time favorite pieces, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, at Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Auditorium.
