Just announced! The Phoenix Chorale presents a special performance featuring composer and pianist Ola Gjeilo with saxophonist Ted Belledin and cellist Peter Anderegg. The concert features these three musicians in a trio creating new music – completely improvised on the spot.

Gjeilo and Belledin performed two of these concerts in 2010 during Gjeilo’s composer residency and Belledin is featured on the final track, “Evening Prayer,” of the Chorale’s new CD, Northern Lights. This is a rare and special treat – you won’t want to miss this concert!

Tickets are now available: $15 General Admission; $5 for Students.

May 15, 2012 – Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix – map)
Tickets for this concert can be purchased at the door starting at 6:30 pm. Please go to the main entrance to the Cathedral on the South side to find the Box Office (right along Roosevelt Street).

Why did I start this blog post with the Bill & Ted’s reference? Our upcoming concert series “Modern Russia” doesn’t span that much history. In fact, much of the program was composed within the last 200 years. The reason for the reference has more to do with the excellent adventures of one of the featured composers, Vladimir Pleshakov. No, he hasn’t traveled through time (Bogus…), BUT he has lived on 4 continents, performed for over 7 decades, released over 85 premiere recordings, AND started composing music at the age of 75 with his works just having premiered at Carnegie Hall in January. (Excellent!)

Let me map out his adventure for you…

First Stop: China 1934 – Mr. Pleshakov was born in China to Russian parents who had fled their home country during the Revolution. It was here that he was first exposed to sacred Russian music in the nearby Shanghai Cathedral, where he was a featured vocal soloist as a boy.

Second Stop: Australia 1949 – When his family moved here, he studied piano at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music and within a year, he was making his debut, at 16, as a piano soloist with the Sydney Symphony.

Pianist and Composer Vladimir Pleshakov

Third Stop: United States 1955 – His family moved once again; this time to the USA. This move allowed Mr. Pleshakov to experience some of that Bill-&-Ted-California lifestyle while earning degrees from University of California, Berkeley (B.S. in Piano Performance) and Stanford University (DMA in Musicology).

Fourth Stop: Europe 1999 – He and his wife, Elena (also an accomplished pianist), lived in Europe for 10 years and traveled the continent as recitalists, even making a few visits into Russia itself.

Fifth Stop: New York 2012 – After surviving a bout with cancer, Mr. Pleshakov felt a divine calling to compose choral music. This was quite the feat as he had never composed music before. He said, “It was like a radio in [my] head which produced perfectly completed sacred choral music.” Just this past January, his works were premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City!

Next Stop: Phoenix 2012 – On May 5 & 6, 2012, the Phoenix Chorale will perform several of Vladimir Pleshakov’s works for the first time west of the Mississippi, in their final concerts of the season, “Modern Russia”. Mr. Pleshakov will be at each of the concerts and be featured at our Saturday evening KBAQ 89.5 FM Pre-Concert Talk at Trinity Cathedral. Other composers featured in the concerts include Stravinsky, Sviridov, Glinka, and more.

If that’s not a most excellent adventure, I don’t know what is!

Tickets for these concerts are available by calling (602)253-2224 or at www.phoenixchorale.org/tickets.

Oh yeah, one more thing…

-Benjamin Little, Marketing and Public Relations Intern

The choral music of Russia is near and dear to the heart of Artistic Director Charles Bruffy. Our final concerts of the season will display the wonderful contrast of styles in the vast landscape of Russian choral music from the father of Russian classical music, Mikhail Glinka, to 20th century composers including Igor Stravinsky, Alexander Grechaninov, and more. Committed to bringing attention to lesser-known composers, the Chorale will also sing music by Georgy Sviridov and brand-new music – premiered at Carnegie Hall in January 2012 – by pianist and composer Vladimir Pleshakov. Mr. Pleshakov will also be in attendance at these concerts and the featured guest for the KBAQ 89.5 FM Talks at Trinity on May 5 at 6:30 pm. Join us for these memorable concerts of lyrical melodies and savor the national flavor of Russia and the Russian soul!

May 5, 2012 – Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm
American Lutheran Church (17200 Del Webb Blvd., Sun City – map)
Tickets for this concert are still available and can be purchased at the door starting at 1:00 pm.

May 5, 2012 – Saturday evening at 7:30 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix – map)
*KBAQ 89.5 FM Talks at Trinity starts at 6:30 pm
Tickets for this concert are still available and can be purchased at the door starting at 6:00 pm.

May 6, 2012 – Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm  tickets
Christ Church of the Ascension (4015 East Lincoln Drive, Paradise Valley – map)
Tickets for this concert are still available and can be purchased at the door starting at 2:00 pm.

Our annual spring fund drive begins on Saturday, April 7, and we are thrilled to announce that you have the opportunity to double your pledge and double your impact. With the support of a generous donor – your donation will be MATCHED dollar-for-dollar up to our goal of $30,000.

Double your impact and make your pledge now by CLICKING HERE to find your favorite Phoenix Chorale singer, board or staff member and make a donation in their name. This organization-wide campaign to raise $30,000 in 30 days concludes with our last concert of the season, “Modern Russia,” on May 6, 2012.

If you prefer to make your donation by mail, please mail your gift to: 100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix, AZ 85003. Please make checks to “Phoenix Chorale” and indicate on the memo line which Phoenix Chorale singer, board or staff member you’d like to support. The Phoenix Chorale is a 501(c)(3) non-profit performing arts organization and all donations are tax deductible.

Our last Free Open Rehearsal of the season is coming up on Friday, April 13, 2012. Free Open Rehearsals are held throughout the season and offer an opportunity for anyone (anyone!) to experience the Phoenix Chorale for free – and to get a special behind-the-scenes look at music in the making.

No tickets, no reservations, just come as you are, whenever you want, and stay as long as you like!

Free Open Rehearsals take place inside Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Phoenix. Trinity Cathedral is located on the northwest corner of Roosevelt and 1st Avenue, just west of the Roosevelt Arts District light rail stop. Or, if you drive, free parking is located on nearby streets and in the garage north of the church.

FREE OPEN REHEARSAL
Friday, April 13 – 6:30 – 9:30 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix – map

“Rock of Ages” is this weekend!

You might want to make sure you aren’t confusing our “Rock of Ages” program with the movie-based-on-the-musical of the same name you may have heard about that features the music of classic 80′s rock bands Journey, Styx, Poison, etc. and stars Tom Cruise, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand, and Catherine Zeta-Jones to name a few…

THE OTHER “ROCK OF AGES” TRAILER:

(l to r) Russell Brand, Alec Baldwin (they are NOT appearing on our "Rock of Ages" concerts!)

OUR “Rock of Ages” concerts feature your favorite church anthems (not rock anthems!) as you’ve never heard them before – with special guests including organist Guy Whatley and composer/pianist Mark Hayes. And I hear there are some other fun surprises in store… Definitely not to be missed! BTW, we will have our new “Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo” CDs available for sale.

Read the program notes for this concert here. 

Buy your TICKETS now!

PHOENIX CHORALE’s “ROCK OF AGES” TRAILER:

The Phoestival begins at 6:30 pm and takes place at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Stages include Atwood Hall, the Cathedral, the Labyrinth, and in the upstairs Auditorium. Click here to see images from last year’s Phoestival. (We will also have copies of our new CD, Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo, available for purchase.)

Read all about the performers on the Classical Revolution PHX website by clicking here.

And check out the full Phoestival schedule:

Classical Revolution Phoestival
Friday, March 2, 2012 – 6:30 – 9:30 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix map)
Free Admission

March 10 & 11, 2012

“Rock of Ages” features some of the most-loved church songs and anthems of all time such as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, With a Voice of Singing, and of course the title song, Rock of Ages. The second half of these concerts welcomes special guest – popular composer and pianist Mark Hayes – performing some of his most famous works with the Chorale. Hayes’s music draws from such diverse styles as gospel, jazz, pop, classical and folk to achieve a truly American sound.

March 10, 2012 - Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm
Camelback Bible Church (3900 E. Stanford Dr., Paradise Valley – map)
Tickets for this concert are still available and can be purchased at the door starting at 2:00 pm.

March 10, 2012 – Saturday evening at 7:30 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (100 W. Roosevelt St., Phoenix – map)
Tickets for this concert are still available and can be purchased at the door starting at 6:30 pm.
*KBAQ 89.5 FM Talks at Trinity starts at 6:30 pm

March 11, 2012 - Sunday afternoon at 3:00 pm
American Lutheran Church (17200 Del Webb Blvd., Sun City – map)
Tickets for this concert are still available and can be purchased at the door starting at 2:00 pm.

Marketing & PR Intern Benjamin Little standing in

This week, we started releasing a series of video interviews about the creation of Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo. I had the pleasure of sitting in on the final video shoot of the series, featuring Phoenix Chorale singer Kira Rugen, as she shared her feelings about Ola Gjeilo’s music.

As I just became the Phoenix Chorale’s Marketing and Public Relations Intern in January, I sat with mixed feelings before the shoot began. I was eager to be a part of something so exciting (the promotion and release of a new CD!) and nervous as I had never really heard Ola’s music before nor met an actual member of the Phoenix Chorale. The second feeling began to dissipate as Kira and I were introduced. She carried a warm smile and approachability that really impressed me. As she started talking about Ola’s compositions, this curiosity started to build inside of me, motivating me to want to listen to a CD of music composed by someone completely unfamiliar to me.

Phoenix Chorale soprano Kira Rugen

Kira brought up the beautiful emotions that Ola’s music evokes: vulnerability, love, and peace. She described the “aural pictures” that can be “seen” throughout the arrangements. As she mentioned similarities with the compositions and film music, I started connecting the film scores that often play in my head with the pictures that Kira depicted in her interview. The fear produced from my lack of familiarity with Ola’s work turned into a sense of excitement that this music would be wonderful to hear.

Our goal was to capture a minute and a half of usable content. Needless to say, we walked away with A LOT more. While reviewing the other segments for this video series, we found upbeat commentary ranging from sound engineer John Newton’s description of the Chorale’s sound to producer Blanton Alspaugh’s narrative of the interaction between the composer and the Chorale. It would be hard to deny that something incredible is about to be released into the world of recorded music. Just from hearing the samples that accompany these brief videos, the music of Ola Gjeilo brings comfort, joy, and peace to a former outsider like me.

- Benjamin Little, Marketing & Public Relations Intern

Part 1 – Charles Bruffy

Part 2 – Blanton Alspaugh

Part 3 – Ola Gjeilo

Part 4 – John Newton

Part 5 – Kira Rugen

I know this because I was having lunch with Ola Gjeilo recently and he mentioned the northern lights were happening. He also talked about the piece he’d written of the same name, “Northern Lights.”

I thought, wow, how serendipitous that the Phoenix Chorale has released our newest recording (featuring Ola’s music and titled Northern Lights) at the same time these amazing images are coming from Norway. I can’t even believe it’s real!

So, here are Ola’s own words recounting his experience witnessing the northern lights and how this inspiring event moved him to write the piece of the same name:

“Northern Lights is my most Norwegian production in years; composed in an attic outside of Oslo at Christmas time in 2007, it’s one of the few works I have written in Norway since I moved to New York in 2001. The U.S. is my home now, so I guess my work has been increasingly reflecting my love for American music, writing and scenery. Most of all, this piece and its text is about beauty. About a ‘terrible’, powerful beauty, although the music is quite serene on the surface:

Pulchra es amica mea,
suavis et decora sicut Jerusalem,
terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata.
Averte oculos tuos a me
quia ipsi me avolare fecerunt.

Thou art beautiful, O my love,
sweet and comely as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army set in array.
Turn away thy eyes from me,
for they have made me flee away.

Looking out from the attic window that Christmas in Oslo, over a wintery lake under the stars, I was thinking about how this ‘terrible’ beauty is so profoundly reflected in the northern lights, or aurora borealis, which, having grown up in the southern part of the country, I have only seen once or twice in my life. It is one of the most beautiful natural phenomena I’ve ever witnessed, and has such a powerful, electric quality that must have been both mesmerizing and terrifying to people in the past, when no one knew what it was and when much superstition was attached to these experiences.

Northern Norway is one of the areas where aurora borealis is easiest to spot, thanks to the warming effects of the Gulf Stream, which makes the area habitable. At www.visitnorway.com, you can find incredible pictures of the aurora borealis phenomenon, pictures that also greatly inspired this piece.”

Read more about northern lights in Norway – and see more images – on National Geographic or VisitNorway.com.

Read more about the Phoenix Chorale’s new CD: Northern Lights: Choral Works by Ola Gjeilo.

Listen to samples on iTunes here. Or, pre-order your copy on Amazon now!

- Jen Rogers, Director of Marketing & Communications