Choirtap [k-wire-tap] - noun, verb, -tapped, -tapping, adjective.

For thirty days, our singers, staff, and board of directors worked towards achieving their individual goals during our spring fund drive – a campaign to keep us doing more of the same.

Thanks to your support, we raised over $64,000!

Thanks to your support, we’re going to keep doing
MORE OF THE SAME…
…intoxicating and magnetic performances
…extraordinary and remarkable recordings
…astonishing achievements and accolades
…rewarding friendships and fellowship
…and innovative & transformative art!

Friday, May 3, 2013, 7:00-9:00 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
100 W. Roosevelt, Phoenix (map)
Free Admission 

Hosted by the Phoenix Chorale and presented by Classical Revolution PHX, this free concert features the Paradise Winds and a variety of chamber ensembles comprised of the ASU Herberger Institute Collaborative Piano Studios.

This free concert takes place at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral during the First Friday Artwalk along Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix.

Music by: Joseph Horowitz, David Schnyder, Lee Hoiby, Francis Poulenc, Offenbach, John Dowland, Tom Peterson, Robbie McCarthy, Kurt Mehlenbacher, Antal Dorati, David R. Gillingham, W.A. Mozart and Johannes Brahms.

Performances by Paradise Winds with Jenna Daum, Tiffany Pan, Nikolaus Flickinger, Joshua Gardner, Stefanie Harger Gardner, Joseph Kluesener, and Patrick Murphy.

Performances by ASU Collaborative Piano Studio ensembles include:
Kelly Austermann with Luis Rodriguez
Jay Roberts & Skyler Foster with Aimee Fincher
Kerrie Caldwell with Brad Smith
Tiffany Pan with Drew Quiring
Annalise Belnap & Miriam Schildkret with Marla Nelson & Nathan Uhl

 Please note: The Phoenix Chorale will NOT appear at this special presentation.

Announcing our

2013/14 Season!

Amazing Grace - October 26-27, 2013
Our crowd-pleasing “Amazing Grace” program includes the Phoenix Chorale singing some of your favorite bluegrass, gospel, spirituals, and hymns – complete with bluegrass band!

Ceremony of Carols – A Chorale Christmas - December 19-22, 2013
An annual tradition for many Valley residents, “A Chorale Christmas” features festive favorites along with a special performance by the women of the Phoenix Chorale with renowned Kansas harpist Tabitha Reist Steiner in Benjamin Britten’s magnificent Ceremony of Carols.

Celtic Chorale - March 15-16, 2014
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with us as we journey to the Emerald Isle with song and merriment – we’ll serenade you with traditional Irish aires, wistful love songs and lilting Celtic tunes!

With the Kansas City Chorale - April 26-27, 2014
Charles Bruffy’s two GRAMMY Award-winning choirs join forces in Arizona for the first time since 2008. It doesn’t get any better than this!

JOIN EMAIL LIST

Season tickets will go on sale later this summer – be sure to join our email list to stay updated on the latest details and information! To join our mailing list and receive our season brochure when it becomes available, please send an email with your address to: info@phoenixchorale.org.

Have you seen our latest trailer featuring Charles Bruffy? The “Music From the Silver Screen” concerts are already done but you can still enjoy watching this preview!

Program notes for “Music From the Silver Screen” are now available. READ PROGRAM NOTES >>

Watch the trailer:

Here is the program:

• Cherubic Hymn -- The Deer Hunter
• Dixit Dominus & Alleluia – The Sound of Music
• “O Fortuna” from “Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi,” Carmina Burana – Excalibur, Glory, The Hunt for Red October, and many more
• The Seal Lullaby – Eric Whitacre
• Agnus Dei – Platoon
• Skyfall* – Skyfall
• Jai Ho! (Dance With Me) — Slumdog Millionaire
• Bring Him Home – Les Misérables
• Remembering* — Joan Szymko
• Over the Rainbow — The Wizard of Oz
• Moon River – Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Gabriel’s Oboe – The Mission
• Under the Sea – The Little Mermaid
• Soul Bossa Nova — Austin Powers

See you this weekend! BUY TICKETS >>

The Phoenix Chorale will be wrapping up the 2012/2013 season at the end of the month with a blockbuster concert series called “Music from the Silver Screen.”  With performances on April 27-28, the concerts will feature a lively exploration of some of the greatest music found in film.

One of the exciting pieces the Chorale will perform is “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana, a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff in 1935-1936.  ”O Fortuna” was first introduced to mainstream media in the 1981, John Boorman film, Excalibur (trailer below).

Carmina Burana

O Fortuna is based on 24 of the 254 poems found in the medieval collection Carmina Burana, a manuscript composed of 11^th – 13^th century poems and dramatic texts, believed to be written by clergy in Italy and Western Europe for traveling scholars, universities and theologians.  The collection of texts was discovered in 1803 in the Benedictine monastery of Benediktbeuern in Bavaria (Germany).

When Orff came across an edition of the text over 100 years later, he selected and organized 24 of the poems in a libretto, mostly in Latin verse, with a bit of Middle High German and Old Provencal.  The poem’s topics range from drinking, lust and gluttony, to fortune, joy, and the fleeting nature of life.

Upon the premiere of his piece at the Frankfurt Opera on June 8, 1937, Orff wrote his publisher saying, “Everything I have written to date, and which you have, unfortunately, printed, can be destroyed.  With Carmina Burana, my collected works begin.”  While Orff was correct in presuming the celebrity of this piece, it’s unlikely he would have guessed that it would eventually become a pop culture staple, frequently featured in films (as well as television shows and commercials) throughout the century.

The song has been used for dramatic effect (and later, parody) in numerous films since including: Glory (1989), The Hunt for Red October (1990), The Doors (1991), Natural Born Killers (1994), The General’s Daughter (1999), Detroit Rock City (1999), Jackass: The Movie (2002), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), and even G-Force (2009).

Nowadays, the song has even achieved YouTube fame with this animated “O Fortuna Misheard Lyrics” video, which has reached over 3,500,000 views and had us the Phoenix Chorale office crying with laughter (trust me, its worth taking a watch).

And for all you exhausted parents out there, you can’t not chuckle at this ”Ode to Sleep Deprived Parents and Terrorizing Toddlers” song, set to the music of “O Fortuna”.

And for our last video, who doesn’t love a good flashmob?

As you can see, the dramatic nature of “O Fortuna” has carried it to new and unexpected fame, but that doesn’t mean it can no longer be appreciated in the context of chorale artistry.  Make sure you stop by to hear the Chorale take the piece out of the movies and back to its antecedent setting .

Read more about “Music from the Silver Screen”>>

-Alaina Hasenmiller, Marketing & Communications Intern

March 30-April 28, 2013

Our spring fund drive has begun and we’re asking you to help us do more of the same!

MORE OF THE SAME...
…intoxicating and magnetic performances
…extraordinary and remarkable recordings
…astonishing achievements and accolades
…rewarding friendships and fellowship
…innovative and transformative art

From March 30-April 28, 2013, our singers, staff, and board members are working towards achieving their individual goals to each find 30 people to give $30 or more in 30 days during our spring fund drive – a campaign to keep the GRAMMY-winning Phoenix Chorale doing more of the same.

Find out more >>

Next Friday, April 5, the Phoenix Chorale is hosting the third-annual Classical Revolution Phoestival during the famous First Friday Artwalk in downtown Phoenix. The Phoestival features four stages and ten ensembles, doing a combined nineteen performances over a period of three hours… and it’s all FREE!  The event is put on by Classical Revolution PHX, an advocacy group for classical and chamber music in the Phoenix Metro area who aims to strip away the classical music ‘pedestal’ by performing in unusual spaces and making the music accessible to the public.  The Classical Revolution Phoestival begins at 6:30 at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (100 W. Roosevelt Street) along Roosevelt Row.

Here is a rundown of the awesome local ensembles and performers who will be there:

1. The Phoenix Chorale – If you’ve made it to this blog, you’re probably familiar with the Phoenix Chorale. The Grammy-winning group, regarded as one of the finest professional choral ensembles in North America, will be rehearsing for their final concerts of the season, “Music from the Silver Screen.”  Stop by the cathedral to hear them sing tunes from your favorite feature films from “The Mission” to “The Little Mermaid.”
2. Erik Goldstrom – Erick Goldstrom has been Cannon Musician for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral since 2009, where he conducts three choirs and oversees “Music at Trinity.”  He has performed throughout the United States and Europe,  notably at Lincolin Cathedral, St. Georges’s Chapel, Windsor, the Madeleine and the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.  He will be performing a demonstration of the Cathedral’s amazing four-manual 71-rank Schantz pipe organ between
3. Mana Saxophone Orchestra AZ – Stop by the outdoor courtyard labyrinth to see this group, founded  Michael Hernandez of the Mana Quartet, and comprised of young saxophonist from across Arizona who hold positions in the Phoenix Youth Symphony, Arizona All-State and Regional Honor Bands, the Greater Phoenix Honor Band, and Young Sounds of Arizona, ranging from soprano sax all the way to bass!
4. ASU Pan Devils – Also performing on the labyrinth is the ASU Pan Devils Steel Band, comprised of ASU undergrad and graduate students of all different majors. The band brings the lively sounds of the steel drum (or pan), a unique musical instrument that has its origins in the West Indies.
5. Drew Quiring & Jenna Daum – Drew is a passionate pianist, in in his 10^th consecutive year of university level piano studies, who has spent around 10,000 hours mastering the instrument!  Jenna is a skilled flutist who has performed with many ensembles around the country and won several awards and completions including the prestigious Thomas Smith Competition at the University of Illinois. See the duo in Atwood Hall located in the east wing of Trinity.
6. Opera Revolution – This new local group was founded by opera singer Kristen Reed with the goal to bridge the gaps between musical genres and bring opera to the local music scene.  Watch the group perform opera scenes in Attwood Hall following Jenna and Drew.
7. Ashley Oakley – Ashley is an accomplished pianist who has won dozens of first  prizes, medals and distinctions throughout the country. She was the recipient of a two year U-Care grant, during which she worked on transcribing the operas of Philip Glass into solo piano music, and has spent summers at music schools in Austria, Italy and Israel.  She will also be performing in Attwood Hall.
8. Herberger String Quartet – The ASU Herberger Institute’s celebrated student quartet is made up of faculty nominated members, who put on performances several times a semester on campus and in the community.  See them perform in the Trinity auditorium, located on the third floor.
9. Phoenix Chamber Brass – Also playing in the auditorium, the award winning Phoenix Chamber Brass is made up of some of the finest musicians from across the country.  With a mission to perform a diverse repertoire of entertaining music, collaborate and create new projects with other artists, and to reach out to the next generation of musicians and artists, they work to advance the status of the brass quintet in their performances.
10. Joseph Kluesener – Joseph earned his first professional position at the age of 22 as a Qualified Bassoonist by the United States Air Force.  He has performed with numerous symphonies and as a soloist at many events across the country.  He is founder of the local wind ensemble Paradise Winds, and a co-founder of Classical Revolution PHX.  You can hear him on the bassoon in the upstairs auditorium, as well.  Hear what he has to say about the Phoestival in the video below!

If you read my first blog about the Phoenix Chorale’s Free Open Rehearsal you might remember my excitement about getting everyone I know to come to the next one. Well, this is it!  This night is going to include all of the great aspects of Open Rehearsal (a free chance to watch the Chorale, free giveaways, an up-close look at the Grammy, located on Roosevelt Row on the same night as First Fridays) and much more!  For fans of chamber music, it’s a chance to get everything you love in one place, for newbies (like me) it’s a chance to experience something fun and different, FOR FREE! I mean, what more could you ask for?

Show up in your work clothes, show up in your street clothes, show up in your giant taco hat, everyone is welcome.  We hope to see you there!

- Alaina Hasenmiller, Marketing & Communications Intern